Minter ruen

Minter is a simple blockchain that allows to make transactions of network base coin between users. Minter network is developed with two main objectives:

1. To present a new cryptocurrency, which is easy to own and operate.
2. To let the creators of narrowly focused products (located in the "long tail") to produce their own coins, secured by BIP - the network coin, and to integrate them in their products and the companies within a few hours.

The advantages of Minter network:

• Quik transactions: blocks are created once in 5 seconds.
• Easy integration in any environment, and the first of all in mobile: the first wallet was launched as a Telegram bot.
• Sending transactions not only to the addresses, which are often complicated, but also on usernames, mobile numbers and e-mail.
• Resistance to overload: more than 100 thousands of transactions per minute, tens of millions of transactions per day.
• Irreversibility: many PoW-blockchains require confirmation from a few blocks after transaction to ensure the transfer. In the case of Minter all is finalized in the block where transaction has got, so there is no need to wait for confirmation.

The base currency of network is BIP (Blockchain Instant Payment). In total it will be released 10 billion BIP in 7 years.

The distribution of tokens:

• validators (for generation of blocks) - 98%;
• users (airdrop during 12 months) - 1%;
• partners (early access) - 1%;
• team - 0%.

Genesis block will include 200 million BIP (pre-mine) that will be equally distributed between users (DeCenter and other friendly communities) and partners. Users will get their part of tokens through various airdrops and partners - through a private-sale.

Private sale will take place from August to October 31, 2018. The price on private sale will be: minimum 100'000 BIP for 1 BTC and maximum 1'000'000 BIP for 10 BTC. Participation limit for partners is from 1 BTC up to 10 BTC. Those who want to work without limits may apply to validators’ pools. Limits for pools are from 10 BTC to 100 BTC. Pools’ participants have no transactions limits, but no more than the total volume of 100 BTC. The list of verificated pools will be published on September 1, 2018. BIP that were unsold on private sale are distributed between its participants as a bonus in proportion to their contribution.

Access to sale:

• By invitations in DeCenter community from August 2018.
• According to the results of KYC/AML pre-check on https://www.minter.network/ps, but not earlier than September 2018.
• The order of invitations sending is determined by ranking of internal algorithm.
• Citizens of the US and China can not participate in private sale, as well as persons that has not passed KYC/AML.

Details of the private sale procedure on the link.

The remaining 98% of tokens will be created during 7 years as a reward for successful creation of the block (mining). Reward for a successful block begins with 111 BIP, and during 7 years smoothly falls to 1 BIP.

The market cost of BIP will be defined in the private sale, it starts from 1 cent.

20% from reward for the block and from the transaction commission are charged as a tax and distributed in equal proportions between the team and DAO developers.

Commission for the transaction is 0,01 BIP at the moment.

In Minter blockchain the consensus algorithm DPoS (Delegated Proof-of-Stake) is used. In such a network the masternodes that contain a certain amount of coins (stake), take on the role of validators receiving a reward for confirmation of transactions and generation of blocks. In this case the coins contained in the stake can be delegated from other members who also receive rewards for confirmation of transaction.

Learn more about choosing validators and delegation of funds to masternodes in Architecture section.

Minter blockchain is powered by Tendermint engine with the use of consensus building algorithm DPoS (Delegated Proof-of-Stake). Minter is a part of Cosmos network, which is called the Internet for blockchains. The programming language that is used to implement the client/node is Golang.

In Minter network various roles of participants are envisaged:

• User that can transfer BIP, buy another cryptocurrency with it.
• Validator — supports the network, his masternodes form blocks, for which rewards are credited.
• Delegates. Anyone can delegate coins to validator and receive an average of 80% of its reward. The more delegates has validator, the more often are rewards.

Masternodes are the basis of the network, it is on them validators collect their blocks and get the reward. The project starts with a maximum number of validators - 16 (4 nodes belong to the team and are included in the genesis block). During 5 years this number will be increased to 256, each month 4 nodes will be added.

Immediately after the start of the main network anyone will be able to launch masternode. But to get in the top-100 of first validators, the node should have funds - STAKE. At the same time masternode has an opportunity to use not only  its own funds, but also the ones that are delegated from users.

Immediately after the launch of masternode, its owner can apply for verification within Minter blockchain, state him as a validator and announce the conditions. For example, 20/80 distribution of income, where from each reward for the block validator leaves to itself 20%, and 80% are automatically credited to delegates. Conditions can be 50/50, and 1/99, here every validator decides himself what he wants to offer to participants. After the launch of masternode, he will not be able to change the conditions, which means that users are always protected.

Minter network regulates the participation of masternodes only by the size of stake (own and delegated). Stake will be recalculated once in 10 minutes, so the top may vary 6 times per hour. There is a basic principle of such blockchains - they are supported by those who are ready to freeze bigger stake than others to ensure his work.

User simply transfers coins on validator’s account and regularly gets the payment which are fully managed by blockchain, so the masternode will not be able to delay the funds or underpay. At any time user can apply for stake refund, abandon the validator or go to another.

TOP-9 validators on the number of own funds will have the right to vote in DAO.

DAO of developers will start working during the year from the date of launching Minter network. Before that the TOP of validators will act as escrow agent for issued and involved funds.

Project team describes Minter from developer’s perspective as:

• Distributed database;
• Trusted storage. What is written in blockchain can not be removed from there;
• Journaled database. You can come to the state-of-truth by applying all past transactions;
• Set of built-in smart contracts;
• Full access to all information, including the full list of all transactions (free and without limits);
• The creation of transactions (update of database, chargeable);
• Identification of accounts on the basis of ECDSA;
• Distributed peer-to-peer network => protection from DDoS;
• Possibility to make transactions as through own node as well as through third-party node;
• Protection against re-sending the same transaction;
• Protection from double-spend.

About half of the points from this list are the basic for almost any blockchain.

Minter blockchain was one of the first to conduct KYC of its users with Telegram Passport, a new product from the leader of KYC/AML — Sum & Substance.

There is no information in open access on the legal status of the project, organizational and legal form, jurisdiction. Also, privacy policy, policy on the processing of personal data, terms of use of the product, agreement on the  tokens purchase, description of product risks were not found. Country restrictions only indicate that US and Chinese citizens can not participate in a private sale.

The project team defines its token as a utility. Token most likely can not be recognized as a security paper, but according to Howey test, it can have a positive response on the basis of "expectation of profit." Because the owners of tokens can delegate them to validators and expect to receive a part of the reward from the block confirmation.

Special licenses for the implementation of the project activity, according to the functionality described in the project documentation, is not required.

According to the project documentation, Minter network is able to execute more than 1000 transactions per second at the start and plans to reach the goal in the amount of 5000-10000 transactions per second during the year. The average time to create a new block is 5 seconds. Block size is no more than 10'000 transactions ~ 180 bytes each + header + signatures of validators.

Minter releases its own BIP tokens, which network users can use for mutual settlements with each other. Since Minter represents DeCenter, the large Russian crypto community, it is assumed that the main users will be its members (about 25 thousand people), at least at first time.

Also, Minter allows users to issue their own coins that have the same functions as BIP, that is, instantly transfered, changed and used as real cryptocurrency. They can be integrated into own project, site or application through the constructor.

Tokens created in Minter network:

• Immediately have the cost, which user himself sets by booking in the BIP.
• Have absolute liquidity: they can be changed to BTC and ETH or vice versa at any time, by any volume (using quotes from Binance and external DEXes).
• Allow their holders to receive passive income: user can launch his own masternode, which will credit rewards to everyone who delegates funds in tokens, created by user.
• Do not need listing on exchanges: any of the coins is quoted in BIP, and it in turn - in BTC and ETH.

As an identifier in Minter network the familiar usernames, for example, like in Telegram, can be used.

For convenience of working with mass services, checks are implemented. The recipient of the funds sends an unique link, which can be paid off in a convenient format.

The system has a set of built-in smart contracts for the release and delegation of tokens.

Use-case examples of Minter network:

• Fancoins are following the example of "football" tokens, released by Waves for the World Cup.
• Gaming money can stop being virtual. Players can transform the game hours into real capital. Publishers of game series can redirect players from one game to another, stimulating new activities.
• Gift cards and codes.
• Points of loyalty. Blockchain ensures their safety and the ability to convert to other values: bonuses, game currency, etc.

Minter network is under development and testing.

The software for installing the node, as well as all currently available API/SDK, can be downloaded on the project GitHub.

A beta version of wallet for Telegram is available.

After launching the main network, the following will be available:

• Wallets: iOS, Android and Web.
• Console for managing address and masternode.

Since Minter will be a part of Cosmos network, it will automatically be compatible with all the blockchains that will be in this network.

Built using a simple and reliable API, Minter blockchain can support a variety of client applications developed using SDK project, for example, iOS/Android wallets, Chrome extensions, desktop and mobile web applications.

White Paper is available on the official website in English. WP briefly describes the essence of the project, the distribution of tokens system, the specification of blocks and the roles of network members.

Additional technical documentation is located in a separate repository. And the economy is described in a separate document — Perpetual Coin Offering.

Although WP itself is rather laconic, all the necessary information on the project is easily available on official website.

The following Road Map is available on official website:

However, in the new version of WP all the stages after May 1 are shifted on at least 3 months later. The current Road Map looks like this:

• The dates of the main stages on 2018:
• Launching of Testnet: March 1st.
• Console (including the issue of coins): April 15.
• Checks: May 1st.
• SDK for integration of transfers: September 1.
• Native BIP wallets: October 1.
• Completion of the early access campaign: October 31.
• Launching of Mainnet: after the release of Tendermint.
• In 2019:
• Network stabilization.
• Listing on the leading exchanges.
• DAO studies and discussions in the community.
• The first 5 brands / companies signed as partners for Airdrop.
• Translation of BIP Wallet into 30 languages

Road Map has a shallow planning horizon and low detail.

The progress of the team's fulfillment of the project obligations can be monitored in Telegram channels:

• https://t.me/minterdev — development news;
• https://t.me/MinterTeam — other news on the project.

Team

The project team is headed by:

• Evgeny Gordeev — a product manager, a venture investor, managing partner of Russian Ventures, has 14 years of experience in Internet projects, including one of the first Internet agencies in Russia — Dot, Jackfon mobile casino, iBrand banner network. The founder of Russian crypto community — DeCenter.
• Daniil Lashin — leading developer in the project, blockchain and backend developer, the founder of the Joreal project (educational portal) and the LcoR project (portal for browser games).
• Ariil Davydov — leading designer (besides working in Minter there is no information about other work experience).

To date, Minter team, according to official website, consists of 20 professionals, among them are experienced blockchain and front/backend developers. In the project plans there is a creation of mobile applications, so the team has invited designers and experts in developing applications for iOS and Android, with experience in this area.

On official website and in the project documentation there is no information about the experience of the team members, as well as about the full team. On LinkedIn of the project, in addition to those listed above, there are 10 more team members and one adviser - Dan Reitman.

Also, the project plans to attract to work third-party specialists with the help of DAO developers, which will start working within a year from the launch of the network.

The project team is already attracting third-party developers and has launched a series of regular hackathons in August to create small services designed to improve the work or usability of the network, with a prize fund of 4-5 ETH for the first three winners. The first hackaton for creating a rating of validators had completed on August 27, 2018.

Investors

The team is financed by Evgeny Gordeev — an entrepreneur who created a number of successful businesses. He is also a venture investor.

Partners

Minter will be launched and promoted by DeCenter company, which is a large crypto community in Russia and has more than 250,000 members. Evgeny Gordeev is its founder and the main beneficiary.

Direct competitors to the project are any payment systems on the blockchain with the ability to create their own tokens, which are now quite a lot. Industry competitors are traditional payment systems.

WP of the project compares BIP with Ethereum, Bitcoin, PayPal, Visa and an ordinary bank:

Citation, social networks

Minter project is a product of Russian crypto community DeCenter and, thanks to this, is known among the members of this community. To the rest of the general public the project is practically unknown, both in Russia and abroad. There are very few publications about the project in the network. Marketing promotion is weak. In part, this may be due to the fact that the project does not conduct ICO, and therefore does not need to involve the general public.

The popularity of the project in social networks on August 29, 18:

• Twitter — 39 subscribers (2 tweets);
• Telergam (channel) — 4242 participants;
• Telegram (Russian group) — 906 participants;
• Telegram (news for developers) — 327 participants;
• Medium — 20 subscribers (1 publication).

Among almost all social accounts, only Telegram is active.

Applicability

The main network has not been launched yet. As of August 29, 2018, 28 nodes and about 270 delegates are registered in the test network. The activity of the network can be monitored in the explorer.

Projects on technology

The project hero.org plans to use Minter to release celebrities’ personal coins.

DeCenter community will create and distribute to all its members DCX coins. Token will become a single coin for mutual settlements between experts and community professionals: experts will be able to receive coins for correct forecasts and analytics, developers —  for quality code, product specialists — for implemented projects, etc. It will be possible to pay with tokens for the work of community members: expertise, forecasts, buying or renting code, service or applications.

Persons in the project

Evgeny Gordeev is known in Russia, he is a high profile entrepreneur, a venture investor, creator and main beneficiary of DeCenter crypto community.

The project does not conduct ICO, but only a closed sale. Since the project is not much advertised, the entrance is mainly from DeCenter community and at its invitation. Airdrop will also be implemented among members of DeCenter community. With the current state of development and promotion of the project, it is more like a private (in terms of availability) blockchain for members of the above community.

The project uses third-party technology, which means it depends entirely on the success of Tendermint implementation and its continued sustainable operation. Already now the timing of launching the main network is shifting due to the fact that Tendermint has not been launched yet.

To date, the viability of the economic model of the project is not very clear yet. The project will receive income only from commissions for transactions, this requires that a large number of users use the network for mutual payments and to create their own coins. Miners will tend to sell the earned tokens, keeping only the necessary minimum to maintain the right size of the stake. Thus, the profitability of the project is possible only by attracting a large number of users, as well as projects of small and medium-sized businesses. For now, sufficient marketing activity from the project team is not observed.

It should be noted that one of the founders of the project — Evgeny Gordeev has an ambiguous reputation in Russian crypto community. This is due to the fact that in the fall of 2017 it was planned to conduct DeCenter ICO, which has never took place. Active participants of crypto community were promised a reward for participating in the creation of content for DeCenter in the form of DCX tokens, in this case the price of the token was fixed at 0.01 ETH. Thus, users who received their bonus could convert it into liquid currency. The postponements, and then the refusal to hold the ICO, caused indignation among the members of DeCenter community and doubts about the fulfillment by the project team of their obligations. After the launch of main Minter network, DCX tokens are planned to be released on the basis of this network and thus DeCenter team engages for that all promises for tokens crediting will be fulfilled.

The project is a payment system based on blockchain with the possibility of creating own coins. Minter is under development and testing: a test network and a beta version of the wallet based on Telegram have been launched.

The advantages of the project include:

• Good pace of development.
• Active communication with the members of crypto community and their involvement in the development of the project.
• Attractive token distribution system.
• High performance indicators and extensive integration capabilities through the use of Tendermint technology and belonging to Cosmos network.
• Large base of potential users.

Among the cons are:

• High competition and lack of distinct competitive advantages.
• Dependence on the development and timing of the launch of Tendermint.
• Weak marketing promotion.
• The project is in the process of development and it is not known how it will act in the field.
• Little information about team members and their work experience.

References

Official website: https://www.minter.network/

GitHub: https://github.com/MinterTeam

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MinterTeam

Medium: https://medium.com/@MinterTeam

Telegram chat: https://t.me/joinchat/EafyERJSJZJ-nwH_139jLQ

Telegram channel: https://t.me/MinterTeam