Quarterly Report — Q3 2019
State of Affairs and the Dimecoin Network Organization
Before getting into any technical updates, we would like to take the opportunity to address some concerns regarding the state of the project. Over the past several months, we have noticed a growing concern over the status of Dimecoin Network. From conversations and interactions with the community, we have determined there are several reasons for these sentiments, chief among them, the appearance of an overall lack of progress regarding the new blockchain consensus mechanism.
Let us remind everyone where Dimecoin Network, LLC, sits within its business life cycle. Dimecoin Network, LLC, is still in the startup and launch phase of its operation. The situation surrounding the formation Dimecoin Network, LLC, is unique in comparison to many other companies within the industry. The genesis block for the Dimecoin (DIME) blockchain occurred in December of 2013. The team that is currently involved took over development in January of 2018 and formed the entity Dimecoin Network, LLC. The current core team, volunteers who were members of the pre-takeover community, were never part of the original Dimecoin team and played no role in the creation or launch of the Dimecoin blockchain and cryptocurrency. The current team never conducted an ICO, fundraiser, or token sale.
During the early days of Dimecoin Network, LLC’s, existence, industry sentiment and optimism were at all-time highs. Initial plans called for the creation of an ICO token that would operate alongside the Dimecoin cryptocurrency to obtain funding. Increasing regulatory scrutiny and sinking market sentiment led the team to withdraw those plans. Additionally, volunteer help was relatively easy to come by during the beginning phase of operations. As market sentiment waned, many individuals lost interest or moved on, which has led us to where we are today.
The core team that remains devoted to the project views this phase of the startup as a positive experience. In short, the individuals who remain with the project genuinely believe in Dimecoin’s vision and the potential for the industry. Additionally, the industry is starting to get a much clearer picture regarding regulations that oversee operations, giving us a better understanding of what the team can pursue.
Ultimately, the factors mentioned above have led the core team to strip down and reevaluate the direction in which Dimecoin Network, LLC, will proceed. The Q2 progress update indicated that the business entity would be transitioning to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. After further consideration, however, Dimecoin Network, LLC, will transition to a Benefit Corporation, also known as a B Corp.
What is a Benefit Corporation, and why not pursue 501(c)(3) status?
A Benefit Corporation is a for-profit corporation that dedicates its mission to improving society, the community, and the environment in which the business operates. A benefit corporation allows for business decisions to not be limited to the consideration of maximizing outside shareholder interests. A Benefit Corporation gives the core team greater flexibility in pursuing their intended goals of growing Dimecoin into a viable digital payment solution. Simultaneously, it allows the core team not to lose sight of the main principle that brings many together within the industry, community benefit. The core team determined that establishing Dimecoin Network, LLC, as a 501(c)(3) entity would be too restrictive, would limit the scope in which the company would be able to operate, and would hinder fundraising efforts.
Exchanges
Two of the exchanges Dimecoin (Dime) actively trades on are going out of business.
NovaExchange and CoinExchange have made business decisions to shut down their respective operations. It is important to note that this is not a situation where just Dimecoin (DIME) is being delisted or a decision that was influenced by Dimecoin Network, LLC. Both of these exchanges are completely shutting down on their terms. ALL ASSETS held on these exchanges should be withdrawn ASAP.
Nova Exchange
Trading ceased Monday, October 7th. At the same time, the Nova API was deactivated. Please withdraw your funds as soon as possible.
The Nova platform remains open for regular withdrawals until October 25th at 23:59 (CEST). After that date, there will be additional fees to withdraw assets. After the withdrawal date, there will be no further guarantee requests will be accommodated.
For additional details, please visit their website:
CoinExchange
Trading and deposits ceased on October 15th, 2019. The website and withdrawals will remain operational until December 1st, 2019. Please remove all DIME ASAP.
For additional details, please visit their website:
Cryptopia
On Monday, October 7th, representatives from the Dimecoin Network development team attended a webinar hosted by Chris Watson and Tom Aspin of Grant Thornton (GT). The call mainly served to develop a platform and opportunity for future collaboration in working with Grant Thornton to ensure the best outcome for Cryptopia customers, developers, and the crypto community. Grant Thornton feels that connecting with the developer community is a “vital element to the overall success of the liquidation” of Cryptopia and will “provide a positive message for the crypto community at large.”
To summarize, the key points discussed during the webinar were as follows:
1.) GT provided an introduction to their company and an understanding of what liquidation means, specifically how it applies in New Zealand.
Liquidation in New Zealand takes place when a company becomes insolvent. Mainly, this happens when a company is unable to service its debt to creditors during their ordinary course of business. Due to the breach and their damaged reputation, Cryptopia was unable to remain solvent. Therefore, the option to stay operational is no longer viable.
2.) GT provided a breakdown and overview of Crytptopia’s liquidation process and desired outcomes. GT classified its liquidation process of Cryptopia into three phases. In terms of overall progress, GT mentioned they are somewhere in the beginning portion of what they categorize as their second phase. The three phases were loosely described as follows:
- Phase 1: (Complete): GT secured the right to access the servers and data which contain the wallets of coins listed on Cryptopia. Not all servers were located in New Zealand. Some were present in the United States.
- Phase 2: (Current Phase): This phase involves auditing the balances of each user account, securing and transferring balances of all coin wallets into a safe environment, and verifying balances of all coins. The amount of coins taken during the breach is still not fully determined. Additionally, in some instances, coin balances are higher than when the exchange ceased operations. This is due to people continuing to deposit to their accounts without realizing there were ongoing issues. Once these figures are verified, they will be released to the public.
- Currently, all code that was on Cryptopia’s servers is in the process of being reviewed before being moved to a secure server. The decision to review all code is to ensure nothing malicious has been embedded anywhere during the breach. Per our estimation, this will be the longest phase. At the time of the breach, there were over 400 coins listed on the exchange with ~900k active traders. Additionally, there were upwards of 2 million user accounts and 800 unique coins and tokens which have traded at Cryptopia during its existence.
- Phase 3: Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti Money Laundering (AML), and final liquidation. All users will be required to go through an additional KYC process, even if previously completed. The logistics of how GT will perform the KYC process are still being determined. GT has also started to seek clarification from the courts on how to proceed concerning Anti Money Laundering (AML) laws, distribution, and transfer of assets.
3.) It provided GT an opportunity to understand any issues or concerns coin developers currently have. We were asked not to ask questions specific to each coin at this time. Instead, GT wanted to center this portion of the call on general concerns around the logistics of the liquidation process. Going forward, individual coin teams will have the opportunity to address any issues that are specific to the coin each developer represents.
The core team is excited to have the opportunity to provide some input and be part of this process. We are hopeful that results will be positive for users who hold assets on Cryptopia. GT provided no expected time frame for them to complete the liquidation process of Cryptopia. Several other factors remain unknown at present.GT plans to have more of these meetings as progress dictates.
Altilly
Altilly has added a DIME/BTC trading pair that extends to 10 decimal places, allowing Dimecoin (DIME) to trade at its current market value.
Dimecoin iOS Wallet
Dimecoin developers have isolated and identified the issues that were present with the first release of the Dimecoin iOS wallet. Without getting too technical, the issues that presented themselves primarily stemmed from how the wallet handled change addresses. In the effort to speed up the recovery process and relaunch the updated iOS application, the development team decided to separate this process into two phases.
- Phase 1: All users who downloaded the initial version of the iOS wallet, please reach out to the Dimecoin development team so we can aid and assist in the recovery of your coins. Users can make contact via Email (developer@dimecoinnetwork.com), Telegram, or Discord. Let it be noted that all funds are safe and secure.
No one from the Dimecoin team will request any form of payment to resolve any support or recovery issues. For this reason, the development team recommends corresponding via email. If any individual presents themselves as a representative of the Dimecoin team and asks for payment, private keys, or any other sensitive information, they are a fraud. Please immediately report any of these instances in an official Dimecoin forum. (Telegram, Email, Discord, etc.).
- Phase 2: During the debugging process, the decision was made to remove the app from the Apple Store to minimize the risk to the Dimecoin community. For those who are unaware, the onboarding process to have an app added to the Apple Store is long. To avoid confusion, and with the pending release of the new blockchain consensus, the iOS app in its current form is not going to become available to the general public. Instead, a new iOS Dimecoin wallet will be released upon its completion. The new app will not be connected to the previous version. If you used the first version of the Dimecoin iOS wallet, you will not be able to recover your coins via the new app.
Delta Direct Integration
For members of the Dimecoin community who use the portfolio and tracking app Delta, we are happy to announce our integration into their Delta Direct program. Users will be able to receive all of our updates directly from their platform. If you would like to learn more about Delta, please visit their website located here:
Their application is available for PC, Android, and iOS. You can download directly from their website.
Website/Roadmap/Whitepaper
Website
The new website has been rebuilt from the ground up and is 99% complete. A few modifications related to the reorganization of the corporate entity and optimizing the search feature for the information/support database remain to be completed.
Roadmap
The launch of the new website will include an updated roadmap. We will not be using the traditional time-line method that users typically see, however. Instead, we will be using a display method that will be a bit more interactive and update in real time. Individuals will be able to see short, mid, and long term goals. These goals will be periodically updated as progress dictates.
Whitepaper
The whitepaper, in its current form, has served its purpose to provide an understanding of what the core team looks to achieve. The decision was made to overhaul the whitepaper and provide an updated document that will help further illustrate our goals and highlight the technical aspects of our blockchain. Once the final specs of the new blockchain consensus are confirmed, the whitepaper will be finalized and released.
Help Wanted!
Dimecoin Network, LLC, is always looking to expand its talented group of core team members. These positions include but are not limited to: developers, marketing leads and specialists, sales leads, business developers, and advisers. There are several prerequisites for these positions; you must be professional, passionate, have a skill set, and be able to work well with others.
The crypto and blockchain industry is new and continuously evolving. We are always open to any individuals who feel they have valuable skills to offer. Anyone interested in joining our core team, please email jobs@dimecoinnetwork.com for inquiry.
Blockchain Consensus Update (POS/MN)
Development work continues on the upgrade to Dimecoin’s blockchain consensus mechanism, which introduces masternodes. The Dimecoin team is aware that some of the community is not happy with the amount of time it is taking to complete the work based on the initial estimates the team provided. Even though it is taking longer than anticipated, please know this is to ensure the upgrade occurs without issue.
At this time, we are looking to compile a list of individuals who will be willing to help conduct testing! If you are interested, please send an email to developer@dimecoinnetwork.com. A representative from the Dimecoin team will respond to provide details and gather some information regarding participation.
Important Links
Web: https://www.dimecoinnetwork.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dimecoin_
Telegram: t.me/Dimecoinofficialpublic
Telegram support:t.me/dimeofficialsupport
Discord: discord.gg/JqcKF4v
Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/dimecoincommunity/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dimecoinnetwork/
CoinGecko Beam: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dimecoin
Blockfolio: https://blockfolio.com/coin/DIME
