Particl

On Monday, we announced that a PART/USDT pair was now available on the MEXC cryptocurrency exchange!

This is a significant milestone for the Particl network as its makes MEXC the most accessible and widely used exchange platform on which PART can now be traded. Notably, it allows for withdrawals of up to 30 BTC per day without the need for intrusive KYC verifications.

We're optimistic that this new listing, along with the new trading tools it renders accessible to the community such as Hummingbot for example, will improve the trading environment and conditions for the PART coin, effectively broadening its accessibility to a wider audience than ever before since the project's initial launch in 2017. ***

• Using Hummingbot 🦢

  If you've been looking to trade PART or contribute liquidity to its available markets, the MEXC listing is bound to be a major boon for you on that end.

  Indeed, a big benefit of MEXC is that it's compatible with the powerful, free, and open-source Hummingbot market making and automated trading tool, which means you can now use it to trade PART/USDT leveraging your own custom automated strategies or one from the large array of pre-made templates.

  As such, we invite you to take a look at their website, who knows, perhaps you'll find something interesting that also contributes to healthy trading conditions for PART at the same time!

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

• Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️ As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

• Exploring New Coin Additions 🪙 This week, we've continued our efforts towards incorporating new coins into BasicSwap and enhancing certain DEX components to ensure broader asset compatibility.

  We must note that progress on that end is happening slower than hoped due to a variety of roadblocks related to the nature of some of the cryptocurrencies we are integrating. However, we believe that starting next week should see the beginning of the testing process for some of these coins as we're finally coming to the end of their integration process.

  Don't forget that, as part of their integration process, we've reworked some of the components of the DEX to make it more readily compatible with a wider array of coins, which means we'll generally be able to integrate new coins more easily in the future. ***

• User Interface 🖥️ We're continuing work on refining the New Offer page, along with integrating more minor improvements to the user interface. As it stands today, the New Offer page is nearly ready and we expect to start testing the new layout shortly. We will publish these changes live once ready and properly tested.

On Thursday, the 29th of August, 2023, the fourth team funding request has been officially approved by Particl stakeholders with an impressive approval rate of 99.82%!

The proposal sought 35,250 PART per month from the treasury over a span of 12 months, followed by the requirement of a new funding request to be published and voted on by stakeholders once this one expires.

We are delighted to announce that this proposal received resounding approval from Particl stakeholders, achieving an outstanding 99.82% approval rate (exceeding the 60% minimum requirement) and a 55.24% participation rate (surpassing the 20% minimum threshold). The voting period spanned 5,040 blocks, with 2779 votes in favor of the proposal, and 5 votes against it.

We want to thank every one of you in the community for this vote of confidence and for participating in this democratic exercise. We are all very excited, and proud, to be able to keep on working on Particl, expanding its ecosystem, and stimulating its adoption along with you all.

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

• Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️ As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

• Bidirectional Atomic Swaps Now Live! 🚀 We've finally pushed our groundbreaking bidirectional XMR atomic swap functionality live on BasicSwap DEX!

  That means you can now swap Monero on the DEX as both the taker or maker of the transaction, what many would refer to as swapping Monero "both ways". This goes a long way in preserving our liberties and financial privacy by making Monero, and PART (Anon), invincible to the relentless attacks against it, especially at the exchange level.

  Although there's a considerable amount of work remaining before BasicSwap and other Monero-friendly DEXs can supplant centralized exchanges in the mainstream, particularly in relation to our development of a web framework and light/remote services, we're incredibly excited by this significant milestone and hope it will enhance BasicSwap's appeal and usability for a wider range of Monero users.

  Check out our announcement blog post for all the relevant information about this new update. ***

• Exploring New Coin Additions 🪙 This week, we've initiated the process of considering new coins for inclusion on BasicSwap. We're currently examining the codebases of several coins and will soon determine which ones to prioritize.

  Our selection will be based not only on the coin's merit but also on our capacity to effectively maintain it and assist users, should the need arise. ***

• Minor Bug Fix 🪳 After the recent release of bidirectional atomic swaps, enabling the ability to swap Monero both ways using adaptor signature-based atomic swaps, an issue emerged related to HTLC swaps. We have since promptly addressed and fixed this problem. You can review the fix here. ***

• User Interface 🖥️ We've also implemented a series of small cosmetic changes and additional code clean-up to the DEX's GUI (see code here). These minor changes are now live, and you can update your BasicSwap DEX instance to get them on your device! ***

• Particl Listed on a New Exchange (NonKYC.io) 📈 PART has been listed on the new NonKYC.io exchange, which supports a good range of pairs (PART/BTC, PART/USDT, PART/XMR) as well as new bridge for PART:wPART (BSC20) deposits. You can access the pairs at these links:

  • Bitcoin pair: https://nonkyc.io/market/PART_BTC
  • USDT pair: https://nonkyc.io/market/PART_USDT
  • Monero pair: https://nonkyc.io/market/PART_XMR

  This listing is in line with our current efforts in getting Particl listed on more exchanges. We're continuing our work on that end, and hope to have great news for the community in that regard shortly!

We've also been making progress on the new website, as has been the case for the past couple of weeks, which we now expect to have a working version in internal testing soon. Live launch should follow shortly after that!

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

• Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️ As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

• Bi-directional Monero Atomic Swaps 🧡 We're on the brink of completing the testing phase for the new bi-directional Monero swapping feature of BasicSwap DEX, with plans to launch this groundbreaking functionality next week.

  While we have confidence in our current implementation and the extensive testing conducted, we encourage you to promptly report any issues you may experience with this new feature. Your assistance is invaluable, as it accelerates the project's progress and contributes to a more robust ecosystem!

***

• Small Fixes and Display Improvements 🤏 We've also implemented a few minor modifications, notably enhancing the information display during adaptor signature-based swaps. The ITX and PTX states, which previously appeared as "Unknown", are now accurately displayed.

  This improvement has now been pushed to BasicSwap's dev branch, with additional updates to follow soon, and will soon transition to the master branch, making the update official.

  Increased Focus on New Exchange Listing 📈 This week, we've been asked about the current efforts to get PART listed in new exchanges, and we thought of addressing that in this update.

  In light of Bittrex's current situation, which is less than ideal for many community members, we've indeed recently increased our efforts to secure listings on more accessible and popular exchanges.

  The objectives of this initiative are multifaceted. Firstly, we aim to enhance the accessibility of PART for both our community and newcomers. This involves ideally listing on a KYC-free, unrestricted exchange that operates in a broad range of countries.

  Secondly, we seek to establish a reputable trading environment for the PART coin, which will foster improved liquidity and increased volume. This, in turn, will enhance the coin's appeal to external observers and speculators.

  Additionally, securing listings for PART on more popular and widely used exchanges paves the way for the coin to be reintroduced to quick swap exchanges like SimpleSwap.io and StealthEX.io. As you may recall, PART was previously listed on these exchanges but was removed when Bittrex began restricting their API use to service providers.

  In essence, securing listings on better and more widely used exchanges will yield net positive outcomes for the project, amplifying the results of our marketing and outreach efforts. While most exchanges enforce NDAs during the discussion and negotication phase, thus limiting our ability to share ongoing developments, we will certainly announce any positive news in that regard as soon as we are able to.

We're still making good progress on the new website, which we now expect to have a working version in internal testing in the next couple of days. Live launch should follow shortly after that!

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

• Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️ As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

• Testing and Fixing Bugs🪳 This week, our focus has been on testing the BasicSwap DEX, particularly the integration of its innovative feature that enables bi-directional Monero atomic swaps. As we navigated through this task, we identified a few minor issues in both the codebase and GUI, which we have been diligently investigating and fixing.

  A notable issue we encountered involved the display of blockchain transaction fees on BasicSwap, which differed from the actual on-chain fee. This discrepancy required substantial time to investigate and ultimately led to a comprehensive overhaul of the DEX protocol's fee estimation. This modification is now complete.

  At this time, we continue to test the new bi-directional Monero atomic swaps and find ourselves in the final stages of this process, steadily moving towards completion.

***

• User Interface 🖥️ We've also been implementing a series of small cosmetic changes and additional code clean-up on the DEX's GUI. We anticipate merging these modifications into the live version shortly, resulting in a minor user interface update.

We've also been making significant progress on the new website, which we now expect to have a working version in internal testing in the next couple of days. Live launch should follow shortly after that!

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️

As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

Bi-directional Monero Swaps 🧡

We've been busy this week testing bi-directional Monero atomic swaps, which now allow you to trade Monero on BasicSwap as both the taker and the maker.

During the tests, we ran into a few small issues with both the two-way swaps and the BasicSwap protocol itself, which we've been fixing as we go. You can follow the fixes being applied by monitoring BasicSwap's dev branch on Github, found at this link.

Given the smooth progression of testing thus far, we anticipate the completion of this phase to happen shortly. Please keep an eye out for forthcoming updates on our progress!

We've also been making significant progress on the new website, which we now expect to have a working version in internal testing in the next couple of days. Live launch should follow shortly after that!

Earlier this week, the yearly coin emission rate of the Particl blockchain has successfully been reduced by 1%, as was scheduled via hard-coding into the blockchain by the hardfork of the 12th of July, 2021.

This brings the annual rate down to 7%, a reduction from the previous 8%, with the next coin emission rate decrease slated for the 12th of July, 2025, at 5PM UTC, further reducing the rate to 6%.

You can see the first post-reduction block, with its lowered staking reward, here.

Recently, we've launched a new educative and mission-focused blog series on Particl News titled The DEX Revolution. This series delivers a comprehensive view of BasicSwap, touches upon related atomic swap technologies, and provides clarity on our vision and rationale behind certain design decisions.

For anyone interested by BasicSwap and the future landscape of unfettered, trustless trading, this series is a must-read. Here are the first two chapters of the series.

• Part 1 - The Evolution of Atomic Swaps
• Part 2 - Atomic Swaps and Web Access Gateways

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️

As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

Bi-directional Monero Swaps 🧡

This week, we've successfully integrated bi-directional Monero swaps, a feature that enables users to facilitate Monero swaps as either the participant or the offerer,. This capability, which is absent in all other Monero atomic swap implementations in the field, sets BasicSwap even further apart from other DEX solutions in offering a ready-made, all-inclusive, and unapologetically decentralized swapping solution for Monero.

We're now thoroughly testing this new capability against various edge cases, focusing particularly on all potential 'unhappy paths' or scenarios when a swap may not go as planned. We anticipate that this exciting new feature will be live very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for an update!

The addition of bi-directional Monero swaps marks a significant stride towards our vision of a privacy-first, pro-liberty economy that's inclusive of many privacy coins, and we're thrilled for BasicSwap to play a pivotal role in furthering this mission.

For a bit more technical information on bi-directional Monero swaps, you can consult this WIP documentation or these visual graphics (1, 2).

> Note: This improvement requires no UI modifications; the process for placing orders that request Monero will mirror that of offering it, but in reverse.

After the release of BasicSwap's GUI 2.0.2 last week, we have redirected more resources towards the development of the new website. This shift has expedited its progress significantly, and we will maintain this task as a high priority item until its delivery.

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️ As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

Note: This week has seens some particularly time-consuming upstream merges, notably pertaining to modifications made to the libsecp256k1 library and the wallet db code. This, unfortunately, diverted time from other crucial tasks, but we've successfully implemented these merges into Particl Core.

User Interface 🖥 Earlier this week, we rolled out version 2.0.2 of BasicSwap's user interface. This release contains a multitude of enhancements, additions, and fixes, a significant portion of which came directly from community feedback.

Here is a comprehensive breakdown of the modifications introduced by this update.

• Extensive enhancements to the Wallets page including an alternate display of asset values in USD and BTC, improved visualization of pending balances, and more accurate button labeling.
• The order book now offers a display of rates and amounts in USD for a more intuitive user experience, and also remembers your most recent filter history.
• Tooltips have been added across various locations to better explain certain features.
• New "Accept" button in the "Available Bids" section and a "Details" button in "Bids Received"/"Bids Sent" sections for improved navigation.
• Users now have the ability to prune offer, bid, and swap history from the user interface, enabling a cleaner workspace.
• The management of SMSG addresses has been significantly improved for better user control.
• A range of back-end improvements have been made, including code clean-ups, upgraded icons, and overall GUI enhancements for a smoother user experience.

Now that this update is live, our next objective, on the desktop UI front, is to overhaul the DEX's 'New Offer' page. This revamp will be included in our forthcoming GUI update, specifically version 2.0.3.

Bi-directional Monero Swaps 🧡 We've once again made substantial strides towards the integration of bi-directional Monero atomic swaps into the BasicSwap DEX, although there is still no code officially merged on Github yet.

While progress towards completion of this important feature is satisfying, additional work and thorough testing are still needed before it is fully ready for deployment. But since this is Particl developer Tecnovert's current main focus, we expect this improved and key functionality to be ready relatively shortly.

With version 2.0.2 of BasicSwap's user interface live, we can now divert more resources towards the design of the new Particl website. Consequently, this should considerably speed up the completion process of this task, which has been in progress for some time.

As we progress through the open beta of the BasicSwap DEX, we've inaugurated, this week, a new series focused on decentralized trading exchanges and atomic swaps.

This multipart series delve into the complex mechanics and intricacies of building a privacy-first DEX, and elucidate why such platforms are increasingly essential today and for the foreseeable future.

To read the first installment of this new series, follow this link.

• Extensive enhancements to the Wallets page including an alternate display of asset values in USD and BTC, improved visualization of pending balances, and more accurate button labeling.
• The order book now offers a display of rates and amounts in USD for a more intuitive user experience, and also remembers your most recent filter history.
• Tooltips have been added across various locations to better explain certain features.
• New "Accept" button in the "Available Bids" section and a "Details" button in "Bids Received"/"Bids Sent" sections for improved navigation.
• Users now have the ability to prune offer, bid, and swap history from the user interface, enabling a cleaner workspace.
• The management of SMSG addresses has been significantly improved for better user control.
• A range of back-end improvements have been made, including code clean-ups, upgraded icons, and overall GUI enhancements for a smoother user experience.

We're still completing the items outlined in our previous updates, namely including enhancing Tor server capabilities and making a variety of minor improvements.

Please note, however, that we are currently observing a delay that is impacting the the development process of Particl Desktop which we hope to resolve shortly.

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️ As always, we consistently stay up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version by regularly incorporating upstream updates into Particl Core. You can monitor these changes by visiting this link.

Swapping Monero From Both Sides 💛

We've made substantial strides towards the integration of bi-directional Monero atomic swaps into the BasicSwap DEX.

Indeed, early this week, we had a mostly functional prototype, yet we decided to overhaul the majority of its codebase. The purpose of this revision is not only to streamline the code for easier integration with the existing BSX DEX framework, but also to improve the user experience and flow, enhance overall functionality, and clean the code

While progress towards completion of this important feature is satisfying, additional work and thorough testing are still needed before it is fully ready for deployment.

User Interface 🖥

!

We've also been making significant progress this week on the version 2.0.2 of the user interface. Here's a rundown of our accomplishments this week:

• Enhancements and modifications to the Wallets page, including displaying the full portfolio and assets in both USD and BTC.
• The addition of an option to select the default display currency (USD, EUR, etc) in the Settings page.
• Implementation of various tooltips and helpers to better explain certain features and options more effectively.
• Initiated the design of a streamlined and compact method for listing new offers, with the advanced mode still being available for expert users (not part of the 2.0.2 GUI update).
• A wide variety of minor bugs/tweaks.

Having completed our checklist of intended changes and resolved any lingering bugs and issues, we're now almost ready to release the update in the coming days. Consequently, we anticipate the update to be deployed after the last code clean-up, either over the weekend or at the start of next week.

BasicSwap Talk at Monerokon

Earlier today, Particl and BasicSwap developer Kewde gave a presentation on Monero atomic swaps at this year's Monerokon conference.

Unfortunately, the presentation wasn't featured in the event's livestream as there are a couple of simultaneous presentations, but was recorded and will be published shortly. We will share the video as soon as it becomes available.