Komodo Progress Report | Q1 2023

2023 Roadmap Released

Our official 2023 roadmap is out now! There are dozens of exciting new development initiatives planned for both the Komodo blockchain and AtomicDEX.

A few highlights include additional DEX trading support for top blockchain protocols such as Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and Cosmos, trading bot compatibility / LP interface (API/GUI), a KMD coin burn feature based on DEX usage, and much more!

Check out our roadmap landing page to learn what we’re working towards throughout the remainder of 2023.

Active User Reward Poll Results

In March, we held a community-wide vote to determine whether or not to implement a proposed change to the KMD active user reward. The options were 1) Reduce AUR to 0.01% or 2) Keep AUR at 5.1%.

Users were airdropped KIP0001 tokens at a 1:1 ratio based on how much KMD they held in non-custodial wallets. 13.2 million votes were cast. Option 1 (Reduce AUR to 0.01%) was the clear winner with 83.3% of the vote. AUR reduction will coincide with the annual network upgrade (start of dPoW Season 7) in mid-2023.

Note that this is Part 1 of a two-part plan to enhance KMD tokenomics from the supply side. Read our “KMD Tokenomics Revolution” blog post for more details.

In the future, we will hold a second community-wide vote to determine the following: 1) Whether to keep PoW as the Komodo blockchain’s consensus mechanism or switch to an alternative (PoS, Masternode-like architecture, or other). 2) Whether to keep the block reward at 3 KMD or reduce it.

Stay tuned to our blog, email newsletter, and/or Twitter account for more information on upcoming community KIP (Komodo Improvement Proposal) polls and a prior community discussion.

Seventh Annual Notary Node Election Begins

The Season 7 Notary Node Election cycle has begun!

Candidates: The window to submit a candidate proposal is open from now until April 21, 2023, 23:59:59.

Voters: Election begins on April 14, 2023, and ends with the first notarized block (inclusive) after April 30, 2023, 23:59:59.

Read the S7 Notary Node Election blog post to find all important dates and participation details.

AtomicDEX Mobile Goes 100% Open Source

On March 27, AtomicDEX Mobile became one of the very few 100% open-source mobile crypto wallets on the market.

Going open source provides AtomicDEX users with ultimate transparency and data privacy. Users don’t have to trust that AtomicDEX is secure. Anyone can now verify for themselves in real-time that AtomicDEX is truly secure.

Open-source developers can now use the AtomicDEX API as well as the AtomicDEX Mobile codebase to create their own dApps that utilize AtomicDEX’s wallet feature and/or peer-to-peer (P2P) atomic swap technology for cross-chain trading.

Additionally, since AtomicDEX is technically compatible with 99% of cryptocurrencies, developers of various blockchain projects can now contribute to the AtomicDEX codebase or integrate their own protocols into the AtomicDEX API. In turn, protocols can be integrated into AtomicDEX Mobile as well as AtomicDEX Web and AtomicDEX Desktop.

Work In Progress/ Proof of Concept

Lightning Network Integration

The Komodo developer team just completed a major milestone in DEX technology — the first atomic swap between DigiByte (DGB) on its native Layer 1 UTXO blockchain and Bitcoin (BTC) on the Lightning Network Layer 2 network. This functionality is currently working via THE AtomicDEX API, and our developer team is working towards integrating LN across all the AtomicDEX GUIs (Web, Mobile, and Desktop).

What does this ultimately mean for AtomicDEX users?

1. Cheaper network transaction fees compared to using on-chain BTC — 2.7 million times less expensive in our example.

2. Faster swap completion times compared to using on-chain BTC — 40x faster in our example.

3. Better blockchain interoperability between the Bitcoin blockchain and the greater blockchain ecosystem

NFTs on AtomicDEX

Our developer team is currently integrating ERC721 and ERC1155 token standards for Ethereum and BNB Chain.

Later on, we'll add more EVM-based blockchain protocols like Polygon, Avalanche, and Fantom. The functionality is already working with the AtomicDEX API.

Once integrated into the AtomicDEX GUIs, users will be able to do the following:

1. Display a list of all NFTs owned by a user.

2. Display NFT transfer history.

3. Send NFTs to external wallets.

In the future, we plan on adding WalletConnect support so that AtomicDEX users can connect to NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible without having to leave the AtomicDEX app.

App Releases

AtomicDEX Mobile

In March, we released AtomicDEX Mobile v0.6.1. This version added mobile support for Cosmos (currently wallet only) and IRIS Network (wallet and DEX) as well as several UI/UX enhancements and bug fixes. We also released AtomicDEX Mobile v0.6.2, which added support for KIP0001 tokens.

AtomicDEX Desktop

In March, we released AtomicDEX Mobile v0.5.7.1. This version added KIP0001 token support and included a few UI/UX enhancements.

AtomicDEX Web

In February, we released AtomicDEX Web v0.4.2, which introduced a few UI/UX enhancements.

KMD Price Tracker App for Apple Watch

Just like many people out there, our team is obsessed with OpenAI’s GPT-4. Our CTO Kadan Stadelmann used ChatGPT to write Swift code for a WatchOS app that shows the real-time price of $KMD. You can find the source code for the app on GitHub.

PR and Third-Party Website Coverage

The Fintech Times, CoinJournal, Cryptonews.com, and several other news publications shared the news that AtomicDEX Mobile is now 100% open source.

Komodo CTO Kadan Stadelmann also joined the Crypto Coin Show to talk about why going open source is important and to compare centralized exchanges (CEXs) vs. decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

Komodo CTO Kadan Stadelmann was also featured in several crypto media publications throughout Q1 2023.

He wrote an OpEd in Cointelegraph about the recent troubles with fractional reserve banking and Silicon Valley Bank. Investing.com also syndicated the OpEd.

Kadan suggested that U.S. politicians should focus on better crypto policies in an open letter to Elizabeth Warren on Forkast News.

Kadan also wrote about EU’s DeFi regulations in an OpEd for Irish Tech News.

MSN.com, Business Insider India, and Yahoo Finance UK included Kadan’s comments on Bitcoin price volatility in January.

Forkast.News and Yahoo Finance featured Kadan’s comments on the fragile U.S. economy/ banking sector and its impact on the BTC bullish trend seen in March.

Yahoo Finance featured Kadan’s commentary in two consecutive weekly market wrap articles, one on March 17 and one on March 24.

BeInCrypto included Komodo in its list of top projects enhancing Bitcoin’s capabilities. “Using Bitcoin as a foundation, Komodo offers interoperability with other blockchains, making it a versatile option for developers looking to build decentralized applications (dApps).