
* Ergo Platform Roadmap for 2020 has been released, the plan is minimum and very realistic https://ergoplatform.org/blog/2020_02_02/

* Miners tested raising computational cost limit per block via voting with success

* "Bypassing Non-Outsourceable Proof-of-Work Schemes Using Collateralized Smart Contracts" https://ia.cr/2020/044 was presented by Alex Chepurnoy at WTSC workshop associated with Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2020 in Malaysia

* Few AMA sessions have been held with the Ergo team by Probit, ViteXExchange, and CryptoDaku. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5150971.msg53894939#msg53894939

* Anon92048 is working on non-custodial and non-interactive mixer implementing ErgoMix

* Frontpage was updated https://ergoplatform.org/en/

* Welcome to Smart Money article published https://ergoplatform.org/blog/2020_02_12_welcome_to_smart_money/
* Dev meeting summary https://twitter.com/ergoplatformorg/status/1230119289878872064

* Finally Coingecko has updated info about Ergo https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ergo

* Ergo Mainnet 3.2.1 released https://github.com/ergoplatform/ergo/releases/tag/v3.2.1

* Ergo Playgrounds - Run contracts + off-chain code in the browser https://www.ergoforum.org/t/ergo-playgrounds-run-contracts-off-chain-code-in-the-browser/185

* Coinbarn, a simple wallet for Ergo has been published in the Chrome store! https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coinbarn-wallet/pachdpadffdgjhmmgpdjkpnlhkdhbfgf Desktop versions can be found here https://github.com/coinbarn/coinbarn-extension/releases/ 

* The new bounty campaign, in partnership with Magnum wallet went live https://twitter.com/Magnum_Wallet/status/1232959453529616385

* http://erg.ezpool.io/ went out of private testing mode and is offering both Nvidia and AMD optimized miners. Congratulations to the pool creator who broke non-outsourceable PoW scheme

* Most active exchanges - Probit, Tidex, Waves Exchange https://ergoplatform.org/get-erg/#Exchanges/

* Please join the Ergo community to help with development and promotion! Our Telegram: [https://t.me/ergoplatform](https://t.me/ergoplatform) | Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/gYrVrjS | Twitter: https://twitter.com/ergoplatformorg | Github: https://github.com/ergoplatform


Ergo Platform Ecosystem Digest - February 2020


* Ergo Foundation has been established (https://ergoplatform.org/community/#Foundation/)

* Security audit of most critical parts of the reference protocol client is done, report is available (https://ergoplatform.org/blog/2020_01_12_security_audit/)

* New paper is out, "Bypassing Non-Outsourceable Proof-of-Work Schemes Using Collateralized Smart Contracts" (https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/044.pdf). This paper describes how to build a pool 
for Ergo based on smart contracts with collaterals.

* Public Discord server has been created (https://discordapp.com/invite/gYrVrjS), please join!

* Ergo Platform reference protocol client 3.2.0 released (https://github.com/ergoplatform/ergo/releases/tag/v3.2.0). Updates are coming reguralry!

* CoinBarn wallet is still under review in ChromeStore, but released a desktop version (https://twitter.com/coinbarn/status/1211026427686064133). CoinBarn is the simplest wallet for Ergo, and it is supporting custom tokens!

* Ergo now has a command-line wallet also, called ErgoTool. An introductory article on the ErgoTool: https://ergoplatform.org/blog/2019_12_31_ergo_tool/

* ErgoCast #2 published: https://ergocast.io/


Ergo Platform Ecosystem Digest - January 2020


Since the launch of the Ergo mainnet half a year ago, there has been an incredible amount of development and progress in the Ergo ecosystem. Auction smart contracts, crowdfunding, zero interest loans, privacy preserving protocols, and much more. 
Every week or two there's some truly novel idea or development put out, however if you're just an average blockchain enthusiast it's likely you haven't heard too much.

## Why is that?

The reason is that the Ergo ecosystem is making incredible strides forward in the technology side of things, however there is a distinct lack of content to consume for the average user who is interested. Great, Ergo has NiPoPoW support, but what the heck does that mean and why does it matter?

To aid in mending this, I am proud to announce the launch of the [Ergo Cast](https://ergocast.io).

The Ergo Cast is the Ergo ecosystem's premier podcast where we dive into the nitty-gritty details in a fun and approachable format.
The goal is to bring life to the technology by explaining why it's so unique while showing off the distinct personalities behind the avatars who are developing it all.

I, Robert Kornacki, am the host of the podcast and will be guiding you through understanding Ergo one episode at a time with the help of other key members in the community who will come on.

A lot of time was spent in getting this project from a mere idea in the back of my head, all the way to now being publicly released so that we could have this as a small Christmas present for the community who have been very supportive of the project as a whole.

The podcast will start out on a monthly schedule and is available via Youtube, MP3 RSS Feed, and Itunes Podcasts, all of which you can easily find by going to [https://ergocast.io](https://ergocast.io). Each episode has time stamps so that you can easily skim through and learn about all the topics that you actually care about.

In, [Episode #1: Understanding Ergo And It's History ](https://ergocast.io/episode/ergo-cast-episode-1-understanding-ergo-and-its-origins/), I was joined by Alex Chepurnoy who is one of the core developers and as a matter of fact, the original person who came up with the idea of building Ergo in the first place. We went in depth on why Ergo matters, why it was a necessity that it came to be, what are some of key differentiating benefits of Ergo, and we even covered the history behind what caused Alex to start an entire new cryptocurrency project from the ground-up.

If that got you interested, here is a list of all of the topics we hit during the whole episode:

- The Science Behind Ergo
- Ergo Smart Contracts At A High Level
- Ergo's ASIC & Pool Resistant PoW Algorithm
- Summary Of Numerous Innovations Ergo Implements
- Ergo Smart Contract Implementation Successes
- What Inspired You To Create Ergo In The First Place
- How To Join The Ergo Community
- Biggest Roadblock And Success In Launching Ergo
- Who Is Ergo For?
- Local Currencies On Ergo (Kenya Ex. Potential Use Case)
- Blockchains Actually Becoming Useful & Why Ergo Exists
- Closing Remarks

All of the topics above are linked timestamps so you can jump right in by going to the [Ergo Cast Website](https://ergocast.io/episode/ergo-cast-episode-1-understanding-ergo-and-its-origins/).

I'll be looking forward to helping break down Ergo into digestible episodes month-by-month, and hope to hear from you, the community, on what you'd like to see in the following episodes.

Hope you enjoy [the episode](https://ergocast.io/episode/ergo-cast-episode-1-understanding-ergo-and-its-origins/) and have a great Christmas holiday,

-Robert Kornacki


The Ergo Cast: Understanding Ergo One Episode At A Time

First, we have a major announcement - Ergo mainnet launch is planned for May 26 if no security vulnerabilities will be found during audit process! 

## What are the vision about scaling and adoption?

About scaling, the main approach is to avoid bloat without compromising functionality. E.g. persistent updateable storage is possible, with updates to be checked by a blockchain contract, but only digest of authenticated data structure (and some additional bytes, less than 40 bytes anyway) are stored in the UTXO set dependless on data set size. Storage rent is helping to remove dust from the UTXO set. Then light clients: in Ergo you can have full-node guarantees without storing UTXO set, if you do not mine. That's about much improved boostrapping and block validation times. With such improvements, it is possible to raise TPS without compromising classic blockchain assumptions and guarantees. Ok, but do you want concrete numbers? I don't have them, as parameters like block size etc are not set in stone, rather, miners can adjust them. So if a miner is experiencing low full block validation time (as hardware is getting better with time, as well as software), he may propose or vote to increase block size.  

On adoption, we expect following people to come: 1\. People valuing social contract among the system and its users. E.g. people dissatisfied with Ethereum forking. Ergo will not have hard-forks to update functionality, while it will be possible for community to upgrade the protocol in many aspects. 2\. Because of (1) at least, and also limited supply, Ergo would be good as store-of-value asset (demurrage cost is small if you just store a coin in the system). 3\. People who need for safe, simple, and and efficient financial applications. Ergo's Smart Money concept is much simpler that Ethereum's Smart Contracts, while powerful enough for most financial applications of the people not having very specific skills to develop Solidity contracts, or bunch of money to hire proficient devs. 4\. Not ready to predict anything about big companies, but some businesses already expressing interest to do some tokens and contracts on top of Ergo. To early to announce anything though.  

## Is there an example or usecase?

We have many examples, contracts: oracles, crowdfunding, atomic cross-chains and single-chain (token-to-token) swaps, mixing, etc. Basic things are covered in the [ErgoScript tutorial for developers](https://ergoplatform.org/docs/ErgoScript.pdf).  
A document with more complex examples (cold wallets, mixing, Rock-Paper-Scissors game) will be published soon. Further, we'll show examples of ICO scenarios and a [LETS system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system).  
Please also take a look at the targeted microcredit contract example from ["Smart contracts for the people"](http://chepurnoy.org/blog/2018/10/smart-contracts-for-the-people/) blogpost.  

## Do you have intentions to build a native off-chain solution like lightning network? And what is your vision on community-driven approaches?

Yes, we hope that they will occur at some point. Our goal now is to provide as flexible protocol as possible to make their implementation easy. Suprisely, we already have community members that are working on sidechain implementation on top of Ergo, but this work is in the early stage. We support any activity from our community, including sidechains)  

## What blockchain project is similar to ERGO?

In some aspects, Bitcoin (soft-forkability, but we're going much further), Coda (if it's the real thing, I need to check still; light client), Grin (FlyClient is similar to PoPoWs), ZCash (Equihash is similar to our PoW, but our params are stricter and our PoW is pool-resistant). Can not name anything like our language! So, in general, the Ergo is very unique.  

## What is ErgoData and what are its practical use cases? And how long after Mainnet is it going to be implemented?

ErgoData was planned to be a blockchain with the same technology under the hood, but different parameters to address needs of data-oriented applications. Now we're totally focused to launching the single chain and applications on top of it. I think ErgoData could come 2 or 3 years after, if there will be demand for such applications, and also based on applications limitations(especially, data-intensive) on top of Ergo may have. Supposedly, it will be a sidechain. Now there's good progress in this area, so supposedly by then we may have unconditionally good sidechains.  

## When can we start mining? and can we mine with cpu? 

For sure you can start mining with CPU right now. Just set up a full node ([check this guide](http://chepurnoy.org/blog/2019/01/how-to-set-up-and-configure-full-ergo-node/)) with mining = true config settings, and your node will start mining after the initial synchronization. Example config may be found [here](https://github.com/ergoplatform/ergo/blob/master/src/main/resources/nodeTestnet/application.conf)  

## But we are not on mainnet yet? So we can only mine testnet coins?

Yes, you can only mine testnet coins now. GPU miner will be definitely available before mainnet(probably this or next week).  

## Will there be a manual on how to setup a wallet?

Wallet is one more thing that should be updated before mainnet launch, we take advice about it's secure setup and so on. For now you can only set up seed phrase as a plain text in your config file section 2 in [set up post](http://chepurnoy.org/blog/2019/01/how-to-set-up-and-configure-full-ergo-node/)

## What are the minimum requirements to run a node?

It all depends on your node regime. We haven't measured it precisely, we turn our full nodes on droplets with 4 Gb memory, 2 CPU, 80 Gb SSD drive, but it is like recommended config, not a minimum one.  

## Are you planning any cooperation with other platforms (Waves for example)? What kind of?
We're planning to be listed on Waves DEX (this will significantly simplify EFYT/ERG swap), no other cooperation with platforms is planned.  

## Do you have plans to add an option to generate ERC721 alike tokens? Tokens that can't be splitted.

You can issue one token per transaction for free, so it is not a problem to issue a huge amount of tokens (with 1 max supply). There is no standard to unite them into a class of similar tokens (no standard way to check, that token aa...aa is of the same class of tokens as token `aa...bb`), but probably such kind of a standard will occur in the future.  

## Is there an option to broadcast a batch of transactions at the same time? Ideally them to be included in same block.

There is no API method to broadcast batch of transactions at the same time, but nothing stops you from broadcasting them one by one with no delays. So the should not be a problem to broadcast as many transactions as you wish simultaneously.Regarding Ideally them to be included in same block - it is possible to write some kind of a contract, that ensures that some batch of transactions were included in a single block (or where none of them was included), however, we haven't tried it yet. In addition this may require a miner with modifier rules of collecting transactions from mempool.  

## Is there an option to send transaction with 0 value asset?

So the token is in the transaction, but it's amount is 0? No, that's not possible  

## Is there an option to send "sponsored" transaction? The transaction which fee is paid by a custom token.
It might be done using the exchange example, so you can create a contract that buys your token for Ergo, and when a sender is going to send a token - he sells required amount of token and makes a transfer of the remaining amount of tokens inside one transaction.  

## So there is no way to transfer 0.0000001 of token?

Every output in Ergo should have some amount of Erg in it. Transaction fee may be 0, but you should put some Erg amount to every output created.
