What is Status?
Status is a mobile operating system. It was built to encourage effective communication and use of the Ethereum blockchain, by bringing this technology into mobile devices. For this reason, Status has a private messenger and decentralized browser that makes it easier for users to access blockchain services and convenience from a smartphone.
Status is basically a gateway. The architecture behind Status on Ethereum is a light client node. This allows access to the decentralized apps on Ethereum. As a result, Status is an avenue through which developers and other entities that have products and services on Ethereum can witness mass adoption and appreciation of their work.
Even though Status operates as a light client node, it is fully embedded in the Ethereum blockchain. This means that Status is an independent extension of the Ethereum blockchain. By using Status, especially on your phone, therefore, you do not need to download the whole Ethereum blockchain. One of the best things about Status is that it is an open source platform. Anyone who desires can join, and become an active participant in its growth and development.
To use Status effectively, you must own the Status Network Token (SNT). This is a modular utility token that powers the network, including the following:
- Governing the Status client
- Push notification markets
- Community content curation
- Tribute to talk
- Social communication
What is the problem that Status Solves?
Bots are one of the biggest challenges we face online today. Bots are automated software that control social media accounts, supporting campaigns, creating ideas and through deception, sway public opinion. While bots are often successful in achieving the intended purpose, the ripple effect is a polluted online discussion, false credibility to campaigns and unfair influence on real social media users and accounts.
Automated systems have been used to dominate discussions on social media, more so on Twitter, with an estimated 35% of user accounts being fake. According to a 2016 report, of the 319 million active users, more than 45 million were bots. This realization paints a dire picture on the nature and credibility of the media content we access online.
Status is about achieving mass adoption for clients, by working around how people interact with the devices they own. According to relevant studies, more people are active on their mobile devices than they are on desktop PCs today. Of this time, more than a third is spent on messaging apps. Therefore, instant messaging apps have a higher retention rate than most of the mobile apps currently in use. Once installed, people hardly ever uninstall them, and this is why mass adoption of instant messengers is a feasible idea.
Status, therefore, was looking for a way of getting uses and their friends to use the apps more, increasing the average lifetime use on the apps. With a growing user database, things like payments and supporting apps can also be built and integrated into the conversation paradigm.
Ultimately, the team at Status designed a hybrid messenger and web browser which allows users to have all they need in one place, while for the developers, this user pool allows them to focus on user acquisition while working within the confines of Ethereum.
How does Status Solve the problem?
To deal with the problem of media manipulation through social bots, the team at Status focused on designing social networks that are socio-economic, and present real value to the user. Status offers a decentralized blockchain platform where users can carry out transactions, build apps and so much more, operating on a P2P basis. Status is built on Ethereum, enjoying the security and the benefit of operating in a complete ecosystem. Users on Status have the power to influence all the decisions that involve the Status network. This means all key decisions, including software and app development and notifications. Anyone who holds the SNT has a right to push a decision in the system. Having done this, the nodes decide whether this decision should be put to a vote.
The voting system on Status is based on the Proof of Stake (PoS) model. When the users make a decision on the network, Status clones their tokens into decision tokens. There are no costs involved in decision making. While Status is free to join and communicate, you will need SNT to do a number of things on the platform.
What makes Status better than the competitors?
Anonymity is one of the reasons why Status is preferred by a lot of people today. This is an Ethereum operational requirement. Anonymity is an important requirement in a bid to protect the users and enhance the integrity of the network, and the information being shared on the network. Status uses advanced encryption to keep the network secure and users anonymous.
Given the fact that the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum have been in the market for a while, there is always the desire or risk by new entrants to reinvent themselves, and come up with something new. This tends to backfire because people are yet to fully utilize the potential of the dominant blockchain platforms, so the idea of trying something new puts people off. This is where Status has an advantage.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, Status builds on the benefits of the technology currently in use and improves on the weaknesses. This also means that the developers at Status can spend more resources on designing innovative features that can spur the network successfully into the future.
Freedom
Status gives users freedom. You can join, create apps, buy and sell anything you want on Status. This takes away the passive nature of interactions that people have with, for example, banks, where you only interact with them when you need to access their services, but take no part in decisions, even the ones that affect you. By joining Status, you can own coins and build your apps. You essentially become one of the decision makers.
Going Mobile
Through Status, blockchain technology is getting more mobile by the day. Status operates as a node on Ethereum. This allows users access to the decentralized apps on Status, and Ethereum. Essentially what this means is that you have the power of Ethereum in the palm of your hands. This is aimed at making blockchain more accessible and user-friendly. Other than the developers who have in-depth knowledge of the ins and outs of blockchain technology, the average user can now enjoy and appreciate the power of blockchain technology through simple everyday things like messaging apps, thanks to Status.
Harnessing Ethereum
There is a good reason why blockchain platforms like Status are pegged on industry leaders like Ethereum and Bitcoin. This is a way of hedging against security. Of course, it is a risky solution, given that it is leveraged on dependence, but at the same time, the bottom line is that users have access to a very big pool of apps, developers, markets and services, and all this is backed by top-notch security. This strategy has given Status a spring in their step since the launch, and they are poised well ahead of other blockchain platforms that might even be more established.
Risk Aversion
There is always a risk of investing in blockchain technology, especially when you have no idea about what it’s all about. The anonymity feature in Status also helps to protect investors, especially against the risk of seizure. Token purchases are protected, and safe such that this information is not available to any third party. Even in the event of a court case, there is no risk of freezing your assets, or knowledge about your investment, which makes it a safe haven for most people.
Community Participation
Status employs an upvote and downvote system like the one used on Reddit. While this gives the users freedom to like or dislike content, Status also has a unique algorithm in place that considers what stake the user holds at the time you are expressing your approval or disapproval for any content. This is a good way of preventing malice and encouraging quality community participation in the Status blockchain.
How can Status be categorized?
Status is an open source mobile interface and messaging platform that allows users interaction with decentralized apps that are available on Ethereum. It is a pioneer, as the first Ethereum mobile client that was built on P2P technology.
Using the messenger form factor on Status was aimed at making Ethereum more user-friendly, especially for a normal smartphone user who does not know about blockchain technology. At the same time, this was meant to make Status a flexible avenue for developers of decentralized apps, so that through their work, the average daily use of the public Ethereum blockchain increases.
What’s Status’ vision on Security?
Security in Status was built around the tenets of reliability, transfer of value and safe communication, taking away any concerns about asset security.
Recovering Coins
On the issue of security, one of the concerns that people have with most blockchain networks is what happens when they lose their coins. Is it possible to restore the coins and accounts? In the recent past, a lot of people have struggled after losing their accounts and lost a lot of money too. With Status, there is a very high likelihood that you can restore your coins. However, this depends on how the coins were lost.
Even with the effort that the developers at Status put in place to safeguard your investment, the best security starts from yourself. Always make sure your wallet, seed, and private keys are secured. If you lose coins as a result of damage to your wallet, you can reinstall a new wallet and get your coins back.
In case you forgot your keys, hence losing coins in the process, you can restore the SNT keys by regenerating private keys through the seed phrase. Sadly, if you were to lose your coins as a result of a hack, or if you sent the coins to the wrong address, you cannot recover them.
Dealing with Spam
Spam is always one of the common challenges that any network will grapple with over time. On Status, usernames are assigned to help prevent spam, other than using native SNT tokens. To do this, the developers invoked the Ethereum Name Service to make sure that anyone who owns SNT has a unique username. In order to own SNT, you have to deposit SNT as premiums.
This is a secure way of preventing spam because for you to send such, you would have to burn SNT in the process, and an audit trail would show the source of the spam messages.
Examples of Status use cases/applications
Ujo
The developers at Ujo describe it as a home for artists. Ujo is one product that has been integrated into Status successfully, giving artists the ability and freedom to create and control their content. This is a creative’s paradise, in that other than creating and controlling the content, they can share it as they please with the world at their behest.
The Ujo platform takes advantage of blockchain technology to provide transparency for the users, something that has been the main reason for legal battles between artists and their partners in the past. Ujo gives artists a decentralized database of rights, allowing them to use cryptocurrency and smart contracts for things like automated royalty payments. Some of the partners who have come on board include RAC, Imogen Heap, and Giraffage.
Etherisc
Through Status, Etherisc is using blockchain technology to make insurance accessible, and more importantly, fair. On this platform, users are able to build decentralized insurance applications, make the process of buying and selling insurance more secure and efficient, increase transparency in insurance processes, and reduce the operational costs that often push up the cost of insurance
Oasis Exchange
The Oasis Exchange is a decentralized exchange where users can trade in Ethereum tokens.
uPort
The uPort protocol is changing the way identities are handled online. Instead of leaving identity ownership to corporations, uPort gives back control to the individual. Through their open identity system, you can register an identity on Ethereum, request credentials or send the same to manage data and keys securely, and even sign transactions.
Users can choose the kind of information or credentials that they are willing to share when requested. The identity and messaging protocols on uPort are specifically built to enhance the user experience on decentralized platforms.
Resources
https://coincheckup.com/coins/Status
https://wiki.status.im/Frequently_Asked_Questions
https://status.im/whitepaper.pdf