Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019!

We began 2018 with a historic event - the launch of the first multi chain platform ever – Ardor. We started 2019 with another major breakthrough – the Ignis Lightweight Contracts which will be activated at block 543 000 (January 9, 2019). Stateless, flexible and secure - they represent a new generation of smart contracts designed to facilitate the use of blockchain technology for users, developers, cryptocurrency projects and businesses.

But let's see what else happened in 2018:

• The Ardor blockchain worked remarkably well in production, with no notable problems.
• Key new features were added to Ardor in several major releases – these include transaction vouchers, custom bundlers, and asset properties on mainnet, as well as 10 second block times on testnet.
• Ardor Learning Hub was launched – this now serves as our main source of technical documentation, API examples, and basic and advanced tutorials for users and developers.
• The ARDR, IGNIS and/or NXT tokens were listed on a number of leading exchanges such as Bittrex, UpBit, Binance, Huobi, Okex; using Changelly is now possible directly from our wallet.
• New ticketing support system is now available 24/7 for our users; the Nxt and Ardor wallets were translated to 14 languages.
• We established our new headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland while growing the team from 4 to 12 full-time working members and several part time contributors.
• We have been traveling the world, sponsoring/attending more than 15 big blockchain, fintech and start-up events and several smaller meet-ups.
• Team members were hosting workshops, giving training sessions and demoing our technology in universities, blockchain events and venues in Europe (Spain, Switzerland, Bulgaria, UK), Israel, Singapore, and South Korea.
• We have been constantly answering business inquires and requests for prospective partnerships from all over the world.
• Two big Ardor hackathons were organized in Norway and Austria based on Ardor technology and we are currently still running the Ardor Online Hackathon.
• New projects are now joining Ignis, Bitswift and Ardorgate in the growing Ardor family - MPG, Xendbit, Mobs, Triffic, EZYCount, TarascaDao and more.
• Nxt blockchain was again cloned a number of times and NXT holders received airdrops from new projects starting off the proven Nxt technology – these include Action, Apollo, Rya, Metro and others. The team remains on the watch protecting the IP/copyright of both the Nxt and Ardor software.

What will 2019 look like?

• Ardor development will continue with Ignis Lightweight Contract improvements, and preparation for releasing pruning on testnet and subsequently on mainnet.
• For Nxt - features from Ardor are prepared to be ported together with a number of performance improvements.
• Marketing efforts will be significantly increased with a focus on social media outreach and asserting our technology as a preferred choice not only for BaaS solutions but also for dApp development, STOs and traditional ICOs.
• The jelurida.com website will be revamped and modernized.
• Hiring of more developers is also an utmost priority.

We also want to express our profound gratitude to all community members who create and tirelessly maintain valuable sources of information, websites, tools and wallets such as ardorplatform.org, ardornxt group, nxter.org, nxtportal.org, ardorportal.org, peerexplorer.com, ardor.tools, ardor.world, ardor updates video series, nxtforum, ardorforum, ardor.rocks, ardor lite wallet and walletnxt, ardor bootcamp, and to all others who constantly help to spread the word and expand the outreach towards the whole blockchain community on the various social media channels worldwide.

2018 was a transition year from a community driven project to an established software startup. We established key operational, marketing and business development systems for the company and gathered our strength. We are very optimistic and look forward with anticipation to a successful 2019 and the new challenges it will bring!

Happy New Year!