Community Update 23 July - Here is a three-point brief on the latest updates:

1. Developer Relations: Our new Developer Evangelist Gareth Mensah recently shared a survey to understand our developers’ needs better. We share the survey findings and plan to aggressively increase outreach in a targeted and effective way through bi-weekly calls.

2. Ecosystem Grant - Wave 5 applications now open: Following the announcement of our 11 fourth wave grantees, applications for the next wave are now open for the three tracks - Infrastructure, Innovation and Research. Priority will be given to robust proposals that enable the DeFi ecosystem.

3. Twitter Contest Winners and Findings: Congratulations to all the winners of the #ZilliqaDay2019 twitter contest! We share details on the top 3 winning entries, which are both insightful and creative. We also share findings from our study of the participant pool and moving forward, will consider ways through which we can more effectively create a truly global and involved community.

You can read all the details here: https://blog.zilliqa.com/zilliqa-community-update-23-july-2019-developer-outreach-twitter-contest-winners-latest-eeb7d0527467

Zilliqa AMA - 12 July Transcript : We are pleased to share the transcript of the recently held AMA  which was conducted on Reddit and then live on Telegram. We've done our best to make the responses comprehensive and hope it is useful for those who were unable to participate, and for everyone with queries. We enjoyed the AMA and will plan to make this a more regular activity for your benefit. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YC6UqT5TPdFY_lf9K0G3BbtZQ-xZAVhowbVqyxKte7I/edit?usp=sharing

Thrilled to announce that our first-ever Developer Community Call will take place Friday 26 July @ 9 AM SGT.
@DaoChemist
will be leading the initiative, discussing its objectives & answering app dev related queries. Some of our engineers and developers will also join the call to answer your questions and collect your feedback on developing on #Zilliqa $BuildOnZIL.

We look forward to hearing from participants, and developing this initiative over the coming months!

#StartBuildingonZIL $ZIL 🔥
Join In! 👉 https://meet.google.com/unsupported?meetingCode=eem-erwv-bua&ref=https://meet.google.com/eem-erwv-bua

Technical Update 30 July 2019: Hello all, here’s your three-point summary on our latest technical update:

Improvements in core tech and scilla underway: To enhance efficiency and robustness of the platform, the team is making modifications to the core C++ source code and  the internal scripts and utilities which are part of the infrastructure. The next version is likely to include several security and functional improvements. In order to mitigate I/O bottlenecks within the scilla interpreter, the team has been restructuring the infrastructure, and adding new folds and functions. 

Revamping wallet contract: the team is rewriting wallet contracts to include better security features. These will be added to a repository of contract templates which developers can use for inspiration. 

Development of Ledger support: We are reworking the ledger app code to support more features, based on initial feedback received from the ledger team.

For more, you can refer to: https://blog.zilliqa.com/zilliqa-technical-blog-30-july-b2f44032adbf

TOKEN SWAP UPDATE 2 AUG: Please refer to this list for the token swap status across various exchanges who we're liaising with. In response to some of your queries, kindly note that there is currently no deadline for the swap. However, we encourage you to swap your ERC 20s for mainnet ZILs on the available exchanges as soon as possible. For details, refer to https://blog.zilliqa.com/a-guide-to-zilliqa-token-swap-5278ba32a2f3

Community Update 6 August - Here’s your three point summary on today’s update, which covers the latest in Zilliqa:

1. Five things you need to know about the Chainlink integration - Our recent integration with decentralised oracle network brings a huge value proposition to smart contracts. We outline some of the key points on who they are, why we’re working with them, and the benefits their solution brings to our blockchain

2. Aqilliz at a Glance - We remain committed to driving adoption of the Zilliqa platform now that we’re open for business. Part of this will be actioned through a strategic and exclusive collaboration with a new venture called Aqilliz, led by Gowthaman Ragothaman from WPP and Mindshare.

3. First Dev Call - This call looked into how Zilliqa could help the developer community more effectively and frequently via a call. The key findings and action points have been outlined.

For more, please read https://blog.zilliqa.com/zilliqa-community-update-6-august-2019-technology-integrations-exclusive-collaborations-and-9e4fc5c6b849

Technical Update 13 August: As promised, we’re sharing an in-depth report on recent developments within the mainnet, and solutions taken to strengthen the blockchain.

In this week’s blog, our core tech team explains what a smart contract state is and how it works. Given the recently experienced instability on the Unstoppable Domains smart contract, they also illustrate the effect of high volume smart contract transactions on the blockchain. Finally, they discuss the solutions that are already in place to address large transactions more efficiently, as well as upgrades in the pipeline that will help fortify our mainnet.

You can find the report here: https://blog.zilliqa.com/zilliqa-technical-update-13-august-2019-strengthening-our-mainnet-an-in-depth-report-95c0c306b95e

In addition to the above, our Developer Evangelist will be posting a more basic overview of the mainnet status and what’s being planned. We’ll share the link soon - stay tuned!

Mainnet Status Update, 14 August: Our Developer Evangelist, Gareth Mensah, breaks down yesterday's technical update into the key facts. He recaps what happened when Unstoppable Domains’ smart contracts saw unprecedented demand, and summarises the measures in place to manage and/or prevent such incidents in the future. 

We are pleased to announce that all outlined updates should be implemented by 15 September. 

More here: https://medium.com/@garymensah/zilliqa-mainnet-status-update-ae088ebfa401

Community Update 20 August: Here is your summary on today’s update. 

Upcoming Website Changes: We are thrilled to announce that the new website will be launched on 31 August, and includes some very exciting features. We outline some upcoming changes and will be sharing more next week!

Blockchain and Gaming: We introduce you to Nedrick Ngo, Project Manager of Ocean Rumble, a Zilliqa-powered blockchain game (which recently had an exciting pre-sale!). He tells us a bit more about the game’s objectives in a rapidly changing industry.

More here: https://blog.zilliqa.com/community-update-20-august-2019-meet-ocean-rumble-and-enjoy-a-glimpse-into-our-new-website-e999a12f584b

Technical Update 27 August 2019 - Here's a look into what the teams are working ahead of the next major upgrade, scheduled for September 15:

Version 4.8.0 includes migratory features which will help manage the mainnet during smart contract processing: These include exponential back-off for the gas limits and temporary backing up of processed transactions into each shard’s local storage. 

Rigorous testing on the Scilla IPC protocol underway: These include local-level and network-level testing in order to make sure smart contracts will be able to run as smoothly as possible. These also include a performance test to get a view of the post-upgrade network.

Ledger app second round of review begins:  This is going really well with the ledger team and Zilliqa team working closely together to address all feedback. We’ll be sharing an update as soon as this round wraps up.

For more, head to: https://blog.zilliqa.com/technical-update-27-august-2019-60d7746c3a8c

Hi all, our President Amrit Kumar will be at Tech in Asia's studio tomorrow to talk about Zilliqa's journey over the past two years, our current focus on growth and driving adoption, and current market trends. If you have any questions for him, you are welcome to contribute it through Tech In Asia's Instagram story post today. The post will also give you chance to test your basic Zilliqa knowledge :) https://www.instagram.com/stories/techinasia/

Dear Zilliqans,
We have both good and ‘bad’ news.

The good news:
Our new website is almost ready to be launched.

The ‘bad’ news:
We decided not to launch this Saturday (31 August).

The reason:
Since we started working on our new website - roughly 1.5 months ago - Zilliqa made good progress on many different levels. As a result of this, the content creation became quite intense, requiring inputs from various parties. Nevertheless, we’ve managed to stay on track with this.

However, now that the website is almost ready, we’ve had to make a choice: just push the ‘Publish’ button, close our eyes, and see what happens….or….. take some extra days to carefully manage detailed final reviews, pre-launch testing, and possible refinements based upon our findings. We have chosen the latter option, to ensure high quality and user experience.

The launch of the new website is rescheduled for Friday 6 September.

Not to leave you empty handed, we will be sharing a couple of previews later this week, such as the page about our Mindshare partnership and the Research and Development Roadmap Q3 2019 - Q2 2020. Both are good examples of what you can expect next week. We aim to share these as live pages, instead of screenshots, to give you the real user experience.We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope you’ll agree on our decision to prioritise quality over speed.

Regards,
The Zilliqa team

🔥🔥JOINT AMA: ZILLIQA and INFINITO!

We are thrilled to announce that #Infinito & #Zilliqa are having a joint AMA on September 9th at 6PM Singapore time (UTC+8). Infinito's CEO, Junya Yamamoto and Infinito's Business Director, Fedor Bushlanov, will join Amrit Kumar, President and Chief Scientific Officer at Zilliqa, to answer all community questions LIVE for 45 minutes on Infinito's Youtube channel.

💰REWARDS for 3 viewers: $100 in INFT each:
+ 1 best question submitted to http://bit.ly/INFTxZilForm before 1PM Singapore time (UTC+8) September 5th
+ 1 best question asked during the AMA via Youtube livechat
+ 1 lucky user who share their Telegram ID (that is currently a member of Infinito's global Telegram) either in the AMA Youtube livechat comment section (6:00 PM to 6:45 PM (UTC+8 Singapore time) or in the AMA video comment section by the end of 12th September.

Submit your best question now!

Community Update 3 September 2019 -  Here’s your three point brief on some exciting activities in the Zilliqa pipeline. 

Website Preview #02 -  With the launch just around the corner and following our peek on the R&D roadmap, we bring you another exciting preview of the Mindshare page!

Developer Updates -  The next dev call will take place this week on 5th September. Join in to hear from developer evangelist Gareth Mensah on our upcoming move to Discord, and learn more about the solutions and upgrades recently implemented on our smart contracts.  

Driving DeFi - We briefly outline the importance and potential of decentralised finance ahead of a report we are set to publish later in Q4 2019. This report will provide an in-depth look into this growing ecosystem and talk about Zilliqa’s plans in this space. 

For further information, please check https://blog.zilliqa.com/zilliqa-community-update-3-september-2019-992766addff4

Hello Zilliqans,

We know many of you have been eagerly awaiting our website launch for a while now. Sincere apologies to each and every single one of you for the delay.

We absolutely remember our promise to you. We hear your frustrations and disappointments and we take responsibility for this.

The launch will take be taking place today - 7th September. The site will be released in phases, details of which you'll be hearing about from us soon.

The team has used various tools and resources at our disposal to speed up this process without ever compromising on quality. It might be a small team, but one that has been working round-the-clock for this priority task. We’ve hit a few roadblocks yes, but we are almost there!

Please bear with us, and we would like to assure you that you’ll be enjoying the new website later today.

Thank you for your patience.

Regards,
The Zilliqa team

Greetings everyone,

Thank you for your patience in the lead-up to the launch of the new website and identity for Zilliqa. Your belief in us during this journey means everything to us. As we plan for a brighter tomorrow with you, we are delighted to launch the first phase of the new Zilliqa website.

preview.zilliqa.com 

We believe this website is a step forward in highlighting who we are and what we stand for very clearly. Part of this is our distinctive campaign titled ‘Faces of Zilliqa’, through which we show appreciation to the diverse members of our community from all walks of life who have built on us, invested in us and championed us - through ups and downs in the crypto-economy. 

Building a website is not a one-off, but an on-going project. Thus, for reasons of technical convenience and security whilst building up the rest of the data, the new pages can be found under the above sub-domain. 

Over the course of September - we will be rolling out three phases of the preview website, after which it will be entirely migrated to zilliqa.com. Here are the details of what you can expect:

PHASE 1: SEPTEMBER 7th 
- Main landing page
- Zilliqa explanation
- Scilla explanation
- Team page
- Developers page
- Faces of Zilliqa
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

PHASES 2 and 3 will include an Ecosystem Grant Programme page detailing our valued partnerships, the Roadmap for Growth and Business Development, as well as an accessible guide for people to buy/sell and store their precious $ZIL. We will continue to add features to and update the released pages on Phase One as well.

In short, we are working non-stop to #BUIDL a website that is user-friendly and accessible, transparent, up-to-date, and informative for all.

Stay with us on this journey, and remember, #ZilliqaProgressIsYourProgress.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Regards,
The Zilliqa team

DEVELOPER UPDATE: In order to create a more enriching, interactive and user-friendly experience for developers, we are glad to announce Zilliqa’s migration from Gitter to DISCORD, which takes place tomorrow - 10 September.

DISCORD has been chosen as the ideal platform based on our research as well as survey feedback from our previous developer calls. Moving forward, we hope this tool will enhance technical conversations, provide easy access to the required tools and resources, and facilitate collaboration between developers and the Zilliqa team.

We'll be sharing the link to join the official Discord server tomorrow.

If you have questions in the meantime, please reach out to our Developer Evangelist Gareth Mensah on gareth@zilliqa.com.

Details: https://blog.zilliqa.com/moving-technical-conversations-to-discord-6508abf0b136

#BuildOnZIL

UPDATE: Further to our announcement yesterday, we are glad to share that we have officially migrated technical conversations to Discord. To all developers out there, join the platform now to make this a collaborative and useful resource as you #BuildOnZIL.
⬇️
https://discord.gg/8tpGXrB