After much ado, the Chintai platform is finally ready to launch! Accordingly, this update will provide important details relevant to initial launch functionality. As usual, we’d like to thank the community for remaining patient as we experienced a slight delay from the originally anticipated launch date. As previously mentioned, when the RAM fix was implemented, which updated the EOS.io codebase, it significantly impacted the Chintai smart contract, causing issues with order mechanics and functionality. The update forced the Chintai team to have to entirely re-work the smart contract causing the unanticipated delay. However, as we’ve maintained from the start, our biggest concern is security; and, our intention is to make sure we provide a fully functional platform with the greatest security for the community when first releasing Chintai.
Furthermore, in order to ensure that the smart contract and platform are secure, we have had Object Computing audit the Chintai codebase to make sure that we have not overlooked anything. Luckily for us, and the entire EOS community, we received great reviews! Please note that the landing page for Chintai is https://chintai.io/, and the former https://www.chintai.io/ site will now forward to that new landing page. The actual leasing platform will be available at https://eos.chintai.io/. Again, we are unbelievably grateful for the support the project has received, and we are incredibly excited to finally be able to release the Chintai platform for the community’s use.
I. MSIG Security
II. Voting Proxy
III. Market Price Algorithm
IV. Chintai vs. REX Comparison
V. Bounty Program
VI. What’s Coming Next
VII. Chintai Newsletter
I. MSIG Security
From the initial publication of the Chintai whitepaper, we have maintained that Chintai will be a feeless platform sponsored by a select group of block producers. We believe the opportunity to sponsor Chintai should be an exclusive sponsorship, and as such, for now we have capped the number of BP sponsors at 10. This is important because the BP’s selected to sponsor the platform are not selected without proper due diligence and assurance of each BP’s reputability. As a sponsoring block producer, not only will each BP assist in providing funding necessary to operate the platform, each BP will also hold the responsibility of ensuring a higher level of security for the platform. In order to ensure maximum trust and security, we will be using MSIG for the Chintai smart contract. The idea is to protect the Chintai account permissions to provide security against the loss of tokens, prevent hackers from uploading malicious code to the contract and repel any other nefarious attacks against Chintai that could potentially be executed.
Assuming there will always be 10 BP sponsors, each BP will be given a signature weight of one, apart from Chintai which will get a signature weight of two. This will be done in order to ensure consensus is achieved before any actions are taken to change the fundamental structure of the Chintai platform with each BP having input into any decisions being made. When new updates are proposed, certain changes will need to be agreed upon by the group of sponsoring BPs. Some of the functionality that will depend upon MSIG are the following:
· Both the owner, active and additional custom permissions will be protected by MSIG
· MSIG will also be added to various custom Chintai contract actions in order to be applied to custom permissions
· Changing permissions on users’ accounts
· Any updates to the Chintai smart contract code
· The transfer of tokens outside of the Chintai account (apart from the normal flow between users)
· Cancelling all orders
We believe that the implementation of MSIG will provide even greater security for the platform, and ensure that any changes or decisions made will always be in the best interest of the entire EOS community.
II. Voting Proxy
We are also excited to announce, that Chintai will allow partial voting functionality from Day 1. We have promised that voting functionality will be enabled when using Chintai, as we believe it is a fundamental right of all EOS token holders. Voting will occur through a Chintai proxy. Whereby, when delegating tokens to the Chintai smart contract, votes will be sent by proxy from the Chintai smart contract. Eventually, users will have to ability to select any of the BP candidates they wish to vote for when creating a lease/stake order. However, the list of BP candidates will be limited to only the BP sponsors who are supporting Chintai at initial launch. This functionality will be expanded very soon to include any block producer candidates desired by the community, as we are aware there are many viable candidates. Please be patient while we update this functionality from the initial 11 Chintai sponsors. The ability to vote for various block producers will be available in the near future and we are working hard to get this completed as understand the importance of this feature.
III. Market Price Algorithm
Although we did not anticipate the spot-market pricing algorithm to be available for initial launch, we are excited to announce that this functionality will be immediately available. The Chintai User Guide, available on the https://eos.chintai.io website, will reference the ‘Market Price’ table and will also explain all details relevant to the Chintai interface. However, we wanted to make note that this functionality will be available to users immediately. The interface will display a ‘Market Price’ table, showing the current spot-market price for each of the different lease term periods. The table will display the current market price and volume of EOS offered for each term period over the past 24 hours. We are very excited to provide this functionality, as it will provide a benchmark for the interest rates selected by users for both ‘Stake’ and ‘Lease’ orders. We had not initially expected the pricing algorithm to be ready as it was not part of the critical functionality of the Chintai platform; however, huge credit must be given to the development team for being able to get this done in time for initial launch. The market price will average all interest rates associated with leases in each term period for the past 24 hours. This rate will be determined by the supply and demand associated with the aggregation of all orders executed on the platform. It is important to understand this dynamic, as users can get a sense of the stake/lease market liquidity and average expected return. Similarly, the total volume metric will give users a sense of the overall activity for each of the markets at any given period. Again, this is just one of the features that was not anticipated to be ready upon release of the platform, but we are proud to say that all users will now have the benefit of this feature from the start!
IV. Chintai vs. REX Comparison
We noted in the last community update, the Chintai team is fully aware of the REX implementation proposed by Dan Larimer in the beginning of August. However, it is extremely important to note, the REX proposal is currently just that: a proposal. It remains to be seen whether or not the proposal will actually be implemented, and if it is, it is certainly subject to change and evolve. Not to mention the fact that this proposal is far from being implemented, and still remains just an idea at this point in time. Regardless, we feel that it’s important to note the differences between the REX proposal and Chintai, so that the community understands that even if the proposal is implemented, there is room for both implementations to co-exist. The following points outline some of the main differences between Chintai and the REX proposal:
· Chintai will be a fee-less platform, while REX will charge a .05% trading fee on all trades.
· REX is limited by 30-day lease period. Conversely, Chintai remains fully flexible in terms of lease period options. Initial launch of Chintai will offer: 3-day, 7-day, 14-day, and 30-day lease periods, with the flexibility to adopt any lease periods desired by the community.
· Chintai users have the ability to submit both ‘Stake’ and ‘Lease’ orders. Chintai will develop an independent fair-market rate based on the supply and demand relationship between lease and stake orders. REX users will not submit orders, but will instead stake tokens and receive a return at the end of the period based on a flat market rate.
· To lease with Chintai you transfer tokens to the Chintai smart contract. Similarly, using REX will require sending tokens to a contract.
· REX forces users to vote for 21 block producer candidates. This may encourage uninformed voting by users who will not take their time to do their due diligence. Chintai allows users the ability to vote, but does not force users to vote if they do not feel informed to do so. (Chintai will initially allow users to vote for up to 30 block producer candidates with future iterations allowing for all potential block producer candidates.)
Most importantly, the Chintai platform has been designed with flexibility in mind to adapt and upgrade the platform with any potential changes that may be desired by the community. Therefore, if for any reason the community favors any functionality of the REX proposal or any other leasing proposal, the Chintai platform can adopt any new functionality. Users must also keep in mind that the Chintai team will continue to implement our own proposals and adapt and upgrade the platform far beyond the initial release. Version 1.0 of Chintai is just the beginning, and we have a multitude of advanced features and avenues we plan on expanding the Chintai platform into.
V. Bounty Program
As our focus is always on security and improving the platform to make sure we do not overlook any details, we will continue the bounty program that has been advertised for the Jungle net release. We invite the EOS community to interact with Chintai platform to help us learn from your experience and identify bugs. All functionality decisions have been made with the interest of the community in mind, and we will continue to develop the platform in the same way. Therefore, if any users have suggestions or other ideas on how we can improve the platform, we fully welcome any input. Similarly, finding bugs will be rewarded with a bounty program. If you find bugs, please report them on our GitHub issues page: https://github.com/eos42/Chintai-issues
Finding a previously unknown bug will result in rewards of either 10 EOS (previously unknown minor bugs) or up to 500 EOS (previously unknown major bug) Major bug include anything that would cause a 1) system-wide crash 2) money to be lost or stolen. A minor bug is anything else that isn’t aesthetics.
Disclaimer: We reserve the right to decide what bugs are major, minor, or aesthetic, and how much to pay at our discretion for each individual bug report received.
VI. What’s Coming Next
As we have endlessly mentioned, Chintai will continue to advance and implement various new features to further optimize the platform well after initial launch. As such, the roadmap for the next month will focus on implementing auto-renewal functionality, full airdrop handling and lastly the ability for users to vote for any BP’s they wish. Those features will be the focus from now until mid-November, when we hope these features will be complete. Further down the line, we are working toward adding Stop-Limit order functionality, sidechain implementations and cross market leases. Cross market leases will enable users to lease/offer their EOS to any created order regardless of the term period associated with the order. This will enable faster order filling, and greater liquidity pools. We will also be working on enabling Chintai for use on other chains utilizing the EOS.io codebase such as Worbli and Telos. Similarly, as previously mentioned, we understand the importance of full voting functionality, and the development team has this at the forefront of their agenda. However, this is just a brief look into the project roadmap, and there will be a plethora of new features continually rolled out.
VII. Chintai Newsletter
Another exciting development will be the advent of the Chintai newsletter. The newsletter will provide updates for the community on all the on-going progress being made on the Chintai platform, as well as provide details on any pertinent updates that may occur. The newsletter will also provide users with exclusive insights into discussions being had between the Chintai team relating future functionality implementation and development. The newsletter will most likely be sent out monthly with links to any and all new developments relevant to the community. We urge anyone interesting in remaining up-to-date on everything Chintai to sign up for the newsletter as soon as possible to not miss out on any important developments. Please visit the https://eos.chintai.io support page to subscribe and begin receiving the newsletter as soon as possible!
Conclusion
After months of hard work and dedication, we could not be more excited to finally release Chintai to the community. We know the community has been eagerly awaiting the launch of the platform, and we have been just as eager to provide it to everyone. We promise that the wait is well worth it, and again, the wait has only been to assure maximum security and operability of the platform. Finally, we can say we are ready to launch the platform and we hope everyone is just as happy with the product as we are! Nevertheless, this is just the beginning, and there will be lots more from the Chintai team to come well into the future! Again, if you have any questions or concerns and would like to contact the Chintai team, please reach out to us on Telegram, Twitter, Medium, or email us using the support page link provided on the https://eos.chintai.io/!
