Hello Datum community!

It’s been far too long since our last big community update. Thank you for your patience and continued enthusiasm for Datum.

A lot has been happening behind the scenes with new hires, partnerships, app and network development as we structure for growth in 2018. With everything going on, we had to prioritize for strategically growing the team and network. Going forward, you can expect a continuous stream of updates.

The team has been working hard on all fronts to bring forward the Datum vision of empowering individuals to “Secure and Monetize your Digital Life.”

We’re proud to announce that in the first quarter (Q1) of this year we have already completed over $100,000 USD in data exchange transactions in the data marketplace among 90k+ registered users via 8 new partners distributing 530k+ DAT to the community. These transactions served as a proof of concept and allow the Datum core team to focus on the pathways to rapid network growth.

Over the next two weeks, we plan to distribute over 1.6 million DAT tokens from two new partners. We are also searching for the 100,000th user of the Datum app, who stands to receive a special prize.

Throughout 2018 our focus will continue to be on on-boarding new users and data buyers. Near term, we believe there is sufficient scale and value in broadening our user base within the Ethereum and Cryptocurrency communities. As we look toward the future, we’re working to ensure that we have a sustainable ecosystem of end users, data buyers and storage node operators across key industries and use cases.

For the DAT token, it’s important that we provide easy on-ramps for anyone to acquire DAT in their region. This is why we’ve been in communication with over 16 exchanges since the token sale. As of today, you can acquire Datum on 7 exchanges, with more to come in near future. The exchange listing process takes time due in part to evolving regulatory markets. We’re also careful to ensure the exchanges we work with are taking the necessary steps to ensure they are technologically and operationally well positioned to thrive in the changing cryptocurrency landscape.

Our business development pipeline is strong. In the non-blockchain world, we’ve seen tremendous interest from companies ranging from chip makers, gaming laptop manufacturers, mobile ad networks, shopping/loyalty apps, online video, data marketing, customer data platforms and more. In the blockchain world, there are a number of conversations taking place with KYC providers, hardware wallets, payment and portfolio apps.

We’ve made several recent key hires: Nick Cavet in Chicago (CMO), Joe Johnston in San Francisco (Head of Special Projects), Shane Cole (Product Manager), Philip Andres (Dev Manager), Jennifer Gregory (Communications) bringing our full-time team to 16 people spread across the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Russia, and New Zealand.

And we’re not done hiring…

We’re currently seeking a VP of Engineering and several JavaScript and Go developers to join the growing dev team. We’re also hiring a Digital Marketing Manager (preferably in New York) to support our CMO, Nick Cavet, to bolster awareness in the United States and establish a presence within the New York advertising community.

Thank You to our First Data Marketplace Customers

The Datum community would like to thank our initial round of data buyers: Appcoins, Gifto, Experty, Envion, Tokenomy, Gatcoin, Acorn and Crowd Machine. We wish you continued success and look forward to working together in the future.

Datum Ambassador Program Pre-Registration

Datum is not only just about the core team members. It’s everyone in the community who supports the Datum vision and ecosystem. It’s important for all of us to raise awareness of Datum within the broader blockchain community. We’ve been sponsoring, speaking and attending events throughout the world and receiving a lot of valuable feedback.

If you’re interested in attending blockchain events in your local market and helping to spread the word about Datum please contact christiana@datum.org to pre-register for our Local Ambassador Program.

Q1 Event Presence

Feb 9 — International Blockchain Congress, Chicago

Feb 16–18 — ETH Denver, Denver, CO, USA

Feb 21 — Global Blockchain & Fintech Forum

Feb 22–8th SPb Blockchain Community Meetup, St.Petersburg

Feb 26–27 BC Expo, Moscow

Feb 24–25 — DeCenter TokenConf 2018, Moscow

Mar 1- International Blockchain Summit, Moscow

Mar 7–8, Vietnam Blockchain Week

Mar 8, Eurocham GDPR Panel

Mar 10, Cyberport Career Fair

Mar 12, Global Blockchain Competition, Singapore

March 13–15 — Money 2020, Singapore

March 14–16 — TokenFest, San Francisco

March 20–21, Token 2049, Hong Kong

Upcoming

March 31, Codefest, Novosibirsk

April 4–5, Beyond Blocks, Tokyo

April 13–16, ICT Expo Hong Kong

April 20, Blockchain Tech Conference, Hong Kon

Roadmap Update

Datum App

We resolved several persistent bugs as reported by our community. We’re currently developing specifications for expanded data integration as well as the DAT user and partner referral programs.

Feb 21 — V 1.2.1

App review / feedback prompt

Phone verification improvement

CSS issues affecting iOS users

Feb 28 — V 1.2.2

Signup and login improvements

Error handling improvements

ETH withdrawal address verification

Mar 16 — V 1.3.0

Added a new offer for users to monetize their device location data

Improved the way the Datum web app is displayed for desktop users

Fixed a problem that prevented some users from being able to claim the email data offer

Fixed an issue preventing some users from logging in on app.datum.org

Mar 19 — V 1.3.1

Fix high battery usage when location data source is active

Datum Network

Over the last months we have been refining our internal Datum test network, working towards a public release. A lot of work has gone into several key components of the Datum network and we are excited to start releasing key aspects over the next weeks, here are just some of the modules the development team is currently working on:

Implementation of Plasma to connect the Datum Blockchain to the Ethereum mainnet

Refinement of the Datum Blockchain and support tooling like our Block Explorer and the Datum API

Initial version of our Storage Node client

Move from BigchainDB to Apache Cassandra to allow for better scale on the data storage layer

UX improvements and addition of more data sources in the Datum App

Datum Referral program and mechanics

Enhancement of the Datum API to allow 3rd parties to submit data on behalf of users

Per the technical roadmap we are on schedule to begin QA on the Testnet starting in the next few weeks. If you’re interested in earning DAT as a beta tester or as a storage node staker please apply through this form.

Team

Our team has grown to 16 full-time employees and numerous freelancers across product, engineering, operations, business development, marketing and community.

New Hires Announcements

Nicholas Cavet — CMO

Joe Johnston — Head of Special Projects

Philip Andrew — Development Manager

Shane Cole — Product Manager Datum App

Rashad Ibrahimov — Developer

Jennifer Gregory — Communications

We’re actively recruiting for the following positions:

VP of Engineering, Hong Kong

JavaScript developer, Hong Kong, Remote

Go developer, Hong Kong, Remote

Digital Marketing Manager, US

Community Manager, Remote

Head of US Business Development, US

Please apply by sending your resume to careers@datum.org

Accelerator Announcement

Hong Kong Cyberport Incubation Programme 2018

Datum has been accepted into the Hong Kong Cyberport Incubation Programme. 36 Companies were selected from 200 applicants. Cyberport Incubation Programme supports entrepreneurs and start-ups with resources that aim to accelerate their growth. In addition to a range of business and professional services upto 42’000 USD over 24 months. Two unicorns were former incubatees at cyberport, TNG Wallet and GOGO Van both have market valuations today of over $1 BiIllion USD.

Community

We’re in the early stages of formalizing a series of programs for the community to participate based on their region and skill set.

Ambassador Program

Bounties (Engineering, Translation, QA)

StorageNode Operators

Referral Program (User and Platforms)

Marketing

We’re committed to driving awareness and adoption of the Datum app and Datum storage network. The marketing team is actively working to align on priority markets and industry verticals in conjunction with partnership and product milestones. This is a cross-functional effort that requires collaboration with the efforts of the engineering and business development teams as well as reacting to promising opportunities as they come up.

Ultimately our planning will result in a more discrete allocation of marketing dollars and seek to drive effectiveness and efficiency of user adoption and awareness of Datum across all stakeholder including data buyers, data sellers, node operators and the surrounding ecosystem.

In conjunction with marketing plans we’re going to be reshaping our digital experience to more clearly articulate our value proposition to the world and engage an even broader set of community supporters.

Website Updates — In progress

New Website & API Documentation — In progress

New Growth & Awareness Campaign — Jun-Dec 2018

Communications

We’re working to have a more consistent cadence of communications with the Datum community and as such you can expect the following:

Monthly Reddit AMAs with the Team

Each month we will have an AMA w/ Roger Haenni CEO and other team members as requested by the community. The first AMA will be held in April. Specific date to follow.

Monthly App and Network Developer Release Notes

As new features are added to the Datum App and Datum Storage Network our engineering team will publish release notes on Medium. These notes will be for the more tech-oriented members of the community.

Quarterly Community Newsletter

We’ll provide a recap each quarter of progress made across all aspects of Datum, similar to the format of this newsletter providing a comprehensive review of the previous 90 days.

Ad-hoc Announcements

In addition to the regularly scheduled communications we’ll also celebrate our wins in the areas of business development, product milestones, program announcements and community growth.

Thank you again for your continued support. We’re excited to share with you even more great progress in the weeks and months ahead.

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