Stegos FAQ
The Stegos privacy platform provides users with fully private transactions, messaging and data transmission. Stegos acts as a gateway to an entire ecosystem of privacy services and apps. Stegos combines a unique blockchain and token design to implement the first cryptocurrency that’s absolutely private, secure, efficient and fully mobile compatible. The most up to date information can be found in the Project section of our website at http://stegos.com.
The Stegos team doesn't just bring blockchain experience to the table (although we have plenty of that, too). With backgrounds in finance, aerospace, and cryptography, the team has a breadth of experience in applying technology to some of the most sensitive challenges facing society. Want to know more about the team? Check them out here: https://github.com/stegos/stegos/wiki/Whitepaper-EN#team
Unlike other blockchains, Stegos is regularly pruned to keep it small. This means the Stegos blockchain has space for messages and data, in addition to standard transactions.
Stegos is optimized for use on mobile. The Stegos chain is compact, and we use a version of Proof-of-stake to secure it, which makes it viable to run full nodes on your phone and earn STG tokens from your pocket.
Yes, there will be a primary Stegos app which serves as a user-friendly gateway to the Stegos privacy ecosystem. See the Stegos App section below for more details and questions.
Stegos uses multiple methods to ensure maximum privacy. User identities are obfuscated using cryptographic key pairs, and each transaction uses a new stealth address. Transactions are combined into supertransactions to hide sender and receiver information, while all transaction amounts are hidden using cryptographic commitments (Pedersen commitments) and zero-knowledge range proofs (Bulletproofs). Validator stakes and transaction fees are the only exception since these must be visible for blockchain validation to work. However, users can create as many wallets as they choose, so validation and staking can be performed separately and privately.
Stegos is designed with users in mind and optimized for mobile. Therefore, it is essential for the blockchain to remain small and efficient. This is done using transactional sharding and block pruning: spent coins and expired data are safely and securely removed from the blockchain.
The Stegos privacy blockchain uses a version of Albatross which has been optimized for privacy and mobile compatibility. Stegos block rewards are distributed using gamified Proof-of-stake (gPoS), a unique modification to Proof-of-stake which ensures that all users have a fair chance to earn tokens for maintaining and validating the network, not just whales.
In addition to regular staking, gPoS adds a validator sevice award, a randomly distributed award which will be distributed to a single user who has helped to maintain the Stegos blockchain in the most recent award cycle.
Any user who has acted as a validator in one of the Stegos validation pools since the last service award is eligible to receive the validator service award.
One-third of the block reward from each newly created block is added to the award pool.
The validator service award grows with each block until it is randomly triggered to be distributed to a single eligible user. The current size of the validator service award will be displayed on the Stegos website and in the Stegos app.
In order to keep the award exciting and to prevent manipulation, the award is distributed to a random user at a random time, with the likelihood of the award being released increasing as the award pool grows. On average, however, we expect the award to be allocated every few thousand blocks. This ensures that all active users have an extremely high chance of being selected to help validate the blockchain by the time the award is triggered.
Many features of Stegos require randomness to work. This randomness is ensured via verifiably unbiased distributed randomness, ensuring that no-one can predict or manipulate the result.
#Funding and Development
Stegos will generate a pre-mine of 1 billion STG tokens. Up to 51.25% of the STG pre-mine may be privately sold to high net-worth individuals and companies to reach a maximum of $30 million. Stegos has already raised $15 million of this target in 2018. Once the mainnet is launched, STG tokens will be sold directly to the general public using the built-in DEX.
Development has been on-going for many months. The testnet launched has already launched, and mainnet is due to launch on May 31st.
Mainnet will launch on May 31st
Most features will be implemented at launch, although full mobile support will come later. The app will not be available at launch, so there will be no UI available for non-payment transactions such as messages. However, transaction pruning will be implemented at launch, so it will still be possible to use these features manually.
Yes! The Stegos testnet is currently running and we welcome all testers and feedback. To get started, go to [link].
STG token emission will start at 14% during the first 4 years and halve every 4 years thereafter.
The tokens will be distributed after mainnet launch.
STG
1,000,000,000 STG
The one billion pre-mined STG will be distributed as follows: Sale (51.25%); Development (16.75%); Team (10%); Marketing & Ecosystem (10%); Advisers (2%); Reserve (10%)
51.25% (512,500,000 STG) of the total pre-mined tokens are available for sale during the various rounds.
This is still under consideration. We will advise once we have the desktop wallet app ready.
In addition to an integrated STG wallet, the app will include many features, including private chat, mobile node setup, red packets (hongbao) and access to the privacy app store.
The Stegos app is designed to be an accessible gateway to the world of crypto and privacy. You will find full and simple in-app instructions for setting up a node so you can start earning tokens from your pocket within minutes.
Yes. Private communication integrated within the Stegos app. Messages will be sent as zero-value transactions via the Stegos blockchain and pruned from the chain once the messages are confirmed as read. Users can send a QR code via private chat to initiate an STG transaction. It is also possible to create chat groups and invite people to chats via QR codes
In addition to the main Stegos app, the Stegos privacy ecosystem is designed to encourage the development of other apps which focus on privacy and use the Stegos platform as a base. To help users find Stegos will have an on-chain privacy app store.
Stegos privacy apps will be stored off-chain to keep Stegos compact. However, each privacy app must create an on-chain manifest which includes a description of the app, tags and keywords to aid searching, the URL used to download it and a hash of the app bundle.
The app bundles are signed with the developers’ public key, which allows users to leave on-chain app reviews to rank individual apps and developers.
Red packets (hongbao) are a way to send surprise gifts or payments to individuals and groups. Users decide how many tokens they want to add to a red packet and how many random gifts they want to distribute. (This number can be set to 1 to make a one-off payment.)
Private red packets can be sent to an individual or group via private Stegos chat or public red packets can be created to distribute a tokens among anyone who has access to the QR code.
Users who try to open a public red packet via the QR code will randomly receive one (or none) of the prizes inside. Users can keep trying to open the red packet (with a slight delay) until it is empty or expires.