Epoch 10 User’s Guide
The Epoch 10 testnet phase introduces state maintainer seats while moving parts of the former TEA browser wallet over to the TApp Store. The Epoch 10 mining contest again allows users to compete for mainnet tokens. Because this epoch is one of transition, there’s some functionality that has been temporarily removed for further development:
- The Marketplace for CML has been temporarily taken down.
- The CML nodes will not host any TApps during Epoch 10.
- The Leaderboard is currently under development. We’ll post updated standings in our Telegram group.
First Steps — Securing Assets
Users interested in participating in the Epoch 10 mining contest should purchase some COFFEE using USDT.
Additionally, those who’d like to mine should also purchase at least 1 CML.
During the epoch contestants can either exchange their contest TEA back to COFFEE and exit back to USDT through the following form. There will be no exchange of contest TEA for mainnet CML vouchers since Epoch 10 is a transition period. Mainnet voucher exchanges will return in Epoch 11.
TAppStore Main Account Page
When you login to the TApp Store interface, you’ll see an account overview page showing you your assets.
When you buy COFFEE, you’ll be given a small amount of TEA for your first transactions. The above screenshot shows what a typical user would have in their account after purchasing COFFEE. The next steps would be:
- Exchange COFFEE into TEA
- Move most of your funds to the TApp Store wallet from your main wallet using the Topup option.
We want to move most of the TEA funds to the TApp Store wallet as that’s where we’ll be able to use those funds to plant CML and purchase investment tokens. Just make sure to leave some TEA in your main wallet to cover gas for transactions.
As a preliminary measure, make sure to register for the contest in the Leaderboard tab by clicking the Register for competition button:
Doing so will make you eligible for any rewards that are part of the Epoch’s prize pool.
The Mining Tab
Those who’ve purchased CML can plant them over in the Mining tab. Note that this tab only becomes activated when you have a CML in your wallet.
Let’s take a look at two different CML in the screenshot below to clarify the actions that need to be taken to setup a CML node and start earning revenue.
- CML 110 (item #1 below) has yet to be planted. This is the state that a CML will be in after you purchase it. After you plant the CML, you’ll continue the planting process by running a series of commands on a DigitalOcean droplet.
- CML 150 in the screenshot below (item #2) has already been planted. The arrow points to an option in green that has yet to be exercised, Create entity. This step creates a token for this CML whereby public service mining rewards can accrue. It’s an important step as failing to perform this step will mean that the miner isn’t accruing any mining revenue. Note that creating a token for your CML will issue new tokens for it along a bonding curve in exchange for TEA tokens in your TApp Store wallet.
The Maintainer Seat Tab
Epoch 10 introduces a new type of mining license, the seat maintainer license which is located in the Seats tab. These were previously known as our A CML and are the nodes responsible for maintaining the state machine.
In Epoch 10 we started with 20 seat licenses available and moved to only 10 available for Epoch 10.1.
After buying a state maintainer seat license, the following events occur:
- The purchase price and a 1000T deposit are deducted from the user’s TApp Store wallet. The deposit is depleted when taxes are in excess of the income generated from TApp memory usage.
- The tax is based on a self-valuation of the worth of the seat and set at 1% of this estimate. If you set your self-estimate price at 10,000T, then you’ll pay 1% of this (100T) every 1000 blocks.
- Anyone can buy your seat by placing a bid 1T higher than your self-estimate price which acts as a deterrent against setting it too low.
- The memory tax on TApps is the source of revenue for the state maintainer node owners. The amount they receive is net of the amount they owe for the self-estimate tax, also known as a Harberger Tax.
- For the Harberger Tax that’s paid by the state maintainer node owners, part of this is used to pay for the remote attestation rewards for the CML node operators. The rest of the Harberger Tax is paid out as a global dividend to TEA token holders.
- There’s a grace period at the beginning of every 300 blocks that lasts for 30 blocks. During this period, no bids will be accepted on the seat licenses: buying & selling seats, as well as updating the self-assessed price aren’t allowed during the grace period. Any transactions during the previous 300-block period will actually be executed during this grace period.
More information about the mechanics of the taxation mechanisms surrounding the maintainer seat licenses can be found in the following article:
The TApps Tab
This tab is similar to previous epochs and lists all of the TApps currently available on the TEA platform. As noted, CML node operators won’t be able to host TApps during the Epoch 10 testnet.
The Investments Tab
The Investments tab is new for Epoch 10 and shows all of the various investment entities available to users. As the objective of the mining contest is to compete to have the highest TEA value of assets, contestants should familiarize themselves with the mechanics of how to use this tab to buy and sell tokenized assets.
- There are currently 2 types of investable entities: CML tokens for each CML hosting node and a TApp token for every TApp. You can see the three different types in the screenshot below.
- Each of these tokens are issued on a bonding curve: as supply increases, so does the price. This implies that those who invest the earliest receive the best token price and have the most room for price appreciation.
- Revenue for each of these entities goes directly to the bonding curve to mint more of each token which are distributed as dividends to current token holders:
1. For individual CML token holders, dividends accrue when their node receives remote attestation rewards.
2. For individual TApp token holders, dividends accrue when the TApp is used and there’s an injection of TEA into the TApp.
You’ll also notice an All / Mine switch in the upper left. This will refresh the tab to show either all available investment entities or only the ones you own in your wallet.
Epoch 10 Video Guide
If you have any further questions be sure to ask them in our Telegram group.
Technical Addendum for Epoch 10
Rollover of funds to the next Epoch: Starting in Epoch 10 we’re rolling over contestant funds automatically into the next Epoch or Epoch iteration (10.1, 10.2 etc.) For those who participated in earlier Epochs and missed the deadline to rollover funds, we can provide a small amount of COFFEE for you to start the new Epoch. If we don’t have your explicit permission, we cannot know what assets you had in your layer2 account. Please note that this is a goodwill gesture and can only be done up until Epoch 11 starts on Ethereum.
Once we move to ETH, the wallet addresses will change and we have no way of verifying past participation. That’s why when we move to Epoch 11, we’ll ask you to include your ETH address along with your old Polkadot wallet address so we can rollover your funds as we move into the Ethereum ecosystem.
Rewards for contestants: Note that each Epoch iteration starting with Epoch 10.1 (10.2, 10.x .. Epoch 11 ..) will have an $100 reward going to the top contestant in each round. And although assets will rollover, the winner is the contestant who has the largest net gain in the round so we encourage you to register for the mining competition whenever we rollover into the next Epoch.
Harberger Tax: The Harberger Tax on the self-assessed seat licenses for Epoch 10 is 1%. When we move to Epoch 10.1, the rate will increase to 7%.
