Launch Planning: Community Update 🚀

[Profess]

@Bux, @JimCollinson, @dirvine, I have had a lot of backlog lately due to, among other things, testing of the Beta version, but also due to testing of my computers, internet connections, etc which has been very time-consuming, hence I am only now asking these questions but I hope I have earned the answers, so I will be grateful for the attention:

@"maidsafe

What are the alternatives to the ERC20 token?**
A big bang approach where we go live with the Native Token, or a more centralised approach where the Foundation is responsible for distributing and managing the currency. One carries a very high risk of failure, the other is antithetical to the aims of the project.

I will ask perversely, is there really no alternative to this approach? I have another option in mind, namely a third solution.

@maidsafe

Won’t refactoring the code to accommodate ERC20 then back to accommodate the Native Token be a lot of extra work?
No, the first is already done, the latter will can be much accellerated after the launch.

And how much will this approach complicate matters and how much additional work will be required in adapting the Native Token?

@maidsafe

What fundamentals have been put to one side for now?
Allow the transfer of the Network currency to any user free of transaction costs, and Let users utilise any of their identities to send and receive payments will need to wait for the Native Token.

@maidsafe

What about KYC?
KYC is hard to avoid these days, but holders of Omni Maid have the opportunity to wait until the launch of the Native Token and exchange then.

How long will users have to wait for the Native Token to be launched? Is there an estimate of how long it will take to get the target Network and Token up and running?

@maidsafe

What is the current roadmap?
The strategy around the launch is three steps: Test, Network, Native Currency for payments. (…) We will be able to move away from full-time management of the network and focus on developing the Native Token, which is our final destination.

How will the team lead the development of the Native Network and the target Token, will this be based on a working network with the ERC20 token?

@maidsafe

Is the eventual aim to eliminate the ERC20 token?
The aim is to provide the most accessible and usable network. We anticipate that the Native Token will be the more usable and likely more popular option in the future, but having them coexist would give the most flexibility, until the Native Token usage subsumes that of the ERC20.

As we progress with our native payment development, we envision allowing data uploaders to choose the payment method between ERC-20 payment and native token payment. This will provide flexible payment options for both crypto native users as well as those who don’t want to interact with crypto in general.

Is the combination of fire and water likely to provide the most accessible and useful network?

As mentioned above the Native Network Token is very much on the roadmap, this will be particularly important if we’re able to reach the scale that we have set out to.

What is this scale, and will its achievement be a condition for launching a Native Token network?

Are there any further updates to plans regarding the Network’s economy?
Yes. Upon releasing the last update to the White Paper earlier this year, the MaidSafe team were made aware of concerns around the level of discretion and control the Foundation would (potentially) have over the Network/Native Token. As a result steps have now been taken to address this concern (including automation).

There will be a reduction of maximum token supply (by 50%) and there will be updates to support token health (essential for the token-based network to scale and function).

What does this mean specifically, what 50% reduction in the maximum token supply is being referred to? Is it about the total target supply of tokens?