2022 was a big year for Pastel Network. In 2021, we made a massive shift to focus on opening our infrastructure such as Sense and Cascade to the entire Web3 ecosystem. By the end of 2021, we were poised to increase exposure and bring our vision of an ecosystem supported by Pastel’s suite of products to fruition. Despite market conditions, we kept our foot on the pedal to develop and refine Pastel’s mission critical infrastructure technology and seek out new partnerships and collaborations. We worked tirelessly to deliver new solutions to the market.
Below, we recap some of our largest achievements of 2022 including the Cezanne Mainnet Release and launch of SmartMint.
Cezanne Mainnet Release — Our Biggest Upgrade Yet
After having been under development for over 8 months, we released Cezanne in August as our largest release to date. Cezanne marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Pastel Network. The release brings countless improvements to both end-user & NFT functionality — such as registration, minting, transferring, and trading — alongside unrestricted access to advanced protocols like Sense and Cascade via interoperable Open-APIs, seamless composability, improved token economics, and the most powerful protocol standard for the Web3 ecosystem.
This upgrade includes:
- Improvements to NFT Minting and Collections
- Support for NFT Transfers, Trades, and Auctions
- Interchain account identification via PastelIDs
- Cross-chain network access via Web3 APIs
- Dramatic upgrades to Sense (our near-duplicate NFT detection protocol)
- Enhancements to Cascade (our distributed NFT storage protocol)
- User-friendly utility services via PastelUp
- Improvements to network optimization and security
- And more!
SmartMint by Pastel — A No-Code NFT Minting Platform.
SmartMint is a no-code NFT minting platform where creators can easily create, manage, and mint NFTs on their own custom smart contracts. The tool also provides creators with additional peace of mind as it leverage Pastel’s infrastructure for near-duplicate NFT detection (Sense) and permanent NFT data storage (Cascade). SmartMint enables creators to mint NFTs on Ethereum, Solana, Pastel, and more.
SmartMint by Pastel enables creators to do what they love without the hassle and complexities of minting and deploying NFTs across various platforms and blockchains. Easily create smart contracts and NFTs in seconds via our no-code tool powered by Pastel’s advanced technologies for guaranteed NFT security, storage, and counterfeit protection.
Below is a detailed list of all our accomplishments from 2022.
2022 Overview of Pastel Network
- Partnership with Nervos: to provide permanent storage to and protect their NFT ecosystem against NFT copymint, fraud & scams
- Launch of the SuperNode Founder Program: this program was created to reward early network users/participants for their contributions and activity in Pastel’s ecosystem as well as encourage long term decentralization.
- Ambassador Program: this was launched to strengthen the Pastel Community and ensure its growth and long term social media success.
- PSL Listed on KuCoin: KuCoin began the trading of Pastel’s native utility token, PSL, on the KuCoin Exchange and commenced a PSL Staking Program
- Cezanne Testnet Release: Cezanne brings countless improvements to both user & NFT functionality such as registration, minting, transferring, and trading.
- Collaboration with Polygon Studios: to bring Sense and Cascade to the Polygon NFT ecosystem
- Milestone Launch of SmartMint: a no-code NFT minting platform where creators can easily create, manage, and mint NFTs on their own custom smart contracts. The tool also enables creators to mint NFTs on multiple networks while leveraging Pastel’s infrastructure for near-duplicate NFT detection (Sense) and permanent NFT data storage (Cascade).
- Partnership with Ava Labs: to bring Sense and Cascade to the Avalanche NFT ecosystem
- Partnership with Parity Technologies: to bring Sense and Cascade to the Polkadot NFT ecosystem
- SmartMint Banff Upgrade: refined functionality of SmartMint’s core workflows, added a number of features to enhance user experience and minting capabilities, and extended SmartMint compatibility to support minting NFTs directly on Solana.
- Cezanne Mainnet Upgrade: having been under development for over 8 months, Cezanne is Pastel’s largest release to date that brings significant enhancements to the Pastel blockchain and improved functionality.
2023 Roadmap
This year, we aim to capitalize on the momentum we created over the past year and focus on what is vital for Pastel Network to continue to cement ourselves as the preeminent Web3 protocol standard. We will continue to execute our vision across interoperability, user experience, and versatility.
In 2023, we are focused on:
- Expediting development release cycles of Testnet and Mainnet upgrades — such as with versions Monet and Van Gogh;
- Building stronger cross-chain bridges, specifically with Ethereum Polygon, and Polkadot;
- Enhancing SmartMint and developing new features;
- Refining user and partner experience with the roll-out of new technical resources and tools;
- Expanding our network of partners across more L2s, DApps, enterprise user-cases, native L1s; and
- Further increasing our exposure to the community of technical users, non-technical users, and creators.
In spite of the broader uncertainty in the market and ever-changing landscape, we believe that delivering upon our roadmap will position Pastel for success in years to come.
Please see below for Pastel Network’s target 2023 release schedule. Note that all releases and milestones are subject to change.
Q1 2023
Mainnet Upgrade: Monet Release 1.2
- Supernode Storage Challenges— A novel mechanism by which Pastel Supernodes verify that other nodes are following the rules of the protocol and storing all files they are supposed to be
- Self-Healing — Intrinsic storage redundancy of Cascade to replace lost or missing symbol files resulting from Supernodes leaving the network
- Supernode Health and State Challenges
- Sense Stabilization — Includes refactoring of the core protocol and asynchronous execution
Explorer
- Upgrade for additional features and analytics including support for parsing of comprehensive ticket data and additional historical statistics
OpenAPI
- Production OpenAPI 2.0 supported via Mainnet
- UI/UX for user account management
Network Tools
- Release of Testnet Faucet
Smartmint
- Integration of Pastel’s Sense & Cascade protocols
- Additional network support (Binance Smart Chain)
Documentation/Services
- Complete overhaul of documentation including client setup docs for Node, Walletnode, and Supernode
- Endpoint exposure via PastelID RPC
Business Development Tools
- Cascade Demo for third party partners
Q2 2023
Mainnet Upgrade: Monet Release 1.3
- Further support for ownership transfer —Gifting of NFTs, Bridging NFTs and assets across Ethereum, enhancement of PastelID
- New PastelId APIs to work with light wallets
- PastelId Blockchain-less API Mode — API execution via light clients (i.e., does not require running a full copy of the blockchain)
- Wallet Enhancements — Support for new address types and additional functionality such as import/export
- Objectless Ticket APIs — Buy, sell, trade and return both created and signed TXs as ‘hex’ instead of submitting it directly to the blockchain
Open API
- ERC-721 NFT functionality with to bridge and Wrap/Unwrap
- API for ownership transfer (e.g. gift, wrap/unwrap PSL/wPSL)
- API to expose set of core Pastel APIs to work with blockchain-less API, such as acceping ticket TXs
Network Tools
- Release of DevNet
- Streamlined support for multiple networks (across Mainnet, Testnet, and Regtest)
- Continuous running of automatic stress tests
SmartMint
- PFP Generator
- Additional Network Support (Pastel, ImmutableX)
Documentation/Services
- PastelId blockchainless API mode
Bridges
- Ethereum
- Polygon
User Tools
- Pastel Hub — Browser-based application that interacts with Wallet via Web App and support consumer facing services for direct exposure to just Sense and Cascade
Q3
Mainnet Upgrade: Van Gogh Release 2.0
- Hardening access protection to NFT and Cascade files — IP whitelisting layer (e.g. Supernodes will only respond for file access calls from other registered Supernodes)
- Activation of WN-2-SN-2-SN encryption
- Sense Enhancements— Support for additional file types
- Bug fixes
Open API
- “Host your own OpenAPI†package — dockerized or containerized solution that any user can acquire and run to have their own OpenAPI server for whatever purpose)
Light/Mobile Wallet
- Browser extension wallet
SmartMint
- Additional Network Support (Flow, Avalanche)
Documentation/Services
- PastelId blockchainless API mode (see above)
Bridges
- Polkadot — Includes the native deployment of a Parachain to seamlessly interact with the Polkadot ecosystem
Q4
Mainnet Upgrade: Van Gogh Release 2.1
- NFT Auctions — Add functionality to run various auction formats
- Sense Enhancements — Includes sharding, correlation optimization techniques, and tSNE
- Client Reputation Tracking — Include across various client types to aggregate various indicators like Supernode storage challenges, successful registrations, and manual user complaints
- Bug fixes
Security / Infrastructure
- Harden against DDOS attacks (random IPs via VPN / whitelist / blacklist)
- Simple load balancer
Business Development Tools
- Sandbox for Layer 1 Partner PoC
Bridges
- Avalanche, Solana
About Pastel Network
Pastel Network is a fully decentralized, developer-friendly layer-1 blockchain serving as the preeminent protocol standard for non-fungible tokens (“NFTsâ€) and Web3 technology.
Pastel allows for the development of third-party decentralized-applications (“DAppsâ€) to sit on top of its Network, enabling developers to enjoy the scalable registration features, storage processes, and security of the broader ecosystem. Lightweight protocols such as Sense — which was built to assess the relative rareness of a given NFT against near-duplicate metadata — and Cascade — which conducts permanent, distributed storage of underlying NFT data — can be integrated cross-chain across various layer-1 blockchains, layer-2 protocols, or other third-party apps.
Pastel is managed by world-class developers, cryptographers, and technologists, supported alongside an experienced and extensive network of marketers, influencers, and third-party agencies. Pastel is backed by key stakeholders including Innovating Capital, a prominent venture fund.
For more information on Pastel Network, visit https://pastelnetwork.wpengine.com/.
Originally Published on Pastel Network’s Medium
