ArcBlock 2019 Product Roadmap (Request for Community Comment Version)

Based on previously announced “ArcBlock Product Roadmap”, we are excited to announce this newly updated version of our 2019 Product Roadmap. Fortunately, we don’t need to revise the previously announced roadmap, our team’s collective product and engineering experiences have helped us stay on the right track during the whole year 2018. The updated roadmap provides additional information on new features and capabilities for our upcoming releases and gives the community more details compared to of the previous roadmap. To help our developer and end-user communities better understand ArcBlock’s full-stack platform, and what’s on our new roadmap, we will release a series of articles starting from January 2019 to give greater clarity about our design principles, experiences, decisions, and the architecture, and how they come together to differentiate ArcBlock in the blockchain marketplace.

This roadmap is a “Request for Community Comment” version, which means we want your feedback.

With everything we do, we listen for your feedback regardless of whether you are a developer or an end user, your voice will be heard. Our roadmap will continue to be adjusted based on current market conditions and the feedback we receive from our community.

Q1. “Forge Chains into Networks”

The primary focus for 2019 Q1 is launching a series of foundation services following up ArcBlocks official opening for business in December. The focus will be on launching ArcBlock’s own blockchain network — ABT Chain, and the ABT Wallet App and the related developer SDK will be a key milestone.

ArcBlock’s ABT Chain has a unique and innovative design. ABT Chain is not just a Chain but a network of Chains, the idea is that each chain will only do one thing but do it well, and multiple chains will collaborate with each other to form the entire service. We will be publishing an article to introduce the design and architecture of ABT Chain.

Platform:

  • ABT Wallet

    • Supports native ABT token
    • Allow 1:1 anchor between ERC20 ABT on ETH and native ABT
    • Support 3rd party blockchain tokens via OCAP (Open Chain Access Protocol) including support for BTC, ETH, ETH ERC20 tokens

  • ABT Chain

    • Starting with asset tracking, billing services.

Developer:

  • Update ArcBlock Developer Portal

  • Release ArcBlock Application SDK, include mobile and web supports

    • WalletKit
    • AccountKit

Applications:

  • Beta version for TokenFlow
  • Beta version for TAO (Token Accounting Officer)
  • 3rd party partners apps

Community:

  • Updates to the ArcBlock website
  • The release of the ArcBlock Developer Community Site (based on Discourse) Hackathons, Seminars etc. (We’ve pushed back the previously planned DevCon to Q3 this year)

Q2: “Applications, Applications, Applications”

The 2nd quarter will focus on adding new capabilities and enhancements around our newly released ABT Chain that will include the introduction of several new blockchain applications that have been built on it. Developers will be able to build their own application chain and application tokens with ArcBlock’s developer tools.

Another milestone for this quarter is the Blocklet. With Blocklets, any applications or components that can be deployed through the ArcBlock platform will need to be compliant to Blocklet specification so it can take advantage of ArcBlock’s capabilities including use of the unified cloud-agnostic deployment, publicaly verifiable billing and more..

Platform:

  • ABT Wallet

    • Support application Tokens
    • Proof of Stake service for consumer users
    • Support for Digital Direct Marketing (Referral program)
    • Support ABT payment
  • ABT Super Block Explorer, a universal block browser that can be used for any OCAP supported blockchain and any application chain built on the ABT Chain
  • Blocklet framework, through Blocklet, developers can standardize the deployment, billing and operation support of their apps or components

Developer:

  • Release ABT Chain Builder and SDKs for multiple languages (Elixir/Erlang, and Node.js will come first)
  • Release ABT Token Engine, and enable application developers to easily issue their own tokens
  • ABT Payment SDK, enable applications to easily receive payment through ABT token or application tokens
  • Blocklet SDK，help developers package their apps or components into Blocklets

Applications:

  • Introduction of reusable application for Digital Media, content, publishing and knowledge sharing.
  • New crowdsourcing application that is ready to deploy and use, or customization

Community:

  • Start the trial period of “mining”, allow community users to run their blockchain nodes and join the network
  • Collect feedback on “Mining”, and prepare a self-governance framework with the community
  • Based on previously collected feedback, we plan to add a new type of “miner” called the “Operator Miner”. As we described on our 2018 version product white paper, we will allow two types of “miners” - “resource miners” are those who can provide cloud computing resources to run ArcBlock services, and “component miners” are those developers who can provide and share their components or applications for reuse in the platform. The new miner is the “Operator Miner”. This newly supported “Operator Miner” will contribute neither cloud computing resource nor software development skills, but their work as a service provider for running the applications or joint-force with other miners to participate in the service operation.

Q3: “A Connected Decentralized World”

Our 3rd Quarter focus will be on the ABT Token Bus. ABT Token Bus is the updated name of our previously introduced “Decentralized Pub/Sub API Gateway” in our original white paper. ABT Token Bus works together with ABT Chain providing real-time reactive communications and ensuring that developers and users blockchain application experiences are improved.

We also plan to add support for devices in the ABT Token Bus including support for IoT devices, smart hardware, smart home devices, and server components. Since these parts are highly aligned with the market and our partners, we may use this quarter as a buffering period to review market conditions and in case there are any unexpected changes from previous quarters. If this occurs, we might delay our support for IoT related devices and services to ensure we can deliver the quarterly goals as described in this roadmap.

Platform:

  • Billing and Operation Support System (BOSS) that utilizes the ArcBlock platform and Forge Framework. This will provide publicly verifiable billing and operation support for services within ArcBlock platform
  • ABT Token Bus

Developer:

  • SDK for device nodes, IoT device, smart hardware, smart home devices, and server components. The purpose of the SDK is to make integration with devices extremely easy, enable device support for application tokens, as well as feeling the data to the data marketplaces. (This is a stretch goal)

Application:

  • DevCon 0 app build using the ArcBlock platform. We build this app specifically for our first developer conference, and we will use it to showcase integration of different blockchain technologies, micro-tasking and application token as part of the app

Community:

  • Our genesis Developer Conference: ArcBlock DevCon 0 Trial Run of “mining”, and based on the results we will finetune the economy model and governance framework for the community

Q4: “Every Little Helps a Mickle”

The primary goal during the fourth quarter is to fine-tune and optimize the ArcBlock ecosystem. We will be working to improve developer and user experiences, as well as enhancements to support all applications developed by ArcBlock’s team, our partners and developer communities. ArcBlock will also establish a decentralized marketplace for applications and reusable components to enable developers and users to easily monetize their code, or utilize existing developer packages for their own projects. We expect the ecosystem will have significant growth as more and more developers, ecosystem-partners, and end users join and reach the critical mass of the networking effect.

Platform:

  • Decentralized application, components, data, and services marketplace. The marketplace application itself is an app that can be readily deployed and/or customized

Developer:

  • ArcBlock Marketplace SDK for helping developers add support for the marketplace

Applications:

  • As the ecosystem grows we will increase resources and focus on helping our developers and partners to build their apps on our platform rather than build apps on our own

Community:

  • Form a community-driven DAO and steering board for the ArcBlock community governance requirements
  • Optimize the mining economy model based on data collected. Build a community self-governance framework for adjustment and conflict resolving in the mining economy model

Note, this roadmap only covers the product progress that we can control. In the future, we will also pursue potential opportunities for the enterprise, government-related projects, partners, as well as actively adjusting our business to make sure we meet the regulatory requirements for cryptocurrency and digital assets. However, many of these parts are out of our control and will not be included in this roadmap. We will make an announcement once we make progress in these additional areas. We can’t wait to see what we can build together and look forward to your feedback.