Ecosystem update - September 2023
Alex Stoicescu
Oct 20, 2023
6 min.
Greetings, Request Network community!
Welcome to the Request Network ecosystem update for September 2023.
The Ecosystem Update focuses on protocol usage and our vision to build an ecosystem of decentralized apps for payment requests. Here, you will find our ecosystem updates, major news and announcements, and anything else that interests the community.
The current ecosystem built around the Request Network protocol includes the following builders: Huma Finance (lending and borrowing), Joba Network (future-of-work hiring platform), BSOS (supply chain financing), Copra Finance (lending and borrowing), FLock (machine-learning credit scoring) and Request Finance (invoicing and payroll). If you’re interested in what we are building together with the previously mentioned companies and want to share your vision with us, don’t hesitate to apply to our grants program.
Tech update
Mantle deployment
Request Network now supports payments on Mantle and Mantle Testnet!
Here are the details:
We deployed the following payment smart contracts:
ERC20FeeProxy
EthereumFeeProxy
ERC20Proxy
EthereumProxy
We deployed the payments-subgraph:
Mantle: https://graph.fusionx.finance/subgraphs/name/request-payments-mantle
Mantle Testnet: https://graph.testnet.mantle.xyz/subgraphs/name/request-payments-mantle-testnet
Thank you to the FusionX team for letting us use their Mantle Mainnet Graph Node and to the Mantle team for letting us use their Mantle Testnet Graph Node ❤️
We updated the Request Network SDK, so we’re happy to inform everyone that all the typical functions now support paying and detecting payments on Mantle! You can see all the chains that Request Network supports at Supported Chains.
GitHub Projects and GitHub Discussions
We’ve migrated tech task tracking from DeWork and Asana to GitHub Projects! This is as close as possible to a live, transparent tech roadmap.
This move will boost transparency, improve visibility and searchability, and streamline collaboration. With new filtering options like status and sprint tracking, managing and tracking our engineering tasks has never been easier. Additionally, we’re phasing out the ”💻dev-support” forum in Discord in favor of GitHub Discussions for questions and GitHub Issues for bug reports, which seamlessly integrate with GitHub Projects for a smoother experience.
Useful links: Tech backlog | Development process
More documentation updates!
In September, we added two new Overviews:
SDK and Request Node Overview: https://docs.request.network/get-started/protocol-overview/request-client-and-request-node
Explains the roles and relationship between the Request Network SDK and Request Nodes.
Private Requests using Encryption: https://docs.request.network/get-started/protocol-overview/private-requests-using-encryption
Explains the high-level design for private requests and its similarity to HTTPS.
Node 18 Support
Request Network SDK is now compatible with Node 18 thanks to the contribution from Github user OjusWizard!
On top of that, over the last couple of months, OjusWizard has implemented several bug fixes on the RequestNetwork monorepo and the Request Create dApp without any direction from the Request Network team. Thank you for your contributions!
Highlights from September
Token2049
Request Network was represented, for the first time, at Token2049, Asia’s premier web3 event, by Francisco Pinto, Alexandru Popescu, and Alex Stoicescu. This was the last leg of our multi-city trip, which started in Warsaw for ETHWarsaw, carried into Milan for our offsite, and then to Singapore for what could now be called the world’s biggest web3 conference. The 2023 edition has grown tremendously, with over 10,000 attendees and 500+ side events!
Getting down to business, what have we accomplished while in Singapore?
A better understanding of the Asian web3 scene and industry – we have met with several companies that prove adoption is actual, and we, as an industry, are past the problematic onboarding stage.
Over 90 genuinely exciting new contacts and leads for our grants program and partnership opportunities! We’re following up with many of them now and expect results soon.
Supported our partner, Request Finance, at their side event focused on treasury management and accounting. Our presence there facilitated a deeper understanding of the Request Network protocol to an audience of financial services and products builders.
Met with two of our ecosystem partners, Huma Finance and BSOS, at their side event, “Maximizing RWA’s potential – strategies, best practices & use cases”. It was an absolute pleasure for us to see both ecosystem partners explore synergies between them and host an event together. Moreover, it was an excellent opportunity to connect with RWA-focused builders.
Attended a panel discussion hosted by another of our ecosystem partners, FLock. This was an excellent opportunity for Francisco to introduce the Request Network protocol to a new batch of hackers in Singapore for FLock’s AI-focused hackathon.
Last but not least, since this was the first time we were in Singapore, we did a deep dive into the street food culture there and ate what can only be described as the Holy Grail of spicy lovers worldwide! Just take a look at the amount of hot peppers in this dish.
Our first trip to Token2049 proved to be a very fruitful experience, with loads of contacts made in just a couple of days while attending the biggest conference the web3 industry has seen. We want to return next year with an extensive team so that we can cover more side events and create even more connections with builders and between builders ❤️
Team offsite
Early September marked the first offsite for the current Request Network team. A few team members (Alex P, Alex S, and Francisco) met in beautiful Milan, while the rest (David and Neil) attended the workshops via video conference from their homes. We were joined by Chris and Yoann, two of the founders of Request Network, and have gone through various topics by hosting workshops.
This was the first time we met in person, so to start things off, we got introduced to the protocol’s history and early days by the person who has been there since the start, Chris. This has proven extremely useful, as the current team wants to innovate as much as possible while avoiding falling into the same pitfalls. We continued over the next three days to discuss and educate ourselves on topics (that we can disclose) such as:
Branding
Project management
Technical overview of the protocol (how does Request Network function ELI5)
OKRs and metrics for the rest of 2023 and 2024
Lastly, we also took a day off for actual teambuilding activities around Milan, which were unfortunately cut short by a strike by the Italian airport workers’ syndicates 😅
ABOUT REQUEST NETWORK
The Request Network Foundation’s mission is to re-invent accounting and finance by creating a decentralized network of interoperable apps that promotes transparency and real-time reporting.
We inspire and educate developers, partners, and authorities to use Request Network and build an open-source, seamless, and interoperable.
We’re building a network that connects businesses worldwide, giving them ways to do business at the speed of the internet. Come and be a part of tomorrow’s financial revolution!
