SORA status updates bring you the development updates from across the community, released every two weeks.
SORA Integrated Plan
You Are Here
Mrs. Mae is a mother of 5 children and grandmother to 3, and her husband is unable to work due to a crippling injury he sustained in his workplace and is unsuitable to work. To support her growing family, she has migrated from their rural home on an island to do domestic work in another island with a big city. She does not have a bank account, but she earns cash, and whatever money she makes, she sends it back home with much duress. The unnamed remittances agency charges her a hefty commission to send the money home. With a value of USD 5.4 billion in 2023, international remittances such as the ones sent by Mrs. Mae are the lifeline of many people. She has managed to secure a smartphone as a generous hand-me-down from her employer. She is desperate to find a solution to ensure her family gets more money than the percentage lost to remittance fees…
This is a common scenario in many developing countries — the lifeline for some is a profitable business for others. In cases like this, the innovations of blockchain come in handy. We are used to transfers and swaps that are immediate and cheap as chips (unless you’re using a rekt legacy blockchain…), but what we see as a convenience for our bags are life-changing to others. Last month, a Proof of Concept for a CBDC in the Solomon Islands was announced; SORAMITSU, one of the technical contributors to the SORA network, also implemented a bridge that allows transfers between the Hyperledger Iroha-based permissioned blockchain run by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands and the SORA network to simulate cross-border remittances. This value is lost to people living comfortably, but for the rest of the world, the majority as it were, this is revolutionary.
If you have ever had to perform an international transfer, you know how painful the process can be. You have to provide justification for the source of your funds, and then pay fees ranging from $35 to $50, and sometimes even more than the amount being transferred in desperate cases. This is in stark contrast to a transfer on SORA, which costs only $0.15. The difference is significant, especially when you consider the speed and efficiency of the process. The advantage becomes quite clear.
In the case of Bokolo cash, as the PoC is named, recalling the traditional shells used as currency in the Solomon Islands even to this day, the transfers on the SORA network do not require the sender to have XOR, a small amount of the transfer (twenty cents worth) is converted to XOR to pay validators behind the scenes, allowing Bokolo cash holders to transfer without restrictions or even holding or knowing anything about cryptocurrency. As the transfer costs on the SORA network are fixed, this will enable international remittances to be conducted cost-efficiently. This feature is also available for bank-to-bank transfers, in a groundbreaking test that could revolutionize banking across the Pacific region.
Stay tuned for more details on the positive impacts that blockchain technology can have on financial systems, improving the economies and lives of the people they serve.
In the previous update, we mentioned that we were working on the integrated plan milestones for the upcoming year and beyond. This comprehensive approach will incorporate the technological requirements and current trends in the cryptocurrency industry. While SORA is already revolutionary, it is also important to address the needs of individuals and offer the services they are looking for. Stay tuned for the upcoming integrated plan update in early 2024.
The 73rd SORA ecosystem updates are exciting news; the progress with the Substrate bridge and order book trading are some of the highlights we are excited to share. The SORA Kusama parachain is connected to SORA, and KSM has been available on Polkaswap for some time now. XOR is the native currency of the SORA Kusama parachain, and there is an ongoing campaign to elect the SORA Kusama council members; you are, of course, welcome to participate as XOR holders to nominate yourself or to back the existing candidates.
The SORA Polkadot parachain crowdloan is ongoing and SORA will continue to participate in the crowdloan auction until we win.
As the year comes to an end, we remain dedicated to expanding the reach of the SORA economic system. We have made progress by supporting central banks and enhancing their accessibility through the technology developed by the SORA community. However, there is still a challenging road ahead. We sincerely appreciate your unwavering support in contributing to the network, sharing your insights and feedback to make it better, and motivating all SORA contributors to strive harder every day.
Many worlds, one economy.
Let’s get back to work!
Please stay tuned for further updates from the SORA ecosystem, not only for the entire Dotsama community but also for the blockchain space.
You are now up to date with the recent happenings in the SORA ecosystem and the current status of the SORA Integrated Plan. Stay tuned for upcoming news from all the SORA contributors, and we’ll meet again in two weeks. Now, let’s get back to work!
*This is not financial advice. Always make sure to do your own research!
You can find the summary of the integrated plan points in the SORA Wiki.
Business Track Progress
- Polkaswap-as-a-Service — 80%
- SORA Card — 98.5%
This fortnight, there were developments in SORA Card that focused on improving the onboarding experience and preparing for the Phase 2 release. Please refer to the SORA Mobile — SORA Card updates section for more information.
A Message from the SORA Card Team;
Dear SORA Community,
SORA Card is progressing every week!
We are happy to share an overview of the major ongoing developments:
The SORA Card fiat wallet build is close to completion; afterwards, it will be connected to the SORA Wallet. This will enable you to send and receive funds, as well as top up your account with a credit or debit card, and it will be your SORA card hub, displaying your card and account details.
Shortly after, you can expect your virtual SORA Card to be enabled in the app and through Apple Pay and Google Pay. From that moment, it will take approximately 8 weeks for the first physical cards to ship. In parallel, we are working on a KYC and Security upgrade. A captcha will optimise the application process, and consequently, an improved SMS service will bring you a better user experience.
The third major development piece, the exchange between crypto and fiat in your self-custodial wallet and fiat, has taken some more time than anticipated. This is due to the many dependencies involved in the solution. We cannot share exact timelines, and we expect this to be finalised in Q1 2024 with the information we have today.
Furthermore, the Fearless Wallet integration of SORA Card is progressing. Shortly after launching on SORA Wallet, you can apply, access and manage your account through Fearless Wallet.
Lastly, although SORA Card applications are open for people worldwide (except for residents of certain listed countries), we encountered many applicants who still need help to pass the KYC and AML review. This was flagged early on, and SumSub is working on an upgrade to facilitate more successful applications from people outside the EEA.
We can’t wait to share the next releases with you! Thank you for your ongoing support.
Enthusiastically,
The SORA Card Team ♥️
Read the transcript of the recent SORA Card launch AMA in the SORA Telegram chat! For more information about SORA Card, take a look at these articles: Introduction of SORA Card, key features of SORA Card, a comparison between SORA Card and other crypto-powered banking services, an interview with the people behind the SORA Card tech and management, and a recent article on SORA Card Phase One, as well as the SORA Card AMA Recap.
SORA Card | Value Freedom
⚙️ SORA Blockchain Update
- Preparing the Integrated Plan for SORA in 2024 and onward, aligned with all the platforms
- Working on the upgrade to Substrate 5 (now named polkadotSDK v.1.2.0), which will enable upgrading the architecture of the bridges
Substrate bridge (Github milestone)
- The Substrate bridge has been completed and released
- The team is now working on improvements to the architecture for the bridge
- Work is ongoing in parallel on open HRMP channels with other parachains in Kusama to expand the Polkaswap token offering. Kusama teams looking to list their tokens are welcome to reach out
SORA Kusama parachain
- Implemented XOR as the native currency on the SORA Kusama Parachain
- Implemented the Council and Technical Committee governance bodies to deal with the governance operations
- Implemented the Council election mechanism to enable any SORA community member to submit their candidacy to become a council member and participate more actively in the SORA Kusama parachain’s governance operations
- Implemented XOR transfers between the SORA mainnet and the SORA Kusama parachain
Order book (Github milestone)
- The first version of the order book has been released for public testing. Sharing your experience and feedback is important for us to ensure continuously improve the product based on it use and your input
- Working on integrating the order book as a liquidity source in the ALT to enhance trading experience and liquidity management within the SORA network
- Preparing to refactor ALT to better accommodate the integration of new liquidity sources in the future, first in line, the order book
- ALT integration with order books will be worked on as a separate milestone
- Gathering ideas and feedback for future iterations on the order book to improve and expand the product
Multi-EVM bridge (Github milestone)
- Allocating more focus on finalising the Multi-EVM bridge now that the Substrate bridge is in production
Kensetsu (Github milestone)
- Good progress on the development of the backbone for the platform
- Most of the logic and data structures for the first version have been implemented
- Focus is now on the liquidation mechanism
Support for Ink! smart contracts (Github milestone)
- There has been no progress recently. The team is focused on other initiatives.
📱 SORA Wallet Updates
SORA Wallet
⚫️ Released version 3.7.0 — Night Mode
⚫️ Release version 3.8.0 — Demeter Farming: Part 1:
- Explore all the Demeter farms available on SORA
- Various fixes and improvements
⚫️ Working on the release 3.8.1 — Demeter Farming: Part 2:
- Lock your liquidity on pools to farm more rewards
- Unlock your liquidity
- Claim your farming rewards from the palm of your hand
SORA Card
⚫️ Progress has been delayed due to deliverables pending from external partners to move forward
⚫️ Reviewing fiat wallet app from our partners to enable SORA Card users to manage their SORA bank account
- A separate app is needed due to regulations, which prevent us from implementing fiat banking management and operations directly into the SORA wallet
- We are working on a solution to make the user experience as smooth as possible, and hopefully have all the crypto and fiat finance management within a single app: the SORA wallet at a later stage
👷🏽♀️ SORA Builders Programme News
ADAR Updates
The ADAR app is continuously receiving updates and improvements; highlights this month include:
The ADAR update V1.0.11 was released on December 7 2023
Scope included in this release:
- Polkaswap bridge capabilities have been added inside the ADAR app, allowing users to bridge funds into SORA and run payments all in one place, significantly improving the UX for non-SORA users
- V2 of our new Swapless transfers feature, allowing users to load multiple inputs in a single file — this allows users to run a single payment CSV that will avoid doing swaps for the currency they have in their wallet. In the past, users would have to load a CSV for every input currency they wanted to use, or swaps would happen automatically when a single input currency was used, resulting in unnecessary fees. The fixes in V2 include an ADAR fee deduction
- The usage dashboard has been implemented. The dashboard provides the ADAR team with insights into the usage of the system. It serves as a public dashboard for marketing on the first page prospective users will see when accessing the application
- Added rates in tokens to reports for payments
- Added liquidity provider fee on the routing details page and liquidity source for swaps
Improvements and bugs fixed:
- Fixed format error in CSV report
- Fixed decimal separator bug in Spanish report
- Price alerts improvements
- Improved token address format
- Improved tap states for iOS-based devices
- Improved Select node dialogue re-centering & fixed header styles
- Added autofocus for editable/new nodes from the Select node dialogue
- Improved Adar stability & performance without whitelist data loaded
Next steps: The ADAR team is working on implementing an EVM bridge with smart contract capabilities as part of the digital asset routing capabilities.
Why is this important? Currently, any non-SORA recipient receiving funds via ADAR would need to 1) create a SORA wallet to receive funds and 2) bridge the funds out into their operational wallet in another network, which means each recipient needs to pay the gas fees for bridging as well as go through a lot of effort.
The new planned capability will allow ADAR to make payments to wallets in other networks, and the payer only needs to pay for one single bridge before funds are distributed into multiple recipient wallets (no bridge fee for recipients). We hope that this will reduce the barrier to entry for ADAR significantly.
Find out how the ADAR app works here.
Do you like the ADAR app? Do you have any suggestions for improvements or new features? Please complete this survey and let us know what you think about ADAR!
For frequent updates from the ADAR team, join their Telegram group!
Here is the proposal submitted by ADAR; for more information on the Abed Group, take a look at this deck, and to try the version available from the completion of the first milestone, you can visit the ADAR website.
Ceres Updates
The Ceres team have been very busy lately. Here are the latest updates:
- The Apollo Litepaper is live; read it here. Apollo is a lending platform for the SORA network. https://x.com/TokenCeres/status/1722569731314487490
- The Hermes Governance Notifications bot for Telegram is live; access it here .
- The DEO Grand Burning event sacrificed 150K DEO and 100 CERES to Demeter, accounting for 10% of the total DEO supply and 5% of the CERES supply, respectively. https://x.com/TokenCeres/status/1726931431111504137
- The Charts on Ceres Tools have been updated, highlights include;
- The interval change is saved individually for each token; the default is always 30m and can be added to favourites.
- Appearance (candle, heikin, etc.) is saved for every token and can be added to favourites.
- Indicators are saved for each token individually and can be added to favourites.
- All options through settings (colour and everything related to the chart’s appearance) are saved globally for all tokens.
- While all drawings are on the left side, Options such as magnetic mode, etc., date ranges, and compare symbols are saved for each token individually.
5. The price notifications feature is live in Ceres Tools mobile apps.
6. The transfers section has been added for every account on Ceres Tools.
7. The Apollo airdrop snapshot will take place this month!
For constant updates from Ceres, subscribe to the Ceres Announcements channel on Telegram.
The Demeter Farming platform is available on the SORA network for users to farm with liquidity pool LP or single-sided staking with interesting APR*. New pools are constantly added, too. Demeter farming is directly integrated into Polkaswap for convenience. For more information, read this Medium article on the Demeter platform.
*Not financial advice, always do your own research.
🐈⬛ SORA Request for Proposal Updates:
#73 This RFP introduces Valtius and their proposal to be included in the SORA Builders Programme
Join the Decentralized Development channel on the SORA World Discord.
Thank you for making it all the way here. Your interest is much appreciated. If you are a passionate community member who evangelizes SORA and its supranational cryptoeconomic values to anyone willing to lend an ear, we are looking for you!
If you missed the previous ones: November 19 / October 26 / October 4 / September 18 / August 31 / August 18 / July 28 / June 16 / May 31 / May 15 / April 21 / April 10 / March 23 / February 27 /February 9 / January 23 / older Ecosystem Updates are archived here and Dev Updates are archived here
About SORA
SORA is a new economic order for the world, aimed at high growth and empowering human progress. The SORA network includes interoperability with the Polkadot and Kusama networks, as well as the capability to bridge external blockchains (like Ethereum) to the Polkadot ecosystem.
