Every fortnight we look back at what moved in the ATON chain. We do it from two sources only: the changelog and the tracker. This piece is not a list of new items. It explains how to read those two sources, so you can judge our progress for yourself rather than take our word for it.
Two sources, two jobs
The changelog and the tracker answer different questions.
- The changelog records what has changed. It looks backwards.
- The tracker records work that is still open. It looks forwards.
If you read only the changelog, you see progress without context. If you read only the tracker, you see plans without proof. Read together, they show how the open list turns into finished work over time.
We keep our fortnightly notes to these two sources on purpose. A progress update that reaches beyond them starts to mix plans with promises. We would rather tell you less and have all of it hold.
What a fortnight can and cannot show
Two weeks is a short window for a chain that is still being built. Some fortnights bring visible changes. Others are spent on work that leaves little trace, such as testing, review and rewriting a piece until it is right.
So a quiet fortnight is not a sign of trouble, and a busy one is not a sign that launch is near. The useful signal is the trend across many fortnights: open items closing, and new items opening for reasons you can follow.
A progress note is only as good as its source. If a claim is not in the changelog or the tracker, it does not belong in the note.
The settled design, as a reference point
When you read an entry, it helps to know which parts of the design are already fixed. These are the anchors that changes are measured against.
- Mining: ATON is mined with an ordinary graphics card, using one memory-hard proof of work.
- Ordering: blocks can be made at the same time, and a GHOSTDAG-style rule puts them in one agreed order.
- Supply: a hard cap of one billion ATON, paid to miners through a long emission that slows into a small tail.
- Launch: the plan is a fair launch, with no premine and no sale.
If a changelog entry touches one of these areas, it is refining how the design works, not changing what the design is. That distinction matters when you weigh how big a change really is.
The open questions to watch
Some decisions are not made yet, and we say so plainly. These are the items worth watching in the tracker.
- The emission curve. We know the shape in outline: long, slowing, ending in a small tail. The exact curve is not specified yet.
- The team allocation. This is the one planned exception to the fair launch. Its size and its vesting are not decided yet. Both will be published before the first block.
When either of these moves from the tracker into the changelog, that is a real milestone. Until then, treat any figure you see elsewhere as unofficial.
How to read an entry well
A few habits make the changelog and tracker more useful.
- Ask which part of the design an entry touches: mining, ordering, supply or launch.
- Check whether a closed tracker item has a matching changelog entry.
- Notice when an open question narrows, even if it is not answered yet.
- Be wary of any summary, including ours, that claims more than the sources show.
This is the same standard we hold ourselves to. If our fortnightly note ever says something the changelog and tracker do not support, you should be able to catch it.
Why we work this way
A payments chain asks people to trust its rules. That trust should come from records you can check, not from tone or enthusiasm. Keeping progress notes tied to the changelog and tracker is a small, concrete way to earn it.
It also keeps us honest about what is still open. A fair launch depends on publishing the remaining answers, the emission curve and the team allocation, before the first block. Watching those items close is the clearest way to see that we are doing what we said.
You can follow the project from our home page. We will keep each fortnightly note short, sourced and plain, and we will keep saying what is not decided until it is.
