NXT 2.0/ Ardor roadmap

Announcing Nxt 2.0, the successor to the pioneering Nxt platform, which has been an inspiration for many other successful blockchain projects!

Nxt 2.0 builds on the experience we have gained from running Nxt in production for over two and a half years, and aims to solve real world problems of scalability, privacy, currency liquidity and usability.

Nxt 2.0 retains all the core features of the first version of the Nxt Blockchain, but breaks the mold by adding secure and scalable child chains. This new flexible architecture allows users to create their own blockchains, customised to fit their needs, while drawing security from the collective ecosystem of the global Nxt 2.0 platform.

Nxt 2.0 is being built by an experienced and professional developer team. The same team that built the first true Proof of Stake system, that implemented the first decentralised token trading system not relying on the bitcoin protocol, the first and only fully decentralised coin shuffling implementation. The team that has been consistently innovative since the Nxt launch back in 2013.

Nxt Development Timeline

The initial research phase of Nxt 2.0 has passed. Pooling their experience of working on Nxt 1.0 for over two years, Core devs Jean-Luc, Riker, ScripterRon and Petko have already started the first phase of coding for Nxt 2.0.
Coding Nxt 2.0 will take time. The Core Team does not want to launch an overhyped and half-finished system, but wants to make sure the new platform holds up to the high standards you have come to expect from Nxt 1.0. We consider this to be the de-facto reference standard of stability and performance that a blockchain platform should adhere to.

Initial coding has started a few weeks ago and is expected to take at least the rest of 2016.

Testnet
At the time of writing, the Core Team aims to launch the first version of the Nxt 2.0 Testnet very early in 2017. During the Testnet phase of the software, there will be many rewrites and tweaks based on user feedback and continuous use of the platform. The Testnet phase will last for at least six months to make absolutely sure the first live version will be safe and trustworthy at launch.

Mainnet
At the time of writing, it is estimated that the first live version of Nxt 2.0 will launch in Q3 of 2017.

More details on the implementation cycle can be found in in this post (Word version, PDF version)

Nxt Features

Nxt 2.0 will retain ALL Features of the Nxt 1.0 platform.

Below you will find an outline on how each current feature will be ported to the new FNX Child Chain at launch.

Account Numbers
Account numbers are preserved. Since the mapping from secret phrase, to public key, to account id will not change, your 1.0 pass phrase will correspond to the account with the exact same number on 2.0. Existing 1.0 users will be able to login to Nxt 2.0 with their existing passphrase.
The Account table will be global, and each account can have balances in any of the Child Chain tokens, as well as in FXT.

Assets
Existing Nxt 1.0 Assets or Asset Transaction History will NOT be ported directly to the FNX Child Chain.
Since the Nxt 1.0 blockchain will continue to exist, the Core Team believes it is better to leave the choice of when and how to move to Nxt 2.0 in the hands of the Asset Issuers themselves.
This is probably best done by burning existing Assets, requiring them to be sent to the issuer account in order to issue new Nxt 2.0 Assets in exchange. Or it could be done by each asset issuer declaring a height at which they will take a snapshot of 1.0 asset balances, and then re-distributing those on 2.0.
Assets will be universal on Nxt 2.0, which means that for any Asset, regardless on which Child Chain it was originally issued, any Child Chain that will allow its trade will be able to trade it.

MS Currencies
MS Currencies themselves are also universal, and will be possible to trade on any Child Chain. MS Currency names and codes existing in Nxt 1.0 WILL be ported to the FNX Child Chain, including the currency balances for all accounts. Their transaction history will not be.
The Core Team will provide support to any MS currencies that want to transition to a Child Chain, i.e. start a Child Chain with a token distribution based on this MS currency.
MS Currency names and codes will be unique within Child Chains only. This will eliminate the possibility of name squatting across chains. The proposed format for MS Currency names will be CURRENCYNAMECODE.CHILDCHAINCODE, for instance ELEMS.FNX.

Arbitrary Messages
No Messages will be ported from 1.0 to 2.0

Tagged Data
No Tagged Data will be ported from 1.0 to 2.0

Digital Goods
No products or sales will be ported from 1.0 to 2.0

Aliases
Existing 1.0 Nxt Aliases will be ported to the FNX Child Chain. Just like with MS Currency names and codes, alias names will be unique within their Child Chain only. Globally, aliases will be appended with a Child Chain suffix, to signify which chain they belong to. By default, alias name not appended with a Child Chain suffix will be assumed to belong to the FNX Child Chain.

Voting
Voting will be available on each Child Chain.
Open or finished Polls will NOT be ported to the 2.0 chain. Running polls will need to finish on the Nxt 1.0 chain.

Phasing
Phasing will be available on each side chain.
Current Account Control Setting will NOT be ported to the new FNX Child Chain.

Leasing
Account Leasing will be retained, but on the FXT Main Chain only, as only FXT balances are used to provide blockchain security (forge). Existing 1.0 Leases will not be transferred but will have to be recreated.

Plugins
Nxt 2.0 will support Plugins, but existing Plugins will need fixes to work with the new Nxt 2.0 platform.

Nxt Old

What will happen to 1.0?
The Nxt Core Devs are committed to providing support, bug fixes and any possible emergency updates for the Nxt 1.0 chain.
It will not be necessary to burn your 1.0 coins to receive 2.0 tokens, and you are free to trade your FXT Tokens which you will receive after the snapshot period has ended.

The Core Team wants to make migrations to Nxt 2.0 as easy as possible, so is allowing a wide window for making this move.
In short, nothing will change for Nxt 1.0, except that active work on new features will come to a halt. The platform will be actively maintained, so users will still benefit from a secure and well-kept platform.
The Core Team will also provide help and support for users that wish to move their enterprises from Nxt 1.0 to 2.0.

Nxt Token Distribution

Nxt 2.0’s prime innovation is to split the blockchain into a main chain that is used for consensus creation only, and multiple child chains that keep separate ledgers of transactions, each child chain using its own coin/token..

This means that there will initially be two distributions of tokens: one for the main chain token (for now called FXT), and one for the token for the first child chain to be launched (for now called FNX).

The Core Developers recognise the tremendous contributions of the investors and holders of the original Nxt 1.0, without whom Nxt 2.0 would not be possible, and have decided to grant them exclusive rights to these new tokens.

It is important to note that Nxt 2.0 does not mean Nxt 1.0 will cease to exist! The Core Team is committed to continue providing support to Nxt 1.0 for at least one year after the Nxt 2.0 launch, and possibly further.

There will be no burning of Nxt 1.0 needed in order to receive either FXT or FNX Tokens.

Distribution:

FXT (Main Chain Tokens)
All NXT holders are eligible to receive FXT Tokens at launch of the Mainnet.
Shortly after the release of Nxt 1.9, (intended to be the last major release on the Nxt 1.0 branch) the Nxt Software will start taking periodic snapshots of all users’ NXT balances, at regular intervals (most likely once an hour), for a period of three months.
The NXT balances in each account will be averaged over this full three month period, and at the end all accounts will be automatically credited with a token representing their FXT holdings, issued as an Asset on the Nxt asset exchange.
This FXT Asset will be freely tradeable.
The distribution of the real FXT coins ( to be done at the launch of the Nxt 2.0 Mainnet in Q3 2017) will be based on the ownership of FXT Assets on the 1.9 blockchain, taken at the point of time when the 2.0 Genesis block is created, shortly before that launch.

FNX (Transaction Tokens for the FNX Child Chain)
The distribution of the FNX Token will be based on each account’s NXT holdings at the time of the Nxt 2.0 Genesis block creation.
At the time of writing, the Core Devs have decided to credit 50% of these holdings to each new FNX Account, while reserving 50% of FNX for funding of the development team, business development and other operations that will need funding to make the Nxt 2.0 project a success.
The Core Devs acknowledge that not including this step in the distribution of 2013 was a mistake in the first place, which has left the project chronically underfunded. As a donation based model is not sustainable, they decided to opt for the allocation of 50% for project development and sustainability.