Understanding the Escher Token system
Overview and Goals
With the past year having the Ubiq core team primarily focused on network infrastructure and user tools like wallets, we are now delegating more time and resources to decentralized applications to use these tools and infrastructure. With the basis for many current open source EVM protocols being token focused we are creating a single protocol token to create a harmonious system that will be claimable by active holders of the UBQ cryptocurrency.
The Escher token (ESCH ticker) will first serve to allow these active participants to vote in our governance system based off the District0x protocol. Escher will allow us to have a system in place which fuels and directs proposals, polls, goals and bounties to help direct the Network Development Fund.
Escher will bring in the next phase of Ubiq community initiatives; improvements to the network and additional token protocols. The underlying use case of the ESCH token is to provide the most utilitarian unit in the Ubiq blockchain ecosystem. Having a separate ESCH token based off of UBQ claims over a period of time allows us to gather a strong representation of the participants in the Ubiq community and allows UBQ to maintain its freely flowing currency and store of value properties.
Escher, like the artist and paintings, will be multi purpose and so it can form the basis of proposals and token protocol implementations. The goal is to have Escher extended to have additional utility in the form of protocol tokens. These protocol tokens will either be in the form of using ESCH itself or through staking ownership of ESCH+UBQ redeemable for a protocol token via a smart contract.
Claiming and distribution
Recently our leadership made the decision to finalize the distribution schedule of the Escher token to give greater reward to earlier participation. This mimics the distribution curve of many cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. As we build use cases and more utility for the ESCH token, there is a greater incentive for participants to claim seeing the direct functions within the ecosystem.
There will only be 8 distributions of ESCH tokens over the next 2 years at quarterly intervals, with the first rewarding 12 ESCH to 1 UBQ in your claim address, reducing immediately to 6, 3, 2 and 1 ESCH for the last 4 claim periods.
The first claim period has already started and ends at Ubiq block 448,000, with token sending happening over the subsequent blocks to all registered address showing a balance at the end block. Please allow up to 800 blocks for your ESCH deposit to be credited while the period of high network usage is process by the miners. With each quarterly report we will publish stats on the previous distribution and release details on the next claim contract.
How to claim
On the Escher claim page you will find details on how to claim ESCH with the Fusion and Pyrus wallets, with the latter being the most intuitive and easy to use with the contract preloaded in the contracts tab. Once your address is claimed and registered with the contract, it will update automatically with any changes in balances. You will be credited ESCH based on your total balance at block 448,000.
Two videos have been posted on Youtube with instructions on making claims using both methods:
Pyrus: https://youtu.be/t5oNkEbXwzc
Fusion: https://youtu.be/V_vbwQ0OFGk
Token standard
The ERC20 token standard has become a major player in smart contract based tokens and has led to well tested standard function calls for services to utilize. There have been several improvements proposed in the ERC777 standard which includes the extra data attachment that we’d like to help standardize in the EVM ecosystem. The ERC777 token standard is still being finalized so we will issue ESCH as the current standard and if there are major changes, there will be a swap process if needed (See Swarm City as example of this).
Voting function
Similar to the contract function used with the claim process, the District0x voting contract was used as a starting foundation for the Ubiq Governance system with some modifications and extra functions to allow grouping like Yes/No vote contracts and multi-round voting. Similarly you will need a small amount of UBQ for gas to commit ESCH to a vote contract.
We will have guides to vote from Pyrus and Fusion but for the best experience, using Sparrow Chrome extension built for dApps will be the most intuitive and convenient way of participating in governance system. The main voting page will list official proposals and polls, but will have a system in place to allow community submitted proposals to be submitted using Github. Official proposals will be funded by the Network Development Fund and donations but other funds can and will exist.
Future functions
There are lots of protocol tokens being developed and used in the Ethereum ecosystem, providing valuable infrastructure and services, many of which are open source solidity code. Projects and systems we look forward to integrating into ESCH framework include but not limited to; 0x decentralized exchange, Raiden payment channels, Prediction Markets and incentivised EVM bridges. Official proposal will provide funding from the NDF for completing these improvements, which in some cases will be completed by core dev team member but ideally incentivising new developers and teams.
WhoIS public profiles — Delegation
Those who are familiar with the application concepts that were attempted with the former bitcoin codebase, know that a public profile address with social media and chat connections were a key concept we want to develop further. The EVM accounts system and smart contract functions is far better suited for creating a registry of public profiles. This system is still very theoretical and would ideally used by swapping ESCH tokens for a Non fungible ERC721, similar to the Cryptokitties standard contract. These public profiles would be used to form delegations, where users can simply point their ESCH voting power at a delegate to vote on their behalf. Additional it allows better verification of who is submitting a proposal and what their history is in delivery.
Summary
Escher is built as the governance token of the Ubiq network which fuels and directs proposals (development and otherwise). From those proposals it also has the intention of spawning other protocol and utility based tokens on Ubiq through a further airdrop or redemption process to ESCH holders. We look forward bringing you the next evolution of the Ubiq platform!
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