Every two weeks we write down what moved in the ATON chain. The source is narrow on purpose: the changelog and the tracker. If a thing is not in one of those two places, it does not go in this update. That rule keeps us from describing work we hope to do as work we have done.
This piece sets out the ground for those updates. It says what the chain is, which parts of the design are settled, which parts are not, and how you can read the next update without having to trust us.
What the chain is
ATON is a public blockchain for payments, and it is being built. Nothing has launched. The coin is also called ATON.
Three design choices define it today.
- Proof of work on a graphics card. The chain uses one memory-hard proof of work. An ordinary graphics card can mine it.
- A block-DAG. Blocks can be made at the same time. A GHOSTDAG-style rule puts them into one agreed order.
- A hard cap. There will be one billion ATON, paid to miners through a long emission that slows into a small tail.
These are the parts we treat as fixed. A fortnightly update can report work on how they are built, tested or documented. It will not report them being swapped out quietly.
What is still open
We would rather say what is undecided than let you assume it is settled.
The emission curve is not specified yet. We know its shape in words, a long emission that slows into a small tail, and we know the cap. We do not yet have the numbers, and we will not quote any until they are in the changelog.
The team allocation is the one planned exception to a launch with no premine and no sale. Its size and its vesting are not decided. Both will be published before the first block.
When either of these moves from open to decided, that is exactly the kind of change this update exists to report.
How to read an update
Each fortnight you should expect the same three sections, in the same order.
- Changed. Items that landed in the changelog in the period. Each item is something you could check.
- In progress. Items open in the tracker that we worked on, with their state at the end of the period.
- Still open. The known undecided points, repeated until they close, so nothing slips out of view.
An empty section is allowed. If nothing landed in a fortnight, the first section will say so. A short honest update is more useful to you than a long one padded with plans.
Why the source is so narrow
It would be easy to write a cheerful summary from memory. It would also drift. Memory rounds up. A changelog does not. The tracker holds the things we have not finished, and it is just as important to show those, because the gap between the two is the real measure of progress.
Limiting the update to those two sources has a cost. Some real work, such as reading, design discussion and dead ends, leaves no entry and will not appear here. We accept that. The point of the update is not to show effort. It is to show what changed in the chain.
What you can hold us to
If you read these updates over time, you should be able to answer four questions without asking us:
- Has the proof of work, the ordering rule or the cap changed? If yes, the update must say so plainly.
- Have the emission numbers been published yet?
- Have the team allocation size and vesting been published yet?
- Did anything in a past update turn out to be wrong, and was it corrected?
Those questions are the test. The rest of the update is detail.
If you want to follow along, the chain has a home at www.aton-chain.com. The next update comes in two weeks, drawn from the changelog and the tracker and nothing else.
