We are happy to announce that the long-awaited Publica's Side Chain is finally up and running! Read this post to be informed on what we've been working on during the last months and why launching the side chain is crucial for the future of the project!

Publica has always been passionate about bringing the opportunities provided by the blockchain technology into the publishing industry. During the last couple of years, the team has created from scratch an online book marketplace working on the Ethereum blockchain, released Android and iOS apps serving the double-duty as e-readers and cryptocurrency wallets, BOOK crowdfunding platform (BOOK ICO platform), created the FIAT gateway, and the secondary book market exchange. So far it has been an amazing journey and we are grateful to see all the support from our community!

However, to ensure the mass adoption of the solution we needed to go one step further. Having our own blockchain.

From the moment of the project's initiation Publica was (and still is) running on the Ethereum blockchain. This means that every transaction (like book purchase or book sending to another person) is being recorded on the Ethereum blockchain, which brought additional hurdles for users, especially for the newcomers and challenges for the team — to be able to buy and send a book (BOOK token), users need to create an Ethereum wallet, purchase some ETH to pay the gas fee and on top of it, sometimes the transaction could take really long time. These hurdles created are making the process of using Publica complicated for not tech-savvy users.

This was the reason why some time ago Publica announced its plans for launching a so-called “Side Chain” — a totally separate blockchain to power the Publica's ecosystem. The new blockchain is eliminating the transaction fees and makes every transaction instant — as it should be when you are using blockchain technology.

We took Quorum as a base for the newly created blockchain. After several months of development, we are finally happy to announce the release of the Side Chain (also referred to as “Publica on Quorum”) in beta mode and the public testing period.

During the public testing period, everyone will be able to register on the new platform and receive free demo tokens for learning purposes. We will gather the community's feedback and bug reports, as well as will have enough data to analyze the performance of the newly created blockchain (Side Chain).

Get your Publica on Quorum app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pblqapp Check our online book catalog: https://shop.quorum.publica.com/catalog Blockchain explorer: explorer.quorum.publica.com

During the testing period, there will be two blockchains running in parallel — the main and current one (running on the Ethereum) and the Publica on Quorum (or Side Chain) in beta mode. After the test period and receiving enough feedback from the community, Publica on Quorum (Side Chain) will be reset and the team will start on the integration of the Side Chain technology into the main Publica platform.

Please read this FAQ carefully to get the complete understanding of the Side Chain (Publica on Quorum) and don't hesitate to ask your questions:

Although launching the Side Chain is a huge step towards the mass adoption of the Publica's platform, it is only the beginning. We will continue working towards our goals towards making the decentralized publishing we all dream about available for everyone. Stay tuned!