ARPA Monthly Report | February Progress Review

6 min readMar 9, 2020

Dear ARPA community,

To make sure that fellows of ARPA community are well informed of the latest developments of the team, we will update the project dynamics and progress in ARPA community in our monthly report. Thank you all for your support!

This is February in rearview. Enjoy!

01 ARPA Development Dynamics & Technology Progress

Mainnet

Implemented, optimized and tested the mainnet background withdrawal function
Designed and implement the database structure, error handling mechanism and withdrawal record management mechanism related to withdrawal
Mainnet explorer back-end function implementation, database structure upgrade, optimization and testing
Implementation of mainnet explorer, optimized front-end and back-end interaction
Implementation and test of mainnet withdrawal function, including integration test and stress-test
Explored and designed related mainnet functions
Optimized the experience of the income withdrawal feature on Mainnet nodes.
Developed and deployed the node release feature of mainnet.
Started to optimize and reconstruct backend code, aiming to support different cloud providers and implement one-key deployment, and provide infrastructure for public and private MPC networks.
Maintained and upgraded certain backend features, improved the scalability, and enabled the alert feature.

MPC

Developed and test the safe linear regression function based on MPC
Development of convolutional layer and gradient descent function based on MPC
Design of Distributed Account Control Mechanism Based on Threshold Signature
Preliminary research on international standards for secure multi-party computation
Participated in the first plenary session and the first technical seminar of the MPC Alliance and presented on data sharing and showcase ARPA solutions
Developed and improved MPC Explorer.
Developed and provided the backend API for MPC Explorer.
Organized MPC instructions.

Secure Machine Learning

Tested the secure neural network based on the Scale and ABY protocols.
Implemented the polynomial function for activating the secure neural network.
Reconstructed and implemented the secure linear regression.
Conducted pre-research on the architecture of the trusted hardware environment.

02 Community, Marketing & Listings

Token Burn

ARPA Foundation bought back burnt 10,000,000 ARPA tokens from the market which was worth $ 90,000 at the time The burnt token has been transferred to the corresponding black hole address: 0x168115cf806009f8984f47c90033e9a9705b4f65

This was the sixth monthly burn of the ARPA Foundation.

ARPA Joined the MPC Alliance

ARPA has become the latest member of MPC Alliance, the world’s first international organization for secure multiparty computation technology. ARPA will be working with industry pioneers to promote the implementation and standardization of secure multiparty computation (MPC) technology worldwide.

The MPC Alliance is an alliance of top international tech companies that are dedicated to uniting the research capabilities and corporate resources of member enterprises, promoting the research of secure multiparty computation (MPC) and accelerating the implementation of this technology. At present, the members of the MPC Alliance include Alibaba, ARPA, Unbound, ZenGo, Sepior, Cybernetica and other leading domestic and foreign tech companies. It is worth mentioning that the founders of MPC Alliance member companies include Professor Yehuda Lindell, Professor Nigel Smart, Professor Ivan Damgård and other founders of modern secure multi-party computation.

Interview with Digital Shift Times

On January 31, 2020, Japan’s top media Digital Shift Times conducted an exclusive interview with ARPA. Yemu Xu, co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of ARPA, shared in the interview about the development of blockchain technology and the development of privacy-preserving computation technology.

Digital Shift Times pays close attention to Japanese and international technology companies, selects, interviews and reports medium to large enterprises that shapes the trend of technology in the next 5–10 years. Alibaba and the founder of Meituan Wang Xing were also guests of DST.

ARPA Launched Mainnet Explorer

The MPC computing task browser was formally launched on ARPA’s Mainnet. Users can view the total number of tasks completed currently, task numbers, task IDs, the number of nodes that are involved in computing tasks, current computing rewards, and timestamp directly on the Mainnet explorer.

Mainnet explorer URL: explorer.arpachain.io

ARPA Mainnet Completed More Than 10,000 Computing Tasks

ARPA’s pre-alpha mainnet completed the 10,000th secure MPC computing task at 04:46 am (HKT) February 11, 2020. From January 6, 2020 until February 11, ARPA’s pre-alpha mainnet has been running stably for more than one month and completed more than 10,000 secure MPC tasks, and maintained the success rate of 100%.

ARPA’s pre-alpha version of mainnet was formally launched on January 6, 2020. Computing nodes can obtain bonus by completing eight complex and secure MPC tasks. A mainnet node can obtain a certain number of ARPA token reward by completing a secure MPC task. Currently, the reward is 15 ARPA tokens.

Mainnet URL: https://mainnet.arpachain.io

Exclusive Interview with Jinse Finance

On February 13, ARPA was interviewed by Jinse Finance, which is a top blockchain media in China. ARPA’s CEO and co-founder Felix Xu shared his views on the impact

of this year’s coronavirus outbreak on the blockchain industry, the application scenarios of blockchain technology in this outbreak, and ARPA’s actions of supporting Wuhan.

“Why ARPA”Essay Contest

On February 18, ARPA organized “Why ARPA” Essay Contest in Chinese, English, and Korean communities. Participants can win awards by sharing their “reasons for selecting ARPA” or “stories with ARPA.

Participation Award: 500 ARPA tokens x 10 persons

Excellence Award: 1,000 ARPA tokens x 3 persons

More than 100 participants took part in the contest in Chinese, English, and Korean communities during the competition, and 30 or so great examples were chosen among all the submissions. The contest ended at 6:00 pm (BJT) on February 23.

ABOUT ARPA

ARPA is committed to providing secure data transfer solutions based on cryptographic operations for businesses and individuals.

With ARPA network, enterprise and individual data can be analyzed or utilized without being exposed to anyone. In return, the data provider will be able to receive fair compensation every time their data gets used, without putting their privacy at risk.

ARPA’s multi-party computing technology enables exciting applications such as secure data markets, precision marketing, credit score calculations, and eventually the secure monetization of personal data.

ARPA’s core team is highly international, with PhDs in cryptography from Tsinghua University, experienced systems engineers from Google, Uber, Amazon, Huawei and Mitsubishi, blockchain experts from the University of Tokyo, AIG, and the World Bank. We also have hired data scientists from CircleUp, as well as financial and data professionals from Fosun and Fidelity Investments.

To get more information about ARPA, or to join our team please contact us at about@arpachain.io