Monthly Update: October 2024

Fellow Panthers,

October was an important month for Panther, as the project hit important milestones ranging from the release of Stage 8 of Panther’s testnet, featuring smarter smart contracts, enhanced capabilities, and improved efficiency, to media appearances and more. Read on for the full recap, below.

Tech Updates:

Before diving into our technical progress, we would be remiss if we did not thank our testers. Your ongoing feedback is essential to Panther’s success, and we are deeply appreciative of your contribution to our mission to create the infrastructure for confidential on-chain DeFi transactions. Whether you are interested in contributing, having a say in the future of private DeFi or are curious about Panther’s user experience, we invite you to join our test community of 3500+. You can find details on how to join here.

Panther’s technical contributors reached several significant milestones in the protocol's development, including the release of Stage 8 on the testnet. This stage introduced enhancements to core features, critical compliance tools, fixed bugs, and more. October also saw the start of work on Panther’s smart contract and circuit audits.

Stage 8 makes transaction management easier by merging deposits into a single UTXO, allowing users to transact their full balance in one go and streamlining Zone Managers’ workflows. Compliance capabilities were expanded with dynamic blacklisting, giving Zone Managers the tools to restrict access for bad actors and other undesirable participants. Stage 8 also saw the introduction of Diamond Proxy architecture, which overcomes Ethereum’s size limits, allowing for scalable, modular smart contracts, including those needed for zTrade. Efficiency is further boosted by the "Taxi" ring buffer, which cycles data storage between Merkle trees to optimize memory use while unifying large-number handling in the code. This improves performance and reduces error risk. These updates enhance usability, increase efficiency, and position Panther for scalable, compliant growth. For complete details on Stage 8, click here.

In October, Panther's tech team began Smart Contract and Circuit Audits with Veridise, a crucial step to ensure code security and reliability. Just as importantly, these audits help to establish Panther’s infrastructure as a trusted platform for Zone Managers and users alike, validating that Panther’s smart contracts and Zero-Knowledge circuits protect user assets and maintain the protocol’s privacy features.

Panther in the Media

Panther’s co-founder Dr. Anish Mohammed was interviewed by Bitcoin World, where he discussed Panther’s contributions to and how it is shaping the Web3 Ecosystem.

He was also featured on Stonks Go Moon Podcast, where he shared insights into Panther's unique position within the DeFi ecosystem and discussed how AI is democratizing access for new market participants.

Meanwhile co-founder Oliver Gale was a featured interview on Cryptopolitan, where he provided insights into Panther’s Shielded Pool, Zones and compliance tools.

Panther AMA

In October, Panther held an AMA featuring co-founders Oliver Gale and Dr. Anish Mohammed, joined by Head of Product Saif Akhtar, to share comprehensive updates on the protocol's development, technical progress, market positioning, and organizational restructuring. The session began by addressing pre-collected questions from Panther's Telegram community, followed by a live Q&A segment, with key insights.

The team highlighted steady progress toward Panther's V1, noting that core features like KYC/KYT functionality are operational on the testnet. Mutiple audits are also underway, including Panther’s smart contracts and Zero-Knowledge circuits. Technical improvements, such as expanded Merkle tree capacity and the implementation of diamond proxy patterns to boost scalability, were also discussed.

The AMA also covered Panther’s marketing and business development strategies, strengthened by a partnership with Luna PR. Targeted collaborations are focussed on regulated entities, asset managers and sectors requiring confidential transactions. Additionally, new use cases for Panther, like private payments are being explored.

Looking ahead, the panel relayed that the Panther Protocol Foundation (PPF) intends to transition to a Swiss-based foundation to establish a robust regulatory framework for sustained, long-term growth. These developments position Panther to deliver a scalable, compliant DeFi solution with broad cross-sector applications as it approaches its V1 release.

Read the full recap here.

Panther at De.Fi World 2024

In October, De.Fi World announced that Panther co-founder, Dr. Anish Mohammed will be presenting on ‘Privacy Tradeoffs - Efficiency vs Compliance vs Privacy’ in Bankok, Thailand on November 11 at 3pm local time.

Conclusion

October marked a significant milestone for Panther Protocol, with the launch of Stage 8 testnet bringing major advancements to our core infrastructure. This update enhances transaction management, strenghtens compliance tools, and boosts smart contract scalability with Diamond Proxy architecture. Our co-founders were active in sharing Panther's vision across various media outlets. As Panther undergoes security audits and explores expanding its applications across various sectors, Panther’s contributors are more optimistic than ever about the future of confidential DeFi.

Disclaimer

For the avoidance of doubt, tZKP, tzZKP, tPRP, test MATIC, and any other tokens mentioned in this announcement or within the product are for testing purposes only and have no economic value, nor can they be exchanged for value.

Participation on our incentivized Testnet versions may result in you earning rewards, but such credits are not represented on any blockchain as tokens.