Dear Panthers,

This month, we completed Stage 0 of our v1 testnet, launched Testnet Stage 1, saw the DAO put across two crucial improvement proposals (one of them forming a solid alliance!), and expanded the information available in the Panther-verse.

Let’s recap everything that happened in August.

Tech Updates

Stage 0 is complete, but the Miner will keep going!

We are proud to announce that Stage 0 of the v1 Testnet was successful! We're thrilled by the engagement we registered during it, and invite you to be a part of the journey towards Panther’s v1 launch.

Importantly, the Miner will continue working during the whole Testnet, with rewards not exhausted yet. However, browser mining has been discontinued, and only the desktop version will remain available.

Here’s, so far, how mining testing is going:

v1 Testnet: Stage 1

After a successful Stage 0, we are debuting Stage 1 of Panther’s Testnet. At this stage, you’ll test two of Panther’s very anticipated innovations: third-party compliance integrations and zero-knowledge accounts.

Stage 1 is public and will have dedicated rewards. Differently from Stage 0, users are rewarded for completing the product flow. However, we encourage the community to try to find and submit bugs, as well as to provide feedback. This process ensures that the Testnet returns a bug-free protocol, ultimately improving our product and its users’ experience. Furthermore, it works only on desktops, and not mobile devices.

At this stage, you’ll be testing two features that allow Panther to combine privacy-preserving DeFi access with compliance capabilities:

• Third-party compliance integrations
• Panther Accounts

Users can visit the Testnet link for Stage 1 in the info repository on our docs to test the onboarding functionality. This involves creating a Panther Account, undergoing a simple verification process (name and email required, ID NOT required) with PureFi, and activating their Account.

To share feedback, testers will be using a dedicated form as the only accepted procedure. The steps mentioned in the form’s description are needed to make this interaction both efficient and productive.

v1 Testnet documentation

Our Testnet documentation page will compile all the relevant links and info as our Testnet release progresses. This will guide users through our Testnet's development, ensuring easy access to the latest updates, key milestones, and important information.

Click here to view the v1 Testnet page on our docs.

Panther’s compliance integrations

We recently shared an in-depth article on Panther's compliance integrations. These integrations are a major milestone for the protocol and will be tested at Stage 1 of Panther's Testnet!

Panther recognizes the need for a robust solution that safeguards privacy and also ensures compliance with regulatory standards. This keeps malicious actors away from the protocol while adhering to  the Web3 ethos of decentralization and anonymity.

The Panther team and DAO have meticulously discussed ways to address this challenge, with ongoing conversations around regulatory best practices. As a result, we’ve designed an approach to bring compliance to the protocol while retaining neutrality.

Within Panther's solution, compliance providers need to be able to process users' data without the protocol learning it, proving a user's ownership of their wallet and giving them a zero-knowledge proof attesting to the validity of their statements. This allows users to access Panther while maintaining the protocol's neutrality.

Panther's strategy hinges on three core components:

1) Third-party compliance vendor integrations, maintaining neutrality and decentralization.

2) Panther accounts (zAccounts), creating a ZK bridge between verification and privacy.

3) Zones, logical partitions within Shielded Pools.

This article sheds light on Panther's simple yet elegant solution to the privacy-compliance paradox, adding yet another innovative feature to Panther’s groundbreaking solution. Read it in full here.

Governance

Advanced Staking, extended!

Panther's Advanced Staking program is live again for the next two months, as decided by Panther’s latest DAO proposal to extend Advanced Staking through PIP-18.

The initial "Advanced Staking" program was launched via PIP-9, PIP-10, and prolonged via PIP-13.

PIP-18 comes after a previous proposal to extend Advanced Staking with PIP-16, in which the necessary quorum was not met. However, the DAO retained the option to re-submit.

Advanced Staking will be running for an additional 2-month period, with stakes accepted until October 28, 2023 and rewards accrued at an APR of 15% for the locking period of 60 days.

Compliance vendor integration

The community also recently passed PIP-17, which introduces PureFi Protocol as a third-party compliance integration. This makes PureFi the first issuer of compliance credentials for Panther Protocol, and brings us closer to Panther's ultimate goal of creating a cross-chain architecture that allows users to access DeFi without exposing their data or activity.

PIP-17 also marks a significant step towards Panther v1 by enabling secure and compliant DeFi.

Ecosystem

And yes, we’re integrating PureFi!

Panther welcomes PureFi as the protocol’s first compliance vendor.

PureFi has gained recognition in the Web3 space for its innovative use of verifiable credentials and zero-knowledge proofs in a decentralized manner.

The protocol aims to become a one-stop decentralized compliance solution that onboards institutional money to DeFi. To achieve this, PureFi has focused on implementing zero-knowledge and self-sovereign identity (SSI) technologies.

The Panther community has been discussing compliance-related topics on the Panther forum for the past few months. During this discussion, multiple compliance vendors have been mentioned, and through PIP-17, PureFi was proposed as the best solution for Panther Protocol based on, but not limited to, the following criteria:

• Decentralization.
• Protocol-level integrations.
• On-chain support for ZK-compatible attestations and signatures.
• Fees paid (in $ZKP) on-chain by the protocol, enabling further utility for our token.

As such, this integration will be of great importance as we progress towards Panther v1. Panther’s compliance integrations and PureFi’s flow can already be tested at Panther’s Testnet Stage 1.

In time, we’ll publish a blog post with all the details about the integration, which are also found at PIP-17.

Events

ParisDOT conference

At ParisDOT Conference, our Co-Founder Anish Mohammed shared his expertise on Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs) during a panel with HydraDX, Parity Tech, Bifrost Finance, and DIA!

Take a deep dive into this exciting DeFi trend:

Media

Router Protocol interview

Co-founder Anish Mohammed also participated in a Twitter Spaces organized by Router Protocol to discuss Panther. For those who missed it, you can listen to the recording starting at 2 hours and 13 minutes in:

Gotbit.io interview

Anish also participated in another Twitter Spaces with Gotbit Hedge Fund. For those interested, catch up on the discussions at the 30-minute timestamp:

About Panther

Panther is a cross-protocol layer that uses zero-knowledge technology to build DeFi solutions that meet regulatory requirements and satisfy users' on-chain data privacy needs. The goal of Panther is to allow seamless access to DeFi and create a cross-chain-supported architecture that serves different use cases. Panther's zero-knowledge primitives are also generalizable to KYC, selective disclosures between trusted parties, private ID, voting, and data verification services.

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