Status (SNT) is a unique concept that will either change the landscape for the Ethereum network, or fade into obscurity if it doesn’t deliver on its promise.
That promise is becoming increasingly ambitious, but the original design of Status is as a mobile operation system, decentralized browser, and messaging system similar to WeChat. Built on top of the Ethereum network, Status will allow you to interact fully with that network right from the palm of your hand.
Status operates as a light client Ethereum node, and as such it gives you access to all of the Ethereum decentralized applications (dapps) right through an app installed on your mobile device. Because it is focused on the fastest growing technology – mobile – it has opened the door to the potential for mass adoption of dapps based on Ethereum.
Where desktop users have relied on MetaMask for interacting with the Ethereum network, mobile users will come to rely on Status, if the developers have their way.
Reinventing Social Networks
The current social network architecture leaves all of the power in the hands of the owners and advertisers on the network. The users are actually left with very little power over the direction the platform takes and even their own personal information and how it is shared.
Status (SNT) seeks to break that model and move to one that gives the power back to the people. Through the use of the Status Network Tokens (SNT), Status will make all the network users stakeholders as well. This will better align the goals of the social network with the goals of its users.
It will also return control of personal information to the users, and give them a voice in the development and evolution of the network. To further that vision, Status Network was created as an open-source platform, where anyone can develop new dapps to run in its ecosystem.
Status Network Token (SNT)
The Status Network Token (SNT) was created as a utility token to fuel transactions on the Status Network.
While the network is free to use and communicate through, SNTs are necessary to access some features on the mobile Ethereum client. As stakeholders, SNT owners will also have the ability to help shape the development and direction of the Status project.
Status Usernames
Currently Status (SNT) uses SECP256k1 public keys as usernames, but the Status team has been working with Nick Johnson, one of the co-creators of the Ethereum Name Service, to develop a public key resolver that will allow for the use of regular usernames on the network.
One decision made by the Status team is to only allow SNT holders to create usernames. This is being done to cut down on spam accounts. In a similar fashion to the way Twitter uses verified badges to add account trust, Status will have badges to show account trust.
These badges will be distributed to those that deposit a set amount of SNT against their username as a bond of sorts. The badges will display the number of tokens being used as backing as well as the number of backers associated with the account.
Decentralised Push Notification Market
These come with both benefits and one big downside. The benefits are that the user can decide which network nodes are providing them service, you can decide which push notification providers to use, and you are able to set your own privacy levels and opt in or out of any push notification service.
This flexibility and privacy comes at a price though. Status (SNT) has you pay for any push notification service, unlike traditional social networks, where push notifications are “free”. They aren’t really free though, since you’re paying with your data, and the ability for advertisers to contact you.
Governance
The traditional social networks give users very little say in the evolution of the network. With the Status Network, every SNT holder has a direct influence over network changes, and can propose new changes as well.
Whenever there is a decision to be made on the network each SNT holder will receive Decision Tokens equal to the number of SNTs held. These decision tokens are used to vote and there is no SNT cost for voting.
Community Curation
This allows SNT holder to upvote and downvote the content that displays in the Status application, similar to the way users upvote and downvote on Reddit or Steemit. Voting power here is determined by the number of SNT held by the voter.
Tribute to Talk
Stakeholders are able to set a minimum amount of SNT that a Status user must deposit as a tribute for someone outside of their network to contact them. To message a stakeholder, a user must first deposit the required amount of SNT declared by the “Tribute to Talk” recipient.
If the recipient replies to message, the recipient will also receive the deposited tributed amount posted by the original messenger.
ICO and SNT Performance
Status (SNT) ran an ICO in June that was meant to run for several weeks, but hit its hard cap within several hours, raising $99 million dollars. SNTs were distributed at a ratio of 10,000 SNT per 1 ETH.
Status has a total supply of 6,804,870,174 tokens, of which 3,470,483,788 are currently available.
Initially trading at $0.05 when first listed in July 2017, SNT is currently priced at $0.96628 as of May 2018, for a nearly 100% return in less than a year. It has been a wild ride though, and the SNT token traded as high as $0.65 in December 2017 before dropping throughout much of 2018 as the overall crypto markets suffered a bear market.
The most liquid SNT market can be found on IDAX, although SNT can also be purchased on the Binance exchange, Upbit, OKEx, Huobi, Bittrex, and many other smaller cryptocurrency exchanges.
As an ERC-20 token, SNT can be stored in any ERC-20 compatible wallet such as MyEtherWallet or MetaMask. Because security is key with cryptocurrencies, you may want to consider storing your tokens in a hardware wallet such as the Trezor or Ledger Nano S.
Final Word
While Status (SNT) is a mobile application at its core, the functionality and features it delivers makes it far more than that already, and future development of new features is nearly unlimited thanks to the open-source nature of the code and the ability for developers to create any Dapp they can envision.
Plus, Status taps into all the Dapps being created for the Ethereum network, and this is likely to be huge in the coming years.
As a re-imagined social network that puts the power back into the hands of the individual, Status could well be the game changing platform that blockchain has been waiting for, or it could be a huge bust if it fails to deliver on its promises.
