Welcome to the sixteenth edition of the Expanse Newsletter for 2018. This publication is a bi-monthly newsletter issued on the 1st and 15th of each month to share happenings within our community. Here are a few highlights in this edition:
- PEX Airdrop Update
- Call for Beta-testers
- Expanse Grants – Opening New Vistas for Blockchain Entrepreneurs
- Technology Headlines Magazine Features Expanse as a Leading Solutions Provider
- Expanse Grant Recipient Updates
- Borderless Charity Event – Shine the Light
- Updates from Chinese Channel
- Behind the Tech
PEX Airdrop Update
The PEX airdrop took place August 31. The blockchain snapshot took place at 9 a.m. UTC. The snapshot was taken at block 1373565. After the snapshot, the transactions required to distribute the PEX tokens began. Note that it could take as long as 8 days to complete all of the transactions.
Here is the contract address for the PEX token airdrop:
0x0cc6177ea69b0f1c2415043ac81ccd8f77d0c1a9.
Use this address to check for your airdrop tokens.
EXPEX (PEX) is a fork of the decentralized exchange standard, Ox. The contracts for PEX have been launched and the DEX development, commissioned through an outside development team, is complete. It is in the testing and branding process now. The new DEX will launch on the Expanse blockchain. Follow the progress in Trello at There is also a new PEX channel for our Discord community where you can ask questions and read comments from our community members.
Call for Beta-Testers
Recently we put out a call for testers to try out the beta versions of some of our platforms in development. The response has been overwhelming. To date, we have qualified 40 testers who have access to private channels for the Luna Wallet, The PEX Dex, Atlas Wallet and Tokenlab. Beta-testers have the opportunity be hands-on with the projects nearing release. They also receive a promotion to 1st Lieutenant in the Expanse Army.
To apply to be a beta-tester, complete the application form here
Expanse Grants – Opening New Vistas for Blockchain Entrepreneurs
In 2015, Christopher Franko, a full-stack software engineer and one of the earliest adopters of blockchain technology decided, that the world needed a better, faster and flexible blockchain that anyone can use to create apps on. He envisaged a platform that adhered to the original Satoshian vision of freedom and zero regulation. Christopher teamed up with like-minded individuals and Expanse was born.
Expanse allows anyone to build, as well as use, decentralized applications, or dApps. Built by many people, Expanse is a platform that allows flexibility and adapts to multiple variations. Expanse is decentralized, open-source, fast, scalable and has a dedicated team of forward-thinking veterans of the industry who, over a period of three short years, have forged important and extensive industry partnerships.
Expanse has seen consistent growth and stability since its inception. It has also garnered the support of a fast-growing loyal community who continue to help Expanse achieve its vision. Everyday, new projects are born on the Expanse platform and in the words of Mr. Franko, “What you can do on Expanse is only limited by your imagination and talent.”
In keeping with its philosophy of making blockchain based projects more efficient and within everyone’s reach, Expanse.tech has set up a dedicated fund of $1,000,000 exclusively for innovative projects that are built on and around Expanse. Financial grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 are awarded to ideas that offer some unique solution or service while making use of the Expanse platform in some manner.
There are no other conditions to be met: Expanse has no interference in the ownership of IP, publishing of data or usage of the grants funds. It is very simple for entrepreneurs to use the Expanse platform, since they can use Expanse’s EXP token for their ventures instead of creating their own. Expanse also offers the benefit of a huge existing network and immense scalability. It is also beneficial for Expanse to have projects with real and relevant uses of blockchain on its network.
The process of grants begins with creation of a funding opportunity, goes on to applying for the grant, and then to deciding about the award and then successful awarding of the grant. The entire process is divided into 3 distinct phases:
- Pre award phase- funding opportunities are created and applications reviewed
- Award phase- deciding awards and notification of the same
- Post award phase- implementation of the grant and reporting of the same
During the pre award phase, invitations for applications (with specifications like last date for submission of proposal etc) are posted, and then the awarding team reviews applications submitted for the grant. The grants review board reviews scores of applications from entrepreneurs who aspire to build projects to launch on the Expanse platform.
They screen the applications, conduct programmatic reviewing followed by financial review and then decide who the recipient of the grant should be. Each proposal is scrutinized, the whitepaper checked and the attached budget analyzed by the team. Expanse also plans to make the review process more democratic and allow public voting in the future. The team also carries out cost analysis and ensures that all statutory and financial regulations are met.
After the application review, the Expands Grants team decides about the recipients of the grants. Their decision is based on the financial and programmatic reviews done by the review members of the team. In order to ensure fair and prejudice-free decisions, the recommendations of the awards team are reviewed stringently. This is the awards phase. The awarding agency then sends a Notice of Award, which is officially and legally binding. Once the grant is accepted, the receivers must carry out all the terms and conditions the grant comprises of.
The post award phase comprises of implementation of the grant, regular reporting about the progress of the project and closeout. The Expanse team not only gives the award, but also assists the awardees comply with all regulations, while they carry out the project which they have been awarded the grant for. They have specific performance metrics to monitor the progress and expenditure. Such reporting, which varies for each grant, is done by designated grants management officer and program officer to ensure transparency and to avoid any chance of fraud.
Finally the award recipients are required to carry out closeout by submitting financial, performance and programmatic reports when the grant expires or is terminated. All reports are reviewed b Expanse Grants staff to ensure that all the funds have been utilized in the right manner. The Grants team then also confirms that the recipient of the grant has completed all tasks related to the grant. The recipient must retain the records for 3 years from the date of the final closeout report.
The Expanse Grants program has become immensely popular within a very short span of time, and there have been multiple recipients of this award since its inception a couple of months ago.
Case in point is a project called SLIPS. Sponsored by Marcia Lewis Danzeisen, Expanse CAO, Slips was co-founded by Husain Fazel, CEO, and Kyle O’Neill, Creative Director. It is a blockchain-based social betting platform for gamers. The SLIPS team has announced its project roadmap, too. SLIPS aims to make betting free of restrictions, and let eSports gaming fans bet against each other, while also watching the streams they regularly follow, since SLIPS overlays existing platforms. It also adds to the revenue sources for stream owners. Moreover, since Expanse already has EXP tokens, they can readily make them available to their users to make bets.
“We feel we’ve come up with an extremely interesting concept, and we have a huge target audience,” said Kyle. “We’ve been working diligently on building our proof of concept, (as opposed to throwing up a smart contract to raise funds), and connecting with our audience. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel and create our own blockchain. We plan to look to Expanse for that. We have entirely different problems to solve like user experience and adoption.
Husain is a full stack developer while Kyle is a communication designer. Apart from expanding the team, they are also using the funds for developing the proof of concept. The development of the project is in full swing. The grant has helped the team garner the necessary funds to complete aspects of the project that were being hampered by the bottleneck of lack of funds. Now with the funds as well as the might of the Expanse team’s expertise, they are track to complete the project that will hugely benefit both their target audience as well Expanse.
Technology Headlines Magazine Features Expanse as a Leading Solutions Provider
Expanse was recently named one of the 10 Fastest Growing Blockchain Solutions Providers of 2018
A recent special issue of Technology Headlines Magazine featured Expanse as one of the top ten blockchain solutions providers to watch in 2018. THe publication created a two-page profile, nararating the complete story of Expanse as it gears up to take on new challenges in the market. Positioning Expanse as a new, innovative company, the article talks about the important landmarks achieved by the company
To read entire article, go to https://thetechnologyheadlines.com/magazine/subscription/digitalv-opl/vol-3-issue-15/
Borderless Charity Event – Shine the Light
Borderless Charity, a 501 (c) (3) corporation, was established by Expanse Founder and CEO, Christopher Franko with a focus on nutrition, housing, education and healthcare. On Sunday, August 26, Borderless Charity participated in an event called “Shine the Light” held in Washington, NC. This Eastern North Carolina event was organized to help raise awareness of the opioid epidemic. There was live music, amazing information, and an opportunity to connect with some great people. The central theme of the event was about addiction and getting people help in time.
Chris had lost two people in his immediate family to overdose and he feels strongly about this cause. Zach passed away in 2014 from a substance known as MXE. He was the first confirmed case in the country. John passed away from carfentinil-laced heroin. He had a baby that was only four days old. Zach was 20, and it was two weeks before his 21st birthday. John was 24.
Substance abuse knows no boundaries and the only off-ramp from substance abuse is harm reduction. This is a philosophy Chris believes in and provides help with. Drug use continues to be a big issue in many countries around the world. Harm reduction is acknowledging that people will use drugs inevitably and that abstinence isn’t as realistic as it is made to sound. Harm reduction aims to search for ways to aid people using drugs by intervening and providing safe means of using. Basically, it is aimed at reducing the impacts or negative consequences associated with drug use. Because studies show when people start taking steps to use responsibly the next step is rehab and recovery.
Harm reduction strategies aim to make the user progressively start using safe and non-lethal means to take the drugs. The ultimate aim is abstinence in the long term, but it starts by reducing the quantity of drugs taken at a go and replaces them with others to treat possible withdrawal signs until the user no longer needs the drugs anymore.
Through Borderless Charity, volunteers provide naloxone, test strips and recovery resources. We believe in a don’t preach, reach approach. The charity passed out Narcon at the event. To know more about Borderless Charity, please visit our website http://www.borderlesscharity.org/.
The Borderless Charity is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Contributions to the Borderless Charity are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. The Borderless Charity’ tax identification number is 81-1870176.
Community News
Expanse Chinese Channel Breaking Ground in China
Our new Chinese marketing team, led by Community Manager, Alex Zhao, has hit the ground running. Here are some of their accomplishments over the last two weeks:
- Established the Expanse WeChat group, with membership now at 65
- Established the Expanse Chinese QQ group, with membership ramped up to 118.
- Completed the translation of Expanse.io website to Chinese.
Chinese team goals for the next two weeks include:
- Launch Expanse.io (Chinese version) on 9/15.
- WeChat membership increase to 350.
- QQ group increase to 500 members.
- Apply to two exchanges in China.
- Participate as active beta-tester for
Behind the Tech
For this newsletter, we have a guest columnist, Joel Porter. Joel is an active Expanse community member, having been involved in crypto for about 2 ½ years. When he approached us with the concept of profiling other community members, we loved the idea. Here is his article profiling Nicholas Cadavico (@Gantz).
Nicolas Cadavico, Expanse Community Member
What makes a crypto project worth someone’s time? Is it purely market caps, publicity hype and price pumps? Or are there other elements that should be considered? I have asked myself these types of questions since my introduction to cryptocurrency in early 2016. The answers have not come easy.
The problems in answering questions like those, lie in the fact that personal motivation is the key to the answer. While making money may be the only factor one person is interested in, for another person it may be the technology of a project. I personally have many motivations that drive me to or in some way connect me to a project, and those personal motivations are what led me to Expanse.
For me to discuss all of my own personal reasons for being involved in the Expanse community would take far too long for this venue, but I recently spent some time talking with a very active community member…and I believe he summed up his views very nicely.
Nicolás Cadavico, known to the community as Gantz, had some very interesting viewpoints on Expanse and the team behind it. I’ll share some of the points that really struck home with me…
I’ve seen you in the discord channel for Expanse. And you always help anyone you can, what is your motivation there?
They are my first deep contact in the world of cryptos, and they gave me a huge place next to them … It’s the least I can do… Because EXP i know soo much users, now their are like my family.
So you would say that the Expanse community is more of a family rather than just a discord chat?
They gave me a place, they taught me, they helped me in bad times, what I still do not get out of but I’m on my way to that…Always grateful for every grain of sand I contributed, trying to make myself feel better for personal problems, showing me in depth what a community is and what this beautiful world of cryptos is
People who are still here and others who no longer … The community grows and some are left on the road … But that pleasant homeliness presence remains.
Wow…So the articles I’ve read where Franko speaks of community being so important is paying off in your opinion?
I would say no, but it really is … This is something that is still happening, something that acts very passively and silently … But even nature acts like this … A tree grows and spreads very slowly, to become a monument of grandeur and strength.. I think that’s what Chris is talking about … I think this is what he’s seeing right in front of his eyes … It’s a projection of the future … And it’s what many see, that’s why we’re still here and will continue to be.
So Chris is building loyalty and faith one person at a time I guess?
Not only Chris … This is something that is achieved together … Many people achieve this daily in exp … But Chris is the root of this tree, the face of this coin..He will always have to be the example and the inspiration for us to continue …That’s why whenever I see it wrong I try to raise spirits … We need the leader who always is, strong and with his head held high!
There is something that I always admired about this man … It is his intention to always try to give us back … Even if this means a loss for him …
It’s been said…”You don’t earn loyalty in a day. You earn loyalty day-by-day.” Do you feel the Expanse teams shows that?
Every day, I think that was more than clear with the example of the tree … No matter the high tides, this team goes out to surf in search of new challenges … If this does not show its strengths, nothing else could do … If you take a moment to look at their biweekly newsletter, you will see all the new booties that they discover , all for us, all for the community and more!
I would have to say that for some, community is the driving force in choosing a project. Being involved with a group of people who believe in something much larger than themselves, and willing to support each other in the pursuit of making those beliefs a reality. Market caps, publicity, tech…community, friendship, involvement. There are lots of reasons for picking a crypto project, and each one probably defines us personally more than we know.
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The Expanse Ambassador Program is designed to provide support and guidance for those of you who would like to help us spread the word about Expanse by hosting local meet-ups—wherever you are in the world. Getting involved is easy. Simply download and complete the Ambassador Program application at this link: https://expanse.tech/join-the-ambassador-program/ The Expanse team are available to answer your questions and will also assist you by:
Expanse is thrilled to have you in the Expanse Army. Be sure to join Discord if you are not already part of it at this link: https://Discord.me/expanse – and grateful to all who would like to join the Ambassador Program! |
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