SORA Ecosystem Updates #74, January 29, 2024
SORA development status updates with progress from across the community.
2024 has started with a bang; thanks to your support, the SORA Polkadot parachain was secured after winning the 59th auction against an anonymous parathread. Thanks to the community’s support and a 41.6% lead, the candle blew out on the 9th of January at 22:07hr, with 46,422 DOT contributed by all of you. Please look forward to the reward distribution of Kensetsu Gold, which will be vested for the duration of the parachain lease.
Right after securing the parachain, the bridge between Polkadot and SORA was up and running, so for the first time ecosystem-wide, you can trade both DOT and KSM in Polkaswap.io!
At this moment, you must be wondering “wen Kensetsu Gold,” which is a very valid question, as the last time you read this section, the base Kensetsu overcollateralised stable asset was still under development. Happily, there is much more progress than last time, and you will soon be able to try out the platform on the testnet. Remember that the SORA standard is very high. Therefore, new features will only be released after undergoing intensive testing, gathering plenty of user feedback, and considering every possible scenario to ensure successful quality.
Another great achievement this month is securing another ~1-year lease for our SORA Kusama Parachain, which was self-funded with 11 KSM. It’s important to keep all our existing links to other networks active.
Before the holidays passed, there was a mention of the integrated plan receiving an upgrade, with new milestones added, which take into consideration the current technological, geopolitical, and user-requested features that make sense and support the development of the SORA new world economic order. Although this time we won’t be dropping any mad ⍺lpha, here are some insights on what to expect moving forward:
- The order book will support the creation of marketplaces, including RWA and stablecoin trading; advanced trading will be possible to toggle on Polkaswap in the future.
- Aggregate Liquidity Technology will someday power trades across boundless universes (including other chains).
- XORless transactions will be available for all swaps, similar to the system used for the CBDC proof of concept (this will still use XOR for transaction fees, just that the XOR is taken from the swap as part of the process behind the scenes).
- Kensetsu assets will be pegged to different currencies, and RWA, and the community will decide which ones and have the power to add or remove assets.
- Kensetsu will have a $KEN token (no $Barbie, though).
- Liquid staking will be made available for SORA network nominators.
- The HASHI bridge will break free from the desktop and be available on mobile devices, first the Substrate version, then the Multi EVM.
- SORA card on and off-ramps will be the easiest way to get your favourite SORA network tokens and more crypto assets.
- Much more…
What do you think? The future looks bright for SORA and the community, and contributors don’t stop, can’t stop, won’t stop buidling. Please look forward to more details on these points and more to come, as well as an updated version of the integrated plan to include these new milestones.
Today, work is ongoing to update the Polkadot SDK version to upgrade the Substrate (or Polkadot now) bridge. Additionally, work is ongoing to bridge the sovereign and ultra-based country to the SORA network, so stay tuned for an announcement.
Work on the order book is progressing steadily, focusing on indexers to ensure that the information provided is up-to-date and uptime does not suffer from a high load triggered by order book transactions. No one likes inaccurate data.
On the mobile side, Demeter farming is available within the SORA wallet, allowing you to carry the best-kept secret in crypto in the palm of your hand wherever you go. Adding or removing liquidity and claiming rewards will be a breeze!
Finally, SORA card development is progressing steadily. Collaborating with external parties, especially legacy ones, is always challenging, and progress has taken longer than anticipated between compliance and other delays. A message from the SORA card team below is very inspiring, and the community can look forward to great things in 2024!
The year has started strong, and it will only pick up from here, so buckle up!
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. For more information, please refer to the SORA Mobile — SORA Card updates section.
A message from the SORA Card team;
It is great to see that SORA Card is progressing every day. In the last few weeks, we decided to change the workload by prioritizing a KYC and security upgrade before implementing and testing the fiat wallet.
This will lead to a better user experience and a higher success rate for new applicants. These upgrades are necessary, and thanks to the early adopters’ feedback, we identified points to improve.
To safeguard this improved user experience, we will temporarily disable SORA card applications through polkaswap.io and direct all applicants and users to the SORA Wallet app for mobile devices.
In parallel, the development of the XOR — EUR exchange and connection to your IBAN and self-custodial wallet are being finalized, and they are almost ready for testing.
Finally, we are excited to announce the new page on the SORA website dedicated to SORA Card: https://sora.org/soracard . This serves as a great introduction to SORA Card alongside our established source of information: soracard.com.
We will continue to update you on the progress made and appreciate your ongoing support.
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
- Updating the polkadotSDK (substrate) version to 1.1.0. This will enable an architecture upgrade for the Substrate bridge.
Substrate bridge (Github milestone)
- Working on adapting the bridge to connect to a non-parachain Substrate-based chain. The chain is developed by a sovereign country.
Order book (Github milestone)
- Investigating how indexers might react to high load on the order book to ensure sufficient uptime and performance.
Multi-EVM bridge (Github milestone)
- The team is mainly focused on other initiatives.
Kensetsu (Github milestone)
- Going over test cases to ensure the platform is robust;
- Preparing for the release to public test.
Aggregate Liquidity Technology (Github milestone)
- Working on the architecture upgrade to better accommodate integrating new liquidity sources into the algorithm; first up: the order book liquidity source!
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
Finalised the release 3.8.1 — Demeter Farming: Phase 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
- Collaborating with external partners to implement and release the fiat wallet for SORA Card. Because of regulations, for now, we need to have a wallet published by a licensed partner to perform banking operations.
- Synchronising with partners to update SDKs to continuously improve the security and performance of the app.
- External partners are still implementing the features we need to finish the implementation of the 2nd phase: converting crypto <-> fiat.
👷🏽♀️ SORA Builders Programme News
ADAR Updates
The ADAR app is continuously receiving updates and improvements; highlights this month include:
“As we enter 2024, the ADAR team is buoyed by the community’s unwavering support and looks forward to a transformative year ahead. We’re committed to continuous improvement and excited about the potential that lies ahead for ADAR. Thank you for being part of our journey.
ADAR v1.0.10 features support for non-SORA-native tokens like ETH and USDC for payments, expanding options to pay employees and service providers, as well as Polkaswap integration, allowing bridging funds between SORA and Ethereum or Kusama, and much more”
- Read the entire progress made by ADAR in 2023 in the SORA Summary.
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:
- 📖 Ceres released the article Recap of 2023 and Setting Sail Into 2024
https://twitter.com/TokenCeres/status/1740707257447260382
- 📸 The Apollo Snapshot has been taken.
https://twitter.com/TokenCeres/status/1741768713630630368
- 📊 Here are the final results of the Apollo Snapshot
https://twitter.com/TokenCeres/status/1745168066541928559
- 🔥 New features have been added to Ceres Tools;
- Token holders
- Tracking bridge transfers on the Transfers section of an account’s Portfolio
- A TBC Reserves tracker — https://tools.cerestoken.io/tbc-reserves
- Filters for Swaps
- A chart for tracking a pairs liquidity
- 🛠 Buidling the Apollo Platform is in progress
Dear Ceres community, the Ceres team is back to work after the holidays! 🪙🪙🪙
We value your feedback and would love to hear you tell us which new features you want on tools.cerestoken.io?
Be kind, and please fill out this form to help us improve this unique platform.
Thanks in advance! 🙌
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:
**Submit your development proposal or to improve the SORA network here.**
- 73 — Submitted by the VALTIUS team to request community support to develop the Crypto Vault
- 77 — Submitted by the Uptest team to provide testing tools native to the SORA network
- 80 — Submitted by the Palmatrix team to develop a bridge between SORA and Palmatrix and a widget to enable CEX liquidity.
- 81 — Submitted by the Soranauts team to fund strategic marketing
SORA governance will pick up the proposals with community input and consensus to propose referendums for their implementation. You have the power to decide which features progress! The future of SORA is in your hands!
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: SORA 2023 Summary / December 15 / 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.
