In this Monthly report, we will give a summary of the most important updates that happened in the VeChain ecosystem during January 2019.

VeChain

Jan 9 – VeChain reflects on 2018 and gives a preview of what is to come in 2019 in a medium post. The goal for 2019 will be to increase the number of valuable transactions on the VeChainThor blockchain. This will be done by onboarding more enterprise clients, but also by providing the community with the tools and knowledge needed to develop on the VeChainThor blockchain.

Jan 10 – My Story™ by DNV GL officially released. My Story logs the history of a product and its ingredients on the VeChainThor blockchain, allowing users to learn more about the product, increasing trust and brand experience.

Three Italian #wine makers are the first to use #blockchain-powered My Story™. By scanning a #QR code on their bottles, consumers can now access the product’s true story from grapes to the bottle. https://t.co/AJQDMqqUAd @vechainofficial pic.twitter.com/V1NmCPJlKG — DNV GL (@DNVGL) January 10, 2019

Jan 11 – Sunny Lu (CEO), Kevin Feng (COO) and Gu Jianliang (CTO) held an hour-long technical AmA. Some of the highlights of the AMA: developers conference will come in April. MIT, Dartmouth, and Stanford have joined the VeResearch program. A global support team will be set up to help developers across the world. New tools and documents coming for developers. Read our recap of the VeChain technical ama here

Jan 17 – VeChain releases Connex. Connex is a javascript object that can be added to websites to interact with the VeChainThor blockchain. VeChain also officially released Sync v1.0. Sync is the official VeChain desktop wallet with an integrated dApp browser. Download Sync here.

Jan 21 – Renato Grottola, global director digital transformation at DNV GL, as well as VeChain Steering Committee member, joins the Italian national blockchain taskforce.

At the Italian Minister of Economic Development, @rgrottola introduces himself to the national blockchain taskforce, sharing his view on the upcoming challenges and opportunities.

And yes, @vechainofficial is mentioned in his presentation.#VET #VechainThor #DNVGL @DNVGLBA_IT pic.twitter.com/ZSoc367Agc — VeChain Italia Unofficial (@vechainitalia) January 21, 2019

Jan 26 – LVMH releases a video where Sunny LU (CEO VeChain) talks about the LVMH Innovation award, in which VeChain took part in 2018. Taking part last year delivered VeChain 10 new business opportunities as well as an entry to point to the entire luxury industry.

“It is definitely something you must try to boost your business. It is an incredible access to the top management of LVMH.”

In 2018, @vechainofficial took part in the LVMH Innovation Award at @vivatech.

Startups, follow their lead: apply to the 2019 edition!#Vivatech #LVMHtech pic.twitter.com/02gDprpGla — LVMH (@LVMH) January 26, 2019

Ecosystem Projects

Jan 3 – The open beta of Comet launched. Comet is an easy to setup, decentralized, browser-based wallet that allows you to interact with dApps. For those familiar to MetaMask for Ethereum, Comet is the MetaMask for VeChain.

Go to cometpowered.com now and install your wallet to get ready for the first dApps released soon!

Jan 21 – OceanEx releases an SHA/BTC trading pair. Read more here.

Jan 23 – Safe Haven introduces their ThorPay product. Beta testing will start soon!

In keeping with our roadmap, we are excited to announce we have successfully integrated the ThorPay Alpha on the VeChainThor Blockchain. The product website and closed Beta testing are not far behind! #SHA #VET https://t.co/OA8CuMcTLd — Safe Haven (SHA) (@SafeHavenio) January 23, 2019

Jan 24 – Over 1200 people signed up to join the Alpha test of Plair. Demand was way higher than expected so instead of 200 testers, all 1200 sign-ups will be given access to the Alpha! A total of 250 million PLA can be earned by helping out in the Alpha test.

Alpha test registrations was in huge demand and we ended up with over 1200 signups! As a show of our appreciation we allowing all that registered access to the Alpha test. We will also increase the rewards from 50M PLA to 250M PLA! #VeFam pic.twitter.com/EVmubMnvm1 — Plair (@plair_life) January 24, 2019

Jan 27 – Logino Dujardin, CEO of Safe Haven, gets interviewed by MacMac007. Read our recap of this interview here.

Jan 30 – Safe Haven releases the Safe Haven MasterNode program. Earn a percentage of the fees needed to use Safe Haven products by staking SHA into your wallet!

We are pleased to bring you the Safe Masternode Program: the economic model that will bolster the foundation and support the continued growth of the Safe Haven projects. #SHA #VET https://t.co/3Ux6XesbSU — Safe Haven (SHA) (@SafeHavenio) January 30, 2019

Team members

Jan 22 – Sarah, VP of Business development for VeChain’s SE Asia Market, is a Keynote speaker at Binance it’s blockchain Event.

"Next Decade – Driven by Business Values" Keynote with @mspandorah VP of @vechainofficial SG, Aus & NZ pic.twitter.com/Xe4H8Hc5Ig — Binance Blockchain Event (@EventBinance) January 22, 2019

Jan 28 – Sunny Lu and Jerome having a meeting at LVMH.

Sometimes you have to suit up for some serious meetings, lol. pic.twitter.com/OWVfW16Oij — Sunny “No-Any-Promotion-Link” LU (@sunshinelu24) January 28, 2019

Community

Below you can find our favorite tweets from the VeChain community.

Jan 3 – Video showcasing a traditional Chinese gift with integrated VeChain technology.

Jan 13 – Jason Rockwood reminds us how big VeChain’s partners really are.

If you've never been to China it's hard to appreciate how large some of the VeChain partners really are. PICC, for example, meant nothing to me. But when I look up and see it on a giant skyscraper, I sort of gulp in awe. VeChain is bigger than you think. $VET pic.twitter.com/7UCIwAZTzU — Jason Rockwood (@jasonrockwood) January 13, 2019

Jan 14 – Ben Yorke of Vechain101.com wrote a recap of an Interview with Sunny Lu.

A few people asked for a translation, so here it is… I didn't proofread so forgive me for any mistakes, I'll go back through it tomorrow. It's a pretty personal look at @sunshinelu24, definitely feel like I have a better understanding now.https://t.co/xPExOT5BVD — Ben Yorke | vechain101.com (@BenYorke) January 14, 2019

Jan 21 – A great write-up about the browser-based Comet wallet by Emberworks.

Comet is one of our favorite VeChainThor tools to look forward to. We wrote an article about what Comet is, why it is needed and what is yet to come. We hope you enjoy it!https://t.co/BSVwErT1q2@cometpowered @TotientLabs#comet #dapps #vechainthor #blockchain$VET $PLA $SHA — The Emberworks Community (@the_emberworks) January 21, 2019

Jan 22 – Sarah (VP SE Asia, VeChain) shares on stage during the Binance conference that VeChain has partnered with One Championship.

Attending binance conference and @mspandorah just shared on stage that there is going to be a collaboration between VeChain & @ONEChampionship . "Stay tuned for more details"#VeChain $VET pic.twitter.com/JL6PgWljQE — Kev T (@KevinTwk20) January 22, 2019

Jan 24 – Jason Rockwood sharing a nice picture of his visit at the VeChain and OceanEx office. ps: Who else thinks Sunny Lu should be hired as a sneaker model?!

Spent the day visiting the Beijing offices of VeChain and OceanEx. The combination of enterprise adoption (DNVGL), blockchain ($VET), and financial infrastructure and exchange ($OCE) shall make the VeChain Ecosystem a force to be reckoned with. pic.twitter.com/8gEiwed4LS — Jason Rockwood (@jasonrockwood) January 24, 2019

Jan 30 – A video showing the integration of VeChain technology in WeChat.

Another bottle of premium Olive Oil on #VeChain, scanned with WeChat! Purchasable on Taobao. I grabbed a bottle earlier but it was an older bottle (pre-VeChain). Delicious olive oil, just used my last drop last night 🙁 $VET $VTHO #AdoptionIsHere pic.twitter.com/B2umUyLNoQ — DontShowMeTheMemelines (@DMemelines) January 30, 2019

I’m sure I have missed some of the things happening in January, feel free to share it using the comments below!