Po.et is the internet of content value: the decentralized protocol suite for ownership, discovery, and monetization of content.

Everything on the web is centered around content. If content is king, Po.et is the kingdom, and it exists to support and sustain the people living and working in it. If we succeed, the Po.et protocols will impact nearly every company in the world, just like the web protocols did.

Inefficiencies and waste will be replaced by direct transactions. Previously closed opportunities will be discovered and unlocked. More creators will earn a living doing what they love because they’ll find it easier to reach the people who are willing to pay them to do it.

Media companies will find it easier to source contributors, news, and assets like newsworthy photojournalism and video. Scriptwriters will shop their scripts without fear. Musicians will be more easily discovered, and their music more easily licensed so they keep paying the rent and the music can keep playing.

We’ve all heard these promises before. The internet changes everything because we don’t need permission from the gatekeepers anymore.

But it didn’t entirely work out that way. Creators faced piracy and the value of their work was decimated because it was easier to steal than legally license content.

Then the gatekeepers came in and set up shop, fracturing our content kingdom into a thousand walled gardens, where participation is restricted and everybody is a slave to one centrally controlled algorithm.

Po.et is tearing down the walls. The walled gardens are transforming into open marketplaces.

All of this is possible because some powerful innovations are converging:

Blockchain technology

Cryptocurrencies

Decentralized computing

This is where Po.et comes in. What if script writers could prove that they registered their scripts with Po.et on a specific date? Blockchain technology proves that.

What if a studio wanted to option it? Cryptocurrencies can help make the transaction painless, and smart contracts can ensure that collaborators who need to get paid do get paid.

But transacting with the world’s creative content is going to require scale at levels that would be hard to pull off, even for Amazon or Netflix. Decentralized computing can help ensure that as network usage grows, network resources grow with it, enabling the network to sustain itself, even without a central entity paying the bill.

People are looking at blockchain technology right now because of the hype. They hear that blockchains can change the world, they understand that disintermediation is a powerful force, and they want to be ready to ride the next wave of innovation (and avoid the next wave of disruption).

For many, blockchain technology is a solution in search of a problem to solve.

The leaders of Po.et have been working in digital media for years. We’re building the protocols we’ve always wished for, and this new convergence of technology — this better web — is exactly what this industry needs.

The Bitcoin blockchain gives us the consensus we need to make verifiable claims about content rights, trustworthiness, reputation, and quality, and those needs are resonating with the industry leaders we are talking to.

I’m really excited to share our progress with you this month.

What Works Now?

Because our mainnet push has been our primary focus, this hasn’t changed since June:

Where Are We Going Next?

Mainnet is coming! We’ve made big progress on our road to mainnet, and we’re very excited about it. In our last engineering progress report, we shared these charts:

June Mainnet Progress Meters

Since then, we’ve discovered a lot more scope, which added a lot to the total to-do item count, but we also ripped through a whole bunch of those to-do items and still managed to make a big dent in the overall percent complete. Here’s what that looks like in the detailed breakdown:

July Mainnet Progress Meters

As you can see, in June we were tracking less than 100 total to-do items for mainnet. In July we’re tracking 174.

Let’s look at our burndown chart again. Last month I was a little over-optimistic about our scope discovery. I said:

“We’ve crossed the first major hurdle in the mainnet effort: transitioning from scope discovery to implementation mode. At this stage, the to-do list stops growing and starts shrinking. You can see that in our mainnet milestone burndown chart:”

Mainnet burndown chart: June 2018

Here’s what it looks like this month:

Mainnet burndown chart: July 2018

Scope discovery never really stops in engineering projects, but when I said, “We’ve crossed the first major hurdle in the mainnet effort: transitioning from scope discovery to implementation mode …” that was spot on. The team has completed a lot of work.

I was optimistic when I predicted a downward trend, but a single chart can be deceptive. This one will shed a better light on the overall progress:

Mainnet progress month over month by percent complete: June/July 2018: 37%/64%

Even with the additional discovered scope, we’re making healthy progress toward a mainnet beta launch in the coming months. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

What have we been working on?

Claim batching to ramp up our scaling capabilities

to ramp up our scaling capabilities Fixing bugs

Security reviews

Automation of essential workflows

of essential workflows Protocol details for Bitcoin mainnet

for Bitcoin mainnet Better documentation of everything

We’ve made a lot of progress on all of these fronts. We’re really excited to share it with you. See you soon on mainnet!