Intended Use of Funds Part 2: Action
Yesterday I described the Vision. Today I’ll describe the planned allocation of funds and key activities to execute it.
Allocation of funds
The following represents the allocation of funds as we foresee it. Note that our intended use of revenue is an estimation and our allocation will likely change and adapt over time as fit for the purpose.
Protocol Development
A total of 55% of the funds will be allocated to software development split between the Nimiq protocol and ecosystem. The protocol is the core of the project. It is the backbone of Nimiq’s first-class payment experience.
Protocol Development Roadmap
- Complete the Mini-Blockchain scheme for clients to sync in seconds.
- Research and implement a memory hard consensus algorithm and research a transition path to proof-of-stake.
- Complete the lightning network primitives (HTLC) and implement the infrastructure for instant transactions and cross-chain interoperability.
- Create Genesis Block and launch Mainnet.
In parallel we will harden the protocol with a peer review process and a well-funded bug bounty program to incentivise the best security experts to join forces.
Ecosystem Development
We follow the revolutionary approach of building both a protocol and an app ecosystem to streamline them into one great payment experience.
The user-facing apps of our ecosystem are the heart of the frictionless payment experience, because they accompany customers, merchants and developers through the full process.
Ecosystem Development Roadmap
- Complete our wallet app for customers to transfer Nimiq through any existing messenger applications including Facebook, Whatsapp, WeChat, etc.
- Finish our paper wallet app to store funds with physical security.
- Design, implement and market our Paypal-like payment gateway for online businesses.
- Design and implement our “cash register app” for offline businesses to receive over-the-counter payments.
- Complete our research on decentralized peer-to-peer exchanges and implement a global platform for frictionless exchange into local currency.
In parallel we will also harden the ecosystem with a peer review process and a well-funded bug bounty program.
Community Development
A Blockchain is only as powerful as the community supporting it. For protocols and apps to be first-class open source software, we will grow a strong community around them. The allocation of funds to Community Development bridges the gap until the Endowment Fund vesting of the Mainnet kicks in and secures the long-term maintenance and advancement of the Nimiq Network.
Strategy
- Aim for a transparent long-term relationship between the community and the team.
- Build a strong culture rather then a strong brand.
- Provide high-quality documentation for the protocol and the ecosystem apps.
- Provide and promote simple and fun getting-started guides for new developers.
- Highly responsive on Github / Slack / Reddit & Co for an efficient two-way communication between the developer community and the team.
- Update the community in regular blog posts about the current goals, progresses and challenges.
- Host conferences, hackathons, coding challenges and other social events to fuel the spirit of the community.
- Create Vlogs and livestreaming events to grow an even bigger community of endusers around the project and the developer community.
Marketing and Business Development
The budget for Marketing and Business Development will be used to drive user adoption and pursue strategic partnerships, independent of the developer community outreach. In order to achieve our goal of mainstream adoption, our underlying vision of simplicity requires not only implementing a user experience that reflects ease-of-use, but also a clear and simple brand and marketing message to the end-users. Think campaigns like Apple’s “Think Different”.
Legal
This budget covers the legal costs associated with providing a game-changing payment protocol. The legal costs might vary from region to region as we roll out a global solution.
Operations
The Operations Budget covers the expenses associated with day-to-day operations, administration, location infrastructure, hosting infrastructure, transportation and other related expenses.
Contingency Reserve
This is to be prepared for the unknown unknowns.
We can’t wait to take the next steps towards launching the Nimiq Mainnet through your support in the fundraiser. For more details on our Roadmap you can read up on Part 3. We are going to release the smart contract for peer reviewing very soon.
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