Since we announced the PUBLISHprotocol, we’ve been getting a lot interest and questions from the crypto community and publishers alike. One question that tends to comes up a lot is about what we’re doing to ensure the growth and adoption of the PUBLISHprotocol. So, in this article we summarize what we’ve achieved so far and outline our goals moving forward. A full roadmap can be found at the end of the article.

Roots in publishing

It goes without saying that a blockchain media platform like the PUBLISHprotocol requires a deep-rooted understanding of both blockchain technology and the newspaper business. From what we’ve seen, however, the teams behind existing blockchain media projects are predominated by either journalists or software engineers, rarely both in equal distribution. The PUBLISHprotocol team is unique in this sense, since we’ve collectively been involved in both sectors for several years.

2010 — Launches FxWirePro

For instance, in 2010, we developed FxWirePro, a professional-grade, real-time financial analysis company providing investors and traders with a comprehensive overview and insight of the global currency markets.

2015 — Launches EconoTimes, FxWirePro Launches Bitcoin Newsfeed

Following FxWirePro, we started a full-scale news service with the launch of EconoTimes in 2015. With approximately 1.5 million readers per month, we’ve succeeded in establishing ourselves as a legitimate and financial sustainable media outlet.

In the same year, FxWirePro began offering its Bitcoin Newsfeed service, back when the cryptocurrency was still in its infancy and long before the ensuing hype of 2017.

So, if EconoTimes represented our first steps as a media company, FxWirePro’s Bitcoin Newsfeed represented our first steps as a blockchain company.

2016 — Launches EconoTimes China Edition (经客时代)

The following year, in 2016, we launched EconoTimes China Edition (经客时代). In a time when it’s impossible to discuss the world economy without mentioning China, we further established ourselves as a truly international publication.

From publishing to media

The launch of TokenPost in early 2017, represented a big step for us. It was in this year that we went from being a professional financial news and data analysis company with an interest in blockchain, to being a fully-fledged blockchain company.

2017 (a) — Launches TokenPost, Hosts Korea’s first blockchain conference

In early 2017, we launched TokenPost Korea Edition, a professional blockchain media outlet dedicated to all things blockchain in Korea and abroad.

We also held the 2017 Digital Money Conference, one of the first full-scale blockchain conferences in Korea.

And since then, TokenPost has grown leaps and bounds to become not just an information provider but also an events services company holding various crypto-related events.

2017 (b) — TokenPost reaches 10,000 subscribers, Conceptualizes PUBLISHprotocol

In the same year, TokenPost exceeded 10,000 newsletter subscribers, cementing its position as Korea’s most popular blockchain media outlet — no easy feat! Having gained so much traction in a matter of just months, we began to appreciate just how much people needed a niche publication like TokenPost. We also began to appreciate the importance of the role we were playing in educating the public about this budding but much misunderstood industry.

2017 was also the year in which we started conceptualizing the PUBLISHprotocol. We had seen first hand just how important small, local, or niche publishers can be. But we also understood the challenges of running such an operation in a financially viable manner.

That’s when things started to get really interesting!

March 2018 — Issues TokenPost Coin, an off-chain token and precursor to NEWS

In March 2018, we became the first newspaper newsroom to launch its own cryptocurrency. Dubbed TokenPost Coin (TPC), the token was initially employed to incentivize participation in events and national surveys. Later on, however, it would serve to reward readers of TokenPost for things like creating an account, reading articles, and leaving comments.

While we prepare for the launch of the PUBLISHprotocol, we continue to test and experiment with TPC behind the scenes. For more information about TPC, see “NEWS token reward system, how does it work?”

June 2018 — Hosts Korea’s largest blockchain conference, the Blockchain Open Forum

The 2018 Blockchain Open Forum, held at GS Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul in June 2018 was the first professionally-organized international blockchain conferences to be held in Korea. The event was a hit, with thousands of blockchain enthusiasts, companies, and speakers from both Korea and abroad in attendance.

2018 Blockchain Open Forum

In the weeks that followed, Seoul became the host of a number of other international blockchain conferences. Our success had clearly struck a chord, but it also marked a new wave of interest in blockchain.

July 2018 — Launches TokenPost International Edition

Following the 2018 Blockchain Open Forum, we launched a standalone English-language edition of TokenPost: TokenPost International Edition. Now TokenPost would be enjoyed by both Korean and English speakers around the globe.

October 2018 — Publishes PUBLISHprotocol whitepaper version 1.0

About a year after we initially began having conversations about the PUBLISHprotocol, we went into full swing, publishing the first version of the PUBLISHprotocol’s whitepaper. The whitepaper represented hundreds of hours of intense discussions, brainstorming and research, as well as our first attempt at articulating a solution to a problem that is so widespread in the newspaper industry.

November 2018 — Launches PUBLISH Alliance

Since the publication of the whitepaper, we’ve launched two other initiatives: The PUBLISHalliance and PUBLISHsoft.

The PUBLISHalliance is a consortium of media enterprises, technology providers and academic institutions, collectively tasked with the objective of contributing to the development and proliferation of the PUBLISHprotocol, and solving the problems that characterize the newspaper industry.

PUBLISHsoft is the name of our in-house end-to-end publishing platform, which we’ve now building out for commercial purposes. Designed with small- to medium-sized newspaper newsrooms in mind, it will have many of the features you’d come to expect from a modern content management system. It will also facilitate the issuance of a PUBLISHprotocol-based token. Little to no blockchain expertise required!

More on these initiatives in a later article.

Looking forward to 2019

In 2019, we plan to continue in earnest to drive the development, growth and adoption of the PUBLISHprotocol. What follows is a quarterly breakdown of our plan for 2019.

2019, Q1 — Issues PUBLISHprotocol whitepaper 2.0 & conducts PUBLISHprotocol IEO

During the first quarter of 2019, we plan to conduct an IEO (Initial Exchange Offering).

We’ll release alpha versions of the PUBLISHprotocol and PUBLISHsoft, with TokenPost serving as the first protocol use case.

We’ll also open and operate various communities in an effort to build further awareness and keep our followers abreast of the latest news and developments related to the PUBLISHprotocol.

2019, Q2 — NEWS 3.0 Conference, PUBLISHsoft beta release

In the second quarter of this year, we will hold a conference related to the newspaper industry and the PUBLISHprotocol. We plan to invite experts and industry professionals. A detailed schedule will be announced shortly.

In addition, we’ll release a beta version of PUBLISHsoft.

2019, Q3 — Bug bounty program and product refinement

Quarter 3 will focus more on product improvements. We’ll improve security, introduce new features, and initiate a bug bounty program in the interest of improving our solution.

Roadmap

We’ll keep you updated through official channels whenever the roadmap is updated.

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