The Grantcoin Foundation and 7 Elements LLC are pleased to announce an ongoing partnership for development and maintenance of Grantcoin code and wallet software.
7 Elements is led by Troy Benjegerdes, a developer with experience in the cryptocurrency field, who has served as an Advisor to the Grantcoin Foundation ever since Grantcoin launched in May. Troy has a career background in software engineering, especially servers and back-end development, and has worked for the Cray supercomputer company.
7 Elements is donating professional services to the Grantcoin Foundation because Grantcoin is the only cryptocurrency that is managed by a nonprofit organization with a mission for social good, which is pursuing recognition as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity.
“I am happy to work with the Grantcoin Foundation to make Grantcoin as strong technologically as it is in its economic philosophy and values,” said Troy Benjegerdes. “When you use Grantcoin, you are voting with your wallet for an inclusive, direct-democratic financial system that decides how wealth should be distributed based on charitable guidelines, not the profit interest of a small group of financial insiders. This is a cryptocurrency worth supporting.”
In the next two weeks, the Grantcoin Foundation will be releasing new code and wallets for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. This will be a mandatory update for all users — there will be a hardfork at block 250,000 in the Grantcoin blockchain.
Reasons for the update include:
- Integrate all features which were added to Bitcoin core versions 0.7 and 0.8, some of which were not included in the first version of Grantcoin. These features includes coin control and support for IPv6.
- Significantly improve blockchain download speed. This is especially noticeable in the Android client.
- Indefinitely delay the start of Proof of Stake. The Grantcoin Foundation has decided to consider alternative distribution models for future block rewards which are more in line with the economic justice principles of our organization. While studying and deciding on a system, Grantcoin’s network will continue to be powered by Proof of Work mining. 7 Elements will lead the development of a permanent solution to be released in 2016.
The mobile wallet being developed by 7 Elements offers users full control of sensitive information such as private keys and transaction history data, without any third-party hosting that can be compromised by hackers or corporate buyouts.
Troy Benjegerdes is working closely with Eric Stetson, who developed the first version of Grantcoin, on internal alpha testing for the hardfork to occur at the end of November, to ensure that there will be a smooth, bug-free transition for Grantcoin users, mining pools, and exchanges.
Please watch for another announcement by the middle of this month with new wallet downloads and instructions for the mandatory update.
