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RChain Cooperative FAQ

Sections

General
Cooperative
Tokens
Activists
Developers

General

What is RChain?
RChain is a fundamentally new blockchain platform rooted in a formal model of concurrent and decentralized computation. The RChain Cooperative is leveraging that model through correct-by-construction software development to produce a concurrent, compositional, and infinitely scalable blockchain.

Where is the whitepaper?
Whitepaper. See also the RChain Architecture.

Where is the roadmap?
A snapshot of the platform milestone definitions is available for commentary. The team has not yet committed to specific schedule dates. One estimate is the first release, Mercury, will be available after the goal of $10M committed investment is achieved.

How did RChain come to be?
RChain was the culmination of a number of innovations by founder Greg Meredith. The core of RChain is based on mobile process calculi, a branch of mathematics with approximately 30 years of history. Together with the experience of other blockchains and other technology, the RChain architecture was documented in July of 2016, while Greg was with Synereo. Synereo's goal was to create a blockchain-based social network and RChain was developed as the underlying technology. The Synereo founders decided to split in order to allow the Synereo team to focus on delivering a social network with existing blockchain technology, and for Greg to focus on realizing the vision of RChain. The RChain organizations (the Co-op and Holdings company) were formed in December 2016 – January 2017.

Cooperative

What is the difference between the Cooperative and the Holdings company?
The Co-op is the organization that develops the open-source RChain platform software. It’s an open and community-driven initiative with multiple communication channels through which all are welcome to participate. RChain Holdings is a for-profit entity whose mission is to grow the ecosystem around the RChain platform, through incubating startups, forming joint ventures, developing products, and delivering professional services.

Where is RChain based?
The RChain Cooperative and RChain Holdings are both Internet companies and have participants around the world. They are Washington USA companies and the founders live in Seattle.

What is the governance model?
The Co-op currently has a five-person Board of Directors. The officers are Greg Meredith, President, and Evan Jensen, Secretary. The Co-op is a member-driven organization, and the membership drive will begin once the regulation-related filings are completed for all U.S. states [and other jurisdictions?]. Additional board members and officers may be added. A membership meeting is planned for October 2017 in which elections will be held. Join the RChain Slack to learn specifics as plans take shape.

What is the Membership Program?
A program is being developed, but some aspects depend on having a working RChain blockchain. Permission from each of the 50 US states is needed in order to charge a membership fee and this process should be complete in the 4th quarter of 2017.

I live outside of the United States. Can I join as a Member?
That process is to be determined and RChain is seeking counsel on the matter. Regions sanctioned by the US could be problematic.

What comm channels does the Co-op use?

Tokens

What are RHOCs?
RHOCs are an Ethereum ERC20 token issued by the Co-op in early 2017 intended as a vehicle for people to get access to the technology. There are 861,185,194 RHOCs in existence. No more will be minted. RHOCs will be 1:1 redeemable for REVs, a future RChain platform native staking token.

What is the plan for supply of RHOCs, REVs, and potential other staking tokens?
Here's the financial summary, distribution, and other information.

Where can I trade RHOCs?
Currently on EtherDelta and OasisDex (these require an Ethereum client such as Metamask, Parity, or Mist):
https://etherdelta.github.io/#RHOC-ETH
https://oasisdex.com/
For a How-To see How to deal on exchanges like OasisDex or EtherDelta.

When will RHOCs be on the major crypto exchanges?
The community is working on this but it’s still early days for RHOCs. Interested individuals can make requests to the exchanges and coordinate with the Co-op for documentation needed.

Is it possible to redeem AMPs for RHOCs?
Not directly; the redemption period ended in April 2017. AMPs and RHOCs are tradable on exchanges.

Activists

How can I get involved with RChain?
Community members who contribute time and energy are called Activists. These people collaborate on various projects to create Co-op infrastructure and work out its governance. To sign up there’s a pre-registration form which requests basic info. After filling it out, you’ll be contacted with a welcome email containing links and information.

Is there a bounty program?
Yes, but the logistics of the program are still in process, partially due to legal aspects. In the meantime, Github is used for issue tracking and project management.

Can I earn RHOCs by participating in projects?
Yes. The first step is to register as an Activist and then find projects you’d like to participate in.

Developers

What is Pi Calculus?
“In theoretical computer science, the π-calculus is a process calculus. The π-calculus allows channel names to be communicated along the channels themselves, and in this way it is able to describe concurrent computations whose network configuration may change during the computation.” (From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi-calculus). To better understand how it is being applied in the RChain development, you can reference the paper Mobile process calculi for programming the blockchain.

What skills do I need to participate?
At this point the entire development focus is on the core platform. If you’re a seasoned developer willing to learn a new programming language (Rholang), have experience with functional programming, appreciate formal specifications, or have expertise in comms then please get in touch. Down the road more and varied skills will be needed. Programmers versed in other languages, web developers, designers, Javascript experts, system administrators, beta testers, and quality assurance people will be in demand. If you'd like to participate please join as an Activist and put yourself in the Talent Pool.

How can I learn Rholang?
An understanding of Pi Calculus will help. Join the Slack #Rholang channel and ask questions.