[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.
HandleChat will be a decentralized communications protocol, that will utilize modern point-to-point encryption, with on- and off-chain capabilities, offering low-latency and censorship-resistant messaging, built on the Cardano blockchain. HandleChat will enable the Cardano community, dApps, wallets, and others a full integration to interact with the protocol, via an open-source SDK.
This proposal is for Part 1 of the HandleChat protocol that will be managed and run by our internal nodes but the vision is that on upcoming upgrades and releases there will be decentralized HandleChat Node Operators (also known as HNOs), who will run, manage and own the protocol, while earning income for doing so. We will expound on HNOs on future releases since this proposal is focused on the initial deployment of the HandleChat communications protocol.
HandleChat will be an on- and off-chain messaging system. The off-chain portion will deliver low latency and fast messaging services, comparable to all the major Web2 messaging applications, such as Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, etc. but with the differential that in future upgrades, node operators, or HNOs, will be incentivized to secure, own and decentralize the protocol.
The on-chain portion of the messaging protocol will rely on Cardano Layer 1. Users of the protocol who choose this option will have selected messages validated by the blockchain itself, creating immutable and permanent proofs, secured by Cardano L1.
We predict that there will be certain messages, certain data, that needs to be immutable and stored permanently. Perhaps public announcements from certain dApps who need to create a permanent record about a future upgrade, or perhaps about a voting procedure, will prefer to store those messages permanently and on-chain to have both the immutable record but also an indisputable timestamp. Contracts and other legal documents, that presently use systems such as DocuSign, could be another potential use case for the messaging system, given that $bob could send a signed contract to $alice. dApp providers could, in this manner, integrate to the protocol and use it to produce documents which their customers could sign with their private keys and $handles.
HandleChat will deliver a full open-source SDK for anyone to integrate to.
The HandleChat protocol will run on the Cardano blockchain but will also be made available to anyone outside the community. New users can simply join the messaging system, acquire a Handle (or subHandle) and start messaging. Given the decentralization depth of the Cardano blockchain, we believe that HandleChat has the potential of becoming a global communication standard, especially since certain nation-states enforce censorship on telecommunications. HandleChat will eventually reach a level of decentralization that will make it resistant to any form of censorship from governments. HandleChat will utilize the Cardano L1 blockchain to store proofs to validate the messaging application.
All messages will utilize point-to-point encryption and therefore only the sender and the recipient will be able to read their contents. In the future, when HandleChat Node Operators have been onboarded and are storing the historical data for the protocol, they too will hold a copy of all sent and received messages but given the technology utilized (point-to-point encryption), they will not be able to read any of the contents. Thus, permitting HandleChat to operate as a censorship-resistant messaging protocol (as secure and decentralized as the number of HNOs and their geographic redundancies), bringing higher assurances of data integrity given that data will be exchanged without a central authority, thereby creating a node-to-node messaging protocol secured by Cardano.
Historical data will be optional, on a per-message basis, and may be purged by a HandleChat user at any time, except for the messages that were earmarked for permanent blockchain storage or validation.
HandleChat will, initially, offer 3 tiers of pricing: Free, Basic and Pro. The free plan will allow typical off-chain messaging, similar to how existing chat services (Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal, etc.) operate but with some limitations given that our goal is to create a differentiated service, one that will be provably decentralized and in the future resistant to censorship. The Basic and Pro plans will offer premium services. We will share pricing for the service as we release the different tiers, while also working closely to our community to deliver tiers that suit our users and community.
[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.
Cardano needs a blockbuster application. One that will bring Cardano to the masses. HandleChat has the potential to become this application, once we achieve future phases of its development. Our team believes that, if done correctly, we could create a messaging protocol that will become an alternative to the existing Web2 and centralized messaging applications. This would deliver on onboarding users to Cardano and also on bringing brand awareness to the Cardano blockchain. We understand that this is a longer roadmap, not fully included on this single proposal, but this proposal is the first step in this direction – of creating the first global and verifiably decentralized messaging protocol that is resistant to governments and censorship.
Within the Cardano blockchain there is presently no communications protocol that act as the standard. Each dApp and project have adopted their unique Web2 messaging solution. Some have opted for Discord, others for Matrix, some opted for Telegram, and many utilize Twitter. We aim to create the standard messaging protocol for the Cardano blockchain. This will allow us to work closely with our community, listen to their feedback and implement features that they need, creating a Cardano-oriented messaging protocol that dApps, wallets and others can integrate to.
Web3 presently does not offer a standard for transmission of contracts and other legal documents. We believe that presently Web2 products such as DocuSign are still the standard, relying on a centralized (albeit reliable) for all transmissions. We aim to add an option, secured on-chain, for the transmission of these documents, that will provide a provably secure and encrypted solution to send and received documents, signed by users' private keys and $handles, that will provide blockchain-verified timestamps for their transmissions, creating immutable proofs that said documents were sent and received.
As Charles Hoskinson once said, this is the year of node operators, given the different streams of revenue that said operators will receive from different projects. We believe that in the future (and this is not directly part of this proposal, as per above, but this proposal brings us the first step in its direction) we will provide an additional source of income for stakepool operators who choose to join the HandleChat protocol, as the fees collected by the protocol will be shared with all operators. Thus, HandleChat, if successful, and in the future, aims to incentivize operators to assist with decentralizing and securing the chat protocol.
We aim to measure the different impacts explained above utilizing an array of metrics. The number of users that get onboarded onto the messaging protocol, the number of daily messages, the number of active users on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly bases, are some of the metrics that we will collect and share with Project Catalyst and the Cardano community to demonstrate how successful we were in pursuing the objectives outlined by this proposal.
[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?
Our team is composed of highly skilled engineers that joined Cardano specifically to build ADA Handle. Our C-level team is composed of BigIrishLion (<https://twitter.com/bigirishlion>), Papa Goose (<https://twitter.com/papagoosecrypto>), Mr. Goose (<https://twitter.com/gooseofcrypto>) and Conrad (<https://twitter.com/conraddit>), in addition to a number of contractors and board members. Combined, we have over 100 years of development experience.
ADA Handle was created from an idea. We did not have any experience building on Cardano. But we got the job done. We started building ADA Handle in June 2021 and by December 2021 we launched our Beta sale. Within 12 hours we sold out the 15,000 beta-sale assignments that we had set as our initial goal. Since then we have launched our public sale and have sold over 230,000 Handles. Our minting engines operate 24x7, with an uptime of 99.99%.
In the process of launching ADA Handle, our team learned how to program with Plutus V1 and V2, Helios, Aiken. We built our own multi-sig wallet. Our team has launched a public API, that is available free-of-charge for the entire Cardano community, on the three public blockchains: Preview, PreProd and MainNet. The community can attest to this by accessing their corresponding endpoints:
Preview: <https://preview.api.handle.me/swagger>
PreProd: <https://preprod.api.handle.me/swagger>
MainNet: <https://api.handle.me/swagger>
Our API was developed in an open-source distribution, available for the community to download and run a local copy, should they wish to, instead of running our public endpoints. We understand that some projects might have this need, of running the API within their own systems and infrastructure, and for this reason we also made it open source, including examples of deployments, for all 3 blockchains. The public API is available from this GitHub Repository: <https://github.com/koralabs/handles-public-api>.
In addition to making available to the Cardano community a free and open-source API endpoint, we have also developed clear and concise documentation explaining the resolution process for Handles, utilizing the current and old standards, CIP-68 and CIP-25, in addition to the soon-to-be-delivered subHandle standard. This documentation can be viewed from this link: <https://public.koralabs.io/documentation/HandleResolution.pdf>.
Our minting portal, for all three blockchains, with an uptime of over 99.99%, can also be verified from these links:
Preview: <https://mint.handle.me>
PreProd: <https://preprod.mint.handle.me>
MainNet: <https://mint.handle.me>
We have also concluded the first phase of our Marketplace, as per the Fund10 Handle Marketplace, which can be verified from these links:
Preview: <https://preview.marketplace.handle.me/backgrounds>
PreProd: <https://preprod.marketplace.handle.me/backgrounds>
This was the first Milestone of the Catalyst proposal from Fund 10, and, as per the proposal, only Preview and PreProd would be launched by now, which we delivered on-time and within the stipulated budget. MainNet is also mostly ready as well, and we'll launch it soon.
This document is another evidence of our capabilities to develop and build solutions within Cardano, as it contains all the parameters and settings for the community to utilize our marketplace and background-development tool to create their own backgrounds, matching the requirements to make them compatible with Handles: <https://public.koralabs.io/personalization/Handles+Background+Creator+Defaults.pdf.>
We have, therefore, demonstrated our capabilities in building systems, developing Cardano-based technologies, and perhaps most importantly, the ability to engage with the Cardano community and generate traffic to our protocol and solutions.
[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?
<u>Internal Development</u>
Phase 1 of the HandleChat development will be our internal Proof of Concept, wherein we will create the first iteration of the application, launch it within our private TestNet. The goals of this initial phase are to successfully send and receive messages over the application, using point-to-point encryption, develop the initial documentation, test different potential integrations for the HandleChat application, and internally test all remaining core functions.
Given that this initial phase will not produce any externally accessible code, the acceptance criteria for this milestone will be the documentation that we will create in order to validate the concept and a video demonstrating the core functions of the HandleChat application.
><u>User Interface and User Experience</u>
During the second milestone we will improve user experience (UX) and the user interface (UI), to get HandleChat to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). We will test with the different variations of the application, its integration to the different browsers, how to make messaging as efficient and lightweight as possible, further develop and test integration to wallets and dApps, among other variables to improve its overall usability.
The acceptance criteria for this milestone will be a video showcasing the Minimum Viable Product, while still restricting it to our private TestNet, without any public access. The video will demonstrate the improved (but not final) iteration of the user interface and the improved user experience.
><u>Community Testing</u>
Our goal with the third milestone will be to invite a selected group of community members to test HandleChat in its first Alpha iteration. These tests and demonstrations will take place within our private TestNet but open to this small group of community members. We will invite the community members who have been helping us to test ADA Handle and all its features over the last couple of years.
The acceptance criteria for this milestone will be delivered in the form a video, showing the HandleChat application being used by the 10-20 community members, the backend data being transmitted to enable the application to work, in addition to community reviews that some of the community members might decide to offer to Project Catalyst.
><u>Preview and PreProd Launch</u>
The objectives of this milestone are to launch HandleChat to the general public on the Preview and PreProd networks. This will give the Cardano community full access to the chat protocol, to determine that it works as designed, allows point-to-point encrypted chats, utilizes $handles as the authentication layer to access the chat interface and messages.
We will make a public announcement in our Discord server, inviting our community members to test the application and help us detect required improvements prior to MainNet launch, while also collecting feedback for additional features and solutions that HandleChat could benefit from.
The acceptance criteria for this milestone will be for the community to successfully use and interact with the HandleChat application on both Preview and PreProd, while providing us with feedback and reviews that Project Catalyst could utilize to confirm our public TestNet launch.
><u>Marketing & Audit</u>
The objectives for the fifth milestone are to deploy marketing tactics in order to raise awareness about the launch of the HandleChat app, what it can do, how it works, invite additional testers to the Preview and PreProd deployments, request additional feedback, and collect additional insights about new functionalities that the community would like from the HandleChat app.
We also aim to conclude the external audit of the HandleChat app code and with it receive approval from our code verifiers that we are indeed ready for MainNet launch.
The criteria of acceptance for this milestone will be links to the Twitter Spaces, YouTube interviews and other marketing efforts that we will undergo, in addition to the documentation from our code verifiers confirming that the HandleChat application is ready for MainNet launch.
><u>MainNet Deployment</u>
The primary goal of this phase is to deliver the first public version of HandleChat on Cardano MainNet. This version of HandleChat will provide the community with the ability to send and receive messages, using point-to-point encryption, with $handles as their logon to the protocol, on Cardano MainNet.
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are the successful deployment of HandleChat on MainNet and the positive feedback from community members attesting that they were able to utilize the protocol successfully. During this phase we will also provide Project Catalyst with a closeout video, showcasing the first public version of HandleChat.
[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?
PapaGoose – Master Platform Engineer (25+ years experience)
With a wide-ranging career that includes a decade of fintech experience, PapaGoose has become a specialist in enabling developers to self-serve over the entire application lifecycle. Providing workflows, standards, and automations, from concept origin, through application and security design, to infrastructure management, including production deployment and maintenance cycles.
Recently exited TradFi, in favor of blockchain and now guides projects in the Cardano community. Currently holding an executive position at Kora Labs - with the intent to build out a standard for NFT-based digital identity.
Conrad Cordeiro – InfoSec and Infrastructure Engineer (20+ years experience)
Information Security and Infrastructure management are Conrad's expertise. For over 15 years he has been supporting companies from the financial sector and for the last 10 years running his own business in New York. Hedge funds and private-equity firms were his main focus before transitioning to Cardano.
Conrad operates BLADE, a top 10 Cardano stake pool, on MainNet and TestNet, with over 60M ADA staked. Conrad was elected as a SundaeSwap Scooper and selected as a Milkomeda C1 validator. Conrad is a Co-Founder at ADA Handle and works full-time in implementing The Handle Standard.
Goose – Co-Founder @ ADA Handle / CEO @ Kora Labs
With a near decade-long stint in commercial lending in Silicon Valley Goose has sourced, structured, and executed a number of high-profile loans to some of the largest tech companies in the world. Managing relationships with financial institutions, credit agencies, and competing financiers in order to provide the most cost-efficient, desirable and prompt loan lifecycles for clients has primed Goose for the fast-paced, community-focused, and technologically cutting-edge product management lifecycle that Web 3 has to offer.
Big Irish Lion – Co-Founder / CTO @ Kora Labs / Master Platform Engineer (20+ years experience)
Big Irish Lion is a veteran developer, with over 20 years of experience with web and software development. Big Irish Lion is an Atala PRISM pioneer. Lion has hands-on experience building video-game platform and mobile applications. The Irish Lion is a server-less evangelist and is proficient with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform.
[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.
1: Software Development
We estimate 1,350 hours of development to build the first phase of HandleChat. This adds up to approximately 135k USD which roughly translates to 300k ADA. Our estimates are for 2 developers taking turns in working full-time for 3-4 months, each one at a rate of 100 USD. Therefore, 100 USD x 1,350 hours = 135k USD = 300k ADA assuming the exchange rate of ADA at 0.45 USD.
2: Project Management & Business Expenses
To successfully deploy the HandleChat protocol, we estimate that we will need 36k USD to compensate the business team who will manage the project for us, coordinate milestones with Project Catalyst, and assist the engineering team in all business-related matters to allow the engineering team to focus exclusively on building. These professionals will work part-time, approximately 1-2 hours per day, for the duration of the project, earning 50 USD per hour. 1 hour per day x 50 USD x 20 days x 12 months = 24k USD. We are also setting aside 12k USD for business expenses during the development, which includes infrastructure and other business-related expenses. Bringing this segment to a total of 36k USD or 80k ADA.
3: Marketing & Community Engagement
We understand that marketing and community engagement are vital for the success of any product. Thus, we plan on investing 18k USD throughout the entire development of HandleChat to connect with the Cardano community and also with the communities from other blockchains, in order to share what HandleChat is, what it will do, how soon it will be available, and also answer other questions that the community might have. We will utilize social-media platforms (YouTube, Twitter, Reddit) in order to connect with the blockchain community. We aim to invest 500 USD per month for the first 6 months of development and then increase expenditure for the last 6 months, as we approach our launch date, to 1.25k USD, bringing us to the total of 18k USD, or 40k ADA.
4: Testing & Quality Assurance
On each phase of our development, we will hire external help to assist us with testing and quality assurance. HandleChat will be developed in 6-12 months. We will coordinate each of the milestones (6 in total) with the testing- and-quality-assurance professionals. Our estimates are to invest 5.25k USD per milestone on testing and quality assurance, bringing us to a total of 5.25k x 6 = 31.5k USD = 70k ADA.
5: External Audit
Upon concluding the development of the first phase of HandleChat, we will hire an external professional to assist us with verifying and checking the code. This verification will precede MainNet launch and will therefore be executed towards the end of the development of this Catalyst proposal. Our goal is have this external professional assist us with finding flaws and potential vulnerabilities on the protocol. We estimate 63k USD or 140k ADA for these fees.
6: Documentation & Reporting
HandleChat will include extensive documentation that will allow other project and interested parties to integrate the the protocol. This documentation will be developed and improved throughout the entire development. We estimate that a group of professionals earning 50 USD per hour will take between 80 and 100 hours to create all our documentation. This will include the documentation on GitHub, within our GitBook, in PDF files, and will describe how the SDK will work. For the reporting part, as we develop reports for our stake holders (team, board, community), we estimate that this professional will need to invest another 50 to 80 hours. Bringing the total to approximately 180 hours x 50 USD / 0.45 = 20k ADA.
[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?
Cardano does not presently have an established real-time low-latency messaging application that allows the community to exchange information in a secure manner, validated by the blockchain and its node operators. We believe that HandleChat can fill this gap and in turn create a decentralized communication protocol utilized by the Cardano community and also the rest of the world, with $handles acting as the username and logon NFT. We believe that over time, as we expand the HandleChat protocol, it has the potential to become a global messaging application, resistant to censorship given the decentralized and permission-less nature of future HandleChat Node Operators (that, as explained above, will not be part of this initial deployment, which focuses exclusively on building the first iteration and on future upgrades onboard and incentivize HNOs). Thus, it is our opinion that developing a messaging protocol that has the potential to become one of the few truly censorship-resistant protocol, that will bring brand awareness to Cardano and to blockchain, can be perceived as offering value for money. We, therefore, believe that it is a valuable service and product. And we believe in its slogan: "HandleChat - Built on Cardano, for the world."
