Monthly Update | January
Table of Contents:
Fellow Panthers,
It’s time to review what Team Panther was up to in January and our plans for February. In this month’s update, we cover ecosystem updates, team expansion, product highlights, and a glimpse of next month’s plans; here’s everything you should know:
Ecosystem updates
Testnet Stage 3 is now live with a new design, enhanced security, and added features
Testnet Stage 3 was released in January, bringing a new design, enhanced security, and added features. Stage 3 enables users to use the newly allowlisted test Matic and test $ZKPs in Panther’s Shielded Pool.
Learn more about Stage 3 of our testnet.
LBank lists Zero-Knowledge DeFi pioneer Panther Protocol’s $ZKP
We are excited to share that Panther Protocol’s $ZKP is now listed on LBank, a leading cryptocurrency exchange. This listing follows $ZKP’s listing on BitMart in December 2023. These listings are part of our focus on cementing strategic partnerships and a strong exchange presence before Panther Protocol’s V1 launch.
More about the LBank listing.
AMA recap: Panther’s CEO, Oliver Gale, discusses $ZKP listing on BitMart and the future of privacy in DeFi
Following the recent listing of $ZKP on BitMart, Panther’s CEO, Oliver Gale, introduced Panther Protocol to BitMart’s community. Catch a summary of the conversation in our latest blog.
Panther Protocol testnet and rewards update
- Number of current testnet users: 634
- Total rewards distributed: 500,000+ $ZKP
Our testnet rewards pot is 1.5M $ZKP — have you signed up for our testnet yet to earn your share? Learn more and sign up to join our testnet and receive your $ZKP rewards.
Panther’s Co-founder and CEO, Oliver Gale on CryptoCoinShow
Our co-founder and CEO, Oliver Gale, was recently on the @CryptoCoinShow discussing Panther’s strategic direction and the future of privacy-preserving tech in DeFi. Watch the complete episode here.
Panther hires Harrie Bickle to improve product documentation
Harrie Bickle has joined the Panther team as a Senior Technical Writer. Harrie brings over a decade’s experience in Documentation and Product Marketing and has been in the blockchain space since 2018. Her range spans writing and editing articles, whitepapers, yellow papers, developer portals, and API documentation.
We are delighted to welcome Harrie and look forward to seeing our documentation reach a new level, thanks to her expertise gained while editing for Starkware in the Zero-Knowledge space and building out developer portals for Qredo’s crypto trading API and Neon EVM’s Solana settlement layer solution.
Product updates
Stage 4 developments
The dApp development for Stage 4 is complete, and we expect to launch it in the first week of Feb. Stage 4 of testnet allows users to send zAssets inside the pool from one zAccount to another. Stage 4 is a feature-filled release as it is being shipped with an interesting, related feature originally from Stage 6: Withdrawals.
Within the Stage 4 dApp, users can also undertake UTXO selection.
Stage 5 developments
Stage 5 development is underway in parallel, thanks to the team’s efforts over the last two months. The team is currently working on integrating bundle services into the dApp. Stage 5 includes using a third-party Bundler service and the ability to submit gasless transactions using an Account Abstraction Paymaster contract.
Oshiya update
We’ve updated the code for our Panther miner, Oshiya. The latest version of Oshiya comes with an enhanced miner setting: FORCE_UTXO_SIMULATION. This parameter gives control over whether the miner should consistently add a simulated UTXO, regardless of the presence of any pending queues. When set to ‘false’, a simulated UTXO will only be added if a pending queue exists. We recommend running the updated version of the Oshiya code.
Plans for February
Following the launch of Stage 4, the team will concentrate on enabling the dApp to support users to select a transaction for the Bundler service and perform end-to-end testing of this feature.
In parallel, the core team will focus on Stage 6, with its revised scope offering a cohesive Fee and Rewards mechanism. In this stage, users will pay all the fees (mimicking a production experience) and receive ‘subsidies’ from the DAO for certain fees, such as for compliance checks, among others. These subsidies are part of the bootstrapping and will be limited to the initial period of the protocol launch. We wish to understand our users’ views on the fee structures and invite the community to engage with the DAO to discuss the subsidies that should be applied during mainnet launch.
About Panther
Panther Protocol is a cross-protocol layer that uses Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology to build DeFi solutions that aim to meet ever-evolving regulatory standards while satisfying users’ on-chain data privacy needs. Panther’s goal is to enable seamless access to DeFi via a cross-chain-supported ZK compliance protocol. The Panther Protocol offers confidentiality across transactions in shielded pools, zSwap for DeFi integrations — enabling private swaps on third-party DEXs, and zTrade for internal OTC book for trading assets privately. Furthermore, Panther Protocol’s ZK primitives are generalizable to KYC, selective disclosures between trusted parties, private ID, voting, and data verification services.