https://openfund.com/activity/626c01fe2db46fcf3fb7733ab1585d8797ff8fd2a3cd8140e7a8af49778f9b4d
https://openfund.com/profile/nader
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Today is the big day! When the countdown timer runs out on focus.xyz, you'll be able to use the Focus app on testnet for the first time. If you take one thing from this launch, understand this: The DeSo Community does not quit, and will never quit until DeSo is seen as the top layer-1 that it rightfully deserves to be.
What you're going to see today is an app that does everything on-chain in a way that no other app or blockchain can currently support, including the major layer-1 blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. As you use the app, remember that Focus could not be built on any other blockchain because no blockchain other than DeSo supports the cheap content storage, fast confirmation time, and high transaction throughput needed to create a competitive consumer app today, period. If DeSo were built on Solana, for example, every post would cost $2 in storage rent, every interaction would require a "confirm" popup, and every interaction would have a high likelihood of getting cancelled five seconds after a user initiated it because of the instability of the fee market. With Ethereum, the cost to store a post would be closer to $200, among other issues. Focus is the absolute bleeding edge of crypto infrastructure bundled together with the most innovative consumer application that the crypto space has yet seen. It is *the* use-case everyone in crypto has been waiting for, and the end of the "financial nihilism" era of crypto investing.
How is it that the DeSo blockchain can do something that blockchains worth 2,500x as much can't even come close to doing? Other teams focus exclusively on infrastructure or exclusively on product. DeSo is the only layer-1 I'm aware of that's focused on both, and thus the only one capable of providing a vertically-integrated crypto experience like Focus that can compete with and surpass traditional web2 experiences. And the proof is in the pudding: If a breakthrough app like Focus were possible on another blockchain, then why haven't we seen it built yet after *billions* have been spent on "developers"? We've been working for almost two years on this app, including all of the unique infrastructure powering the DeSo Layer-1, and we can't wait for you to try it and see what crypto can really do.
Below are the instructions for how to get in if you're a reservation-holder, and what to expect.
When the countdown timer runs out on focus.xyz, you will be redirected to the testnet Focus app, which is currently closed to the public, and will open using a sophisticated crypto-based invite system. As a reservation-holder, you are in the first cohort of people that gets to try it, and all future people who join will necessarily come either directly or indirectly from someone you invited (which you'll earn referral bonuses for).
To enter the app as a reservation-holder, and to be among the first people to ever try Focus, simply click the link next to "you already have an account" and import the same wallet that you used to reserve $FOCUS. If you need any help, simply reply here and someone will be in touch to get you in (but beware of scammers and do not share your seed with anyone!). As a reminder, the testnet phase is incentivized, and you can see the guidelines in the reply to this post.
If you did not reserve Focus but would like to request an invite, you can hit the "Request Invite" button on the landing page and follow the instructions. More invites to the testnet will go out starting next week.
To set expectations, we've done our best to squash all bugs before-hand; however, as this is the first time that a large group of people will be using the app, there will be some things that don't work. Please be patient with us, and operate under the assumption that everything will be fully polished in a month or so (especially on mobile). This isn't the first successful app we've launched, and the level of polish tends to increase exponentially in the few weeks.
It is hard to understate how big of a day this is for me and for every member of the DeSo Community, literally years in the making. We couldn't have gotten here without the support of every single person who believed in DeSo all along the way, through all of the ups and downs. Thank you all for giving meaning to my work, and for constantly reminding me of the importance of fighting for what we're doing
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Hey everyone, a quick announcement about incentives ahead of our big testnet launch on Monday:
First, if you’d like a preview of what the app will look like so you can prepare, I’m excited to share our mock of the app for the first time below. Note this is just a visual demo of the app that we used to build the real one. The actual app, which you’ll get to try on Monday, is even cooler :)
* long-live-charizard.vercel.app
As a reminder, the Focus testnet app will not deal with real money yet, only testnet coins, which have no value. However, we are going to be applying some incentives to encourage testing…
The main component of the incentive will be very simple: for every $FOCUS and $USDC token you have in your testnet wallet at the end of the beta period, you will get some amount of REAL $FOCUS when we launch. We will apply some amount of our bonus pool to users who are active and create value for the community including considering trading volume. We may also change things up if we notice that some activity is important to test, or if we notice things are getting overly-gamed. That being said, for now, your wallet balance will likely be a big part of what the reward is based on.
Incentive tokens will be distributed at mainnet launch, and they will be locked according to the same vesting schedule as bonus tokens, meaning tokens start unlocking 1 year from mainnet launch. We plan for the total incentive to be anywhere between 0.1% to 5% of the $FOCUS supply, and it will come out of the “Incentive Tokens” pool budgeted in the original Tokenomics. We will decide on the exact amount distributed based on how much activity we see.
For more details on the $FOCUS token supply, please see the tokenomics doc and spreadsheet:
* Tokenomics doc: docs.google.com/document/d/1Yln6iaguNmHJoM2yxV4adBhV_TityLvZ7zsQIvWsPog/edit
* Tokenomics spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19SFtC-ktHKfLRrA5kvJfEsJKInx38T5lcXWHgE6-occ/edit
Hey everyone, I'm excited to announce that, after a long wait and a few surprises, we will be entering an invite-only beta phase for Focus on Monday 11/11 at 11:11am Pacific Time. Here's how it's going to work:
1. On Tuesday, everyone who reserved $FOCUS will get exclusive access to a beta version of the app running on testnet. This beta version of the app will have all features fully-cooked, but it *will not use real money.* This will allow us to dry-run all of the monetary mechanics in a low-risk environment, without putting anyone's funds at risk. It will also give us some buffer to respond to a few iterations of feedback and fix any bugs before launching for real.
2. Everyone will receive the same amount of $FOCUS on testnet as they will receive when we launch on mainnet, in addition to $1,000 of testnet USDC. These funds won't be exchange-able for real money, but they will allow everyone to "practice" using all of Focus's advanced monetary and social features with play money.
3. A testnet version of the $FOCUS bonding curve, identical to the one that will launch on mainnet, will be set up and accessible on the testnet DeSo DEX via Openfund. Everyone will be able to see and trade against this curve with play money, in conditions mirroring the actual launch. This will give everyone an opportunity to prepare for the conditions of the actual launch.
4. The virality of Focus is something we've put an *incredible* amount of effort into. With that, a testnet version of the Bounty Hunter, the crown jewel of Focus's virality, will be publicly-accessible and share-able on Tuesday, so that everyone can stress-test it and give us feedback on it. We think this is one of the most exciting components of Focus, as it is the most innovative way that we've seen to solve the cold-start problem using crypto, and we can't wait for you to see it.
5. The other cornerstone of Focus's virality is its next-generation Meme Coin and Creator Coin platform (aka CCV2). A testnet version of this platform, identical to what will launch on mainnet, will be available exclusively to reservation-holders who have access to the beta app. We think you're going to love it.
6. The Focus app itself will run on a sophisticated invite-based system, where the initial cohort of reservation-holders will initially be the only ones who have access, and thus the only ones who can invite others to use the app. Initially, while we're responding to feedback and fixing bugs, everyone will have zero invites. Then, once we're ready, we will give out more invites on a weekly basis.
7. In addition to the launch of Focus on testnet, we will be launching many significant updates to Openfund, our flagship DeSo DEX client, both on 11/11, and in the weeks after. We will also be putting out two coin-holder votes related to Openfund. The first will be used to set the default Openfund fee rate, while the other will be used to determine how fees will be distributed to Openfund coin-holders (whether buy-and-burn or direct distribution).
8. Once we feel that Focus is in a good place, we will announce a date for the mainnet launch of Focus. While we could set this date today, we think it will be better to wait until we've done a few rounds of iteration with the community on the testnet version, as that will allow us to fix all the bugs without having to rush toward an artificial deadline.
When Focus launches on mainnet, everything will be virtually identical to the plan outlined above, but with real money.
It's worth mentioning that Focus is an app that we've been working on for almost two years now, and it is the culmination of everything we've learned about virality, retention, and crypto consumer products from prior (very successful!) app launches. It comes from studying everything that's wrong with how social media and creator monetization work today, and applying innovative crypto-based solutions that have never been seen before to every problem. It's a product you can really only build if you have a deep passion for what you're doing, and an extremely long-term view, and it's only possible thanks to the infrastructure provided by the DeSo blockchain, including its recently-shipped Revolution PoS upgrade.
Simply put, Focus has been designed to be the breakthrough consumer use-case that everyone has been waiting for in crypto. After having experienced it for a while now, we think it holds up to this expectation, and we can't wait
Today is the big day! When the countdown timer runs out on focus.xyz, you'll be able to use the Focus app on testnet for the first time. If you take one thing from this launch, understand this: The DeSo Community does not quit, and will never quit until DeSo is seen as the top layer-1 that it rightfully deserves to be.
What you're going to see today is an app that does everything on-chain in a way that no other app or blockchain can currently support, including the major layer-1 blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. As you use the app, remember that Focus could not be built on any other blockchain because no blockchain other than DeSo supports the cheap content storage, fast confirmation time, and high transaction throughput needed to create a competitive consumer app today, period. If DeSo were built on Solana, for example, every post would cost $2 in storage rent, every interaction would require a "confirm" popup, and every interaction would have a high likelihood of getting cancelled five seconds after a user initiated it because of the instability of the fee market. With Ethereum, the cost to store a post would be closer to $200, among other issues. Focus is the absolute bleeding edge of crypto infrastructure bundled together with the most innovative consumer application that the crypto space has yet seen. It is *the* use-case everyone in crypto has been waiting for, and the end of the "financial nihilism" era of crypto investing.
How is it that the DeSo blockchain can do something that blockchains worth 2,500x as much can't even come close to doing? Other teams focus exclusively on infrastructure or exclusively on product. DeSo is the only layer-1 I'm aware of that's focused on both, and thus the only one capable of providing a vertically-integrated crypto experience like Focus that can compete with and surpass traditional web2 experiences. And the proof is in the pudding: If a breakthrough app like Focus were possible on another blockchain, then why haven't we seen it built yet after *billions* have been spent on "developers"? We've been working for almost two years on this app, including all of the unique infrastructure powering the DeSo Layer-1, and we can't wait for you to try it and see what crypto can really do.
Below are the instructions for how to get in if you're a reservation-holder, and what to expect.
When the countdown timer runs out on focus.xyz, you will be redirected to the testnet Focus app, which is currently closed to the public, and will open using a sophisticated crypto-based invite system. As a reservation-holder, you are in the first cohort of people that gets to try it, and all future people who join will necessarily come either directly or indirectly from someone you invited (which you'll earn referral bonuses for).
To enter the app as a reservation-holder, and to be among the first people to ever try Focus, simply click the link next to "you already have an account" and import the same wallet that you used to reserve $FOCUS. If you need any help, simply reply here and someone will be in touch to get you in (but beware of scammers and do not share your seed with anyone!). As a reminder, the testnet phase is incentivized, and you can see the guidelines in the reply to this post.
If you did not reserve Focus but would like to request an invite, you can hit the "Request Invite" button on the landing page and follow the instructions. More invites to the testnet will go out starting next week.
To set expectations, we've done our best to squash all bugs before-hand; however, as this is the first time that a large group of people will be using the app, there will be some things that don't work. Please be patient with us, and operate under the assumption that everything will be fully polished in a month or so (especially on mobile). This isn't the first successful app we've launched, and the level of polish tends to increase exponentially in the few weeks.
It is hard to understate how big of a day this is for me and for every member of the DeSo Community, literally years in the making. We couldn't have gotten here without the support of every single person who believed in DeSo all along the way, through all of the ups and downs. Thank you all for giving meaning to my work, and for constantly reminding me of the importance of fighting for what we're doing.