Introducing STORE

Hello world, it’s August 2017 — the first month of a third, new phase in the blockchain industry — and we’re ready to bring blockchain technologies to franchise and chain store businesses.

Update: It was only six months ago that STORE Creator Chris McCoy wrote this post, introducing a new blockchain protocol that would use a Dynamic Proof of Stake consensus algorithm to power fee-free transactions.

In the months that followed, the vision for STORE grew from a hierarchy-based payments use case focused on franchise and chain stores to a much bigger mission: to become new payment and incentivization infrastructure for the global internet.

This new public blockchain has governance similar to the checks and balances of the U.S. Constitution and underlying cryptoeconomics similar to ride-sharing companies like Uber. On top of STORE, third-party developers will build crypto-powered apps -- or cApps.

Take a look at STORE’s Orange Paper to see the advances made since August 2017.

The team has been deep in Research & Development, recently completing the second phase of load testing of the blockchain on which STORE will operate.

Hello world, it’s August 2017 — the first month of a third, new phase in the blockchain industry — and we’re ready to bring blockchain technologies to franchise and chain store businesses.

Meet STORE, a new public blockchain protocol powered by a byzantine fault tolerant Dynamic Proof of Stake consensus algorithm (DyPoS) ensuring free transactions and continuously profitable operations.

STORE is also being designed to solve the unique privacy, revenue sharing, and Smart Contract UI needs of hierarchy-based organizations such as franchise and chain stores systems.

STORE aims to be the leading public blockchain powering cryptocurrency-based payments, decentralized apps, supply chains, and loyalty points for industries representing over 25% of global GDP.

You can learn more about STORE in our just released Green Paper: http://storelabs.org

You can participate in the invite-only First Token Generation Event here.

If you participate in the Token Sale now, you can also be an early forger (or validator) for our Dynamic Proof of Stake distributed consensus — which will enable you to earn interest on your STORE by helping helping validate new transaction blocks.

STORE exists because of our five core beliefs:
#1: Franchises, chain stores, sports leagues, and affiliate-based organizations
will all eventually be tokenized and blockchain-powered.

Understanding the unique business rules of payments and social networks inside these hierarchy-based systems is our secret sauce.

#2: Current blockchains don’t solve for the unique needs of hierarchy-based organizations, specifically the need for free transactions for senders and receivers especially with micropayments. Also, the need for privacy inside smart contracts, hierarchy in smart contracts, and UI-friendliness for the creation and management of smart contracts.

#3: Only 10–20 million people own digital currency today. This is less than 0.3% of the world’s population. STORE — with the help of its developer partners — can help get cryptocurrency into the hands of millions of hourly and part-time workers around the globe before current major public blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin.

Through our strategic relationship with Footprint — enterprise chat for hierarchy-based systems such as franchises and chain stores — the STORE Wallet APIs can make storecoin tokens the native cryptocurrency inside of the Footprint HQ2B communication system.

Footprint will then kick start STORE network effects between Corporate Headquarters, Store Locations, those validating the consensus, 3rd party app developers, distribution partners, and storecoin token buyers.

#4: We’re now entering the third phase of blockchain technology where new consensus algorithms, security protocols, and crypto economic designs will help mainstream cryptocurrency to new audiences.

We believe a public blockchain can be secured and made scalable with free transactions. As of late July, Ethereum transactions cost $0.12. Bitcoin costs $2.46 — and they promised us free transactions!)

We also believe that most smart contract powered apps simply need a base protocol cryptocurrency, a Wallet API that syncs with the app, a simple UI to create smart contracts, and an on-chain escrow mechanism — not necessarily a unique utility token.

STORE can lead on all fronts here and become the dominant blockchain protocol inside of franchises, chain stores, and affiliate-based organizations.

You can learn more about our technology here.

#5: We have a team that has been thinking very long term about the potential for blockchain-based payments to introduce new business models and behaviors inside hierarchy-based organizations.

After diving deep into the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems, we concluded that inefficiencies in current public blockchains will prevent them from gaining meaningful adoption inside of franchise and chain stores.

We also recognized that the cash register and supply chain of the future for retail stores will one day be decentralized and tokenized — and these applications will be integrated into Footprint Chat in a similar way that apps integrate into team-based messaging systems like Slack.

Also, major customers in the Footprint customer pipeline became interested in how a cryptocurrency could introduce new behaviors and business models inside of their Footprint app. Amazon even offered us $100,000 in AWS credits for blockchain R&D efforts.

By late June, recognizing the unique differences and structures between thin apps and fat protocols, we successfully separated the two entities and made Footprint (an app) a Founding Team Member in STORE (a protocol) — one that is required to actively develop using STORE APIs in order to vest over 4-years (33% of all STORE will be allocated to founders, early engineers, and main contributors — everyone vests).

As of August 1st 2017, STORE and Footprint officially exist as separate legal entities, with their own bank accounts, EINs, and core engineering teams. To keep the symbiotic relationship in sync, specifically their APIs, the two entities do share executive-level leadership — for now.

As the relationship unfolds, we envision future Footprint customers joining The STORE Alliance — a coalition of hierarchy-based organizations paying membership fees to run their own STORE R&D experiments on and off of Footprint.

We’ll bring STORE to life with a network of partners including a founding app developer, a founding validator pool for our distributed Proof of Stake- consensus, an expert team of core blockchain developers, and with the help of Amazon AWS.

Here’s the technology that, over time, we’re introducing into STORE

As we build, we’re guided by the following technology ethos before we ship.

Now that we’re through the founding of STORE, our First Token Sale for STORE launches Friday, August 18th.

You can join in here.

Tokens can be purchased with $USD, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum. Coinbase payments, Paypal payments, checks, and bank wire transfers.

This $300,000 will be used for extensive research and development on the STORE consensus algorithm, security protocol, and underlying public blockchain economics.

Our results will be published in the first version of our Whitepaper — to be released in early 2018.

STORE tokens are both a work and a usage token. Owning STORE gives token owners the right to validate transactions in a Proof of Stake consensus and to earn more tokens in exchange for that work. Owning STORE also gives a token owner the right to use applications where the STORE Wallet is integrated.

IMPORTANT: STORE tokens are not being sold or marketed as securities, nor are they intended to be a commodity or any kind of financial instrument. In July 2017, the SEC released guidance clarifying that token sales by organizations using distributed ledger or blockchain technology may fall within the category of “securities” regulated by US law, depending on the facts and circumstances. We’ve carefully studied this guidance with the help of our legal team at Bottom Line Law Group. In our view, following the SEC’s analysis in the report, STORE tokens do not meet the definition of securities: They carry no rights other than the right to use tokens as a means to enable usage of and interaction with apps and services enabled by the STORE blockchain. Tokens do not represent any ownership stake, or any right to receive shares in future revenue or profits of the company. Buyers will be required to explicitly acknowledge this distinction and sign our Token Sale Terms and Agreement containing more detailed representations and information.

As we invent, introduce, and govern STORE, we’re committed toDoing The Right Thing.

For example, we do not believe in the ethos behind Centralized, One Token Sale models being used by other decentralized technologies.

Therefore, only as we achieve technology and adoption milestones will we issue new token sales. We may haveup to six individual token sales — selling 2-6% of the network each time.

Our next token sale will take place in late 2017 and we’ll sell 4% of all STORE to further fund research and development.

Over time, only 33% of STORE will ever be sold to the public.

33% will also be used to incentivize the network including application development partners, hierarchy-based business systems who use apps with the STORE Wallet, and to future acquisitions in the blockchain space.

33% will be used to incentivize STORE founders, core developers, and team.

Founders and Partners will vest over 4-years. Early contributors and contractors will vest over 2-years.

1% will be used to cover the cost of tokensales.

Here’s how STORE, Inc. will use proceeds from its public token sales:

The incentive structure and underlying economics of STORE are being designed as a perpetual, economically sustainable blockchain protocol.

For example, when we release version 1 of STORE Cryptoeconomics, we’ll also release a P&L that shows how STORE the protocol and operating entity — using dynamic inflation never above 5% per year — stays profitable each year while alsokeeping transaction free for both senders and receivers.

We’ll also show how our Dynamic Proof of Stake consensus algorithm (DyPoS) is profitable for block validators — and how it decentralizes.

Working with a world class blockchain development group in Buenos Aires, we’ve already started the R&D efforts and, as of today, we’re confident that we can solve for the following solutions:

Here’s how to get involved with STORE:

1/ Join our First Token Sale

2/ Learn more about STORE from our Green Paper: http://storelabs.org

3/ Follow us on Twitter: @StorecoinTeam

4/ Ask us a question‍