Topic: [ANN] ESL Coin & Try English App (ICO coming) (Read 12986 times)

Yes. We have been working on our application to join the Regulatory Sandbox of the Canada Securities Administrators. Fairly soon, we will know if we have government approval to proceed with our ICO. Nobody had before tried to use a cooperative structure to legally represent a decentralized autonomous organization, so it has been a lot to consider.

Also, forgot to mention that we have joined DCube, an incubator for startups using DECENT technology. This is a big step to integrating DCore with the ESL Coin platform.

Yes, it could be that the team is preparing something extraordinary, sometimes to complete it takes a short time and can even last up to months, therefore we must be patient waiting for it.

Thanks for the reply. I can't find any update about the ICO as on the blog as well it says it will be announced soon. Is the coming big update about the sale?

Not dead, just slow in development. We hope to have a big update in the next month. Thanks for your patience.

In the mean time, we have published some new blog articles, if you want to read those: http://eslcoin.org/blog/

Is this project dead now? No updates for months and nobody seems interested in the ICO.

Yup, gotta keep the BCSC off our backs. Securities Commission expects utility tokens to have their utility read to function at launch. Meanwhile, we've been expanding our team and growing our reach in the ESL industry. And finishing the white paper, yeah--getting into the mathematics

Hi,

Yes. Currently we are building the MVP for TryEnglish, writing the whitepaper for ESLCoin, iterating business model and few other things internally. We want to be rock solid before even thinking about ICO and full fledged release.

Any update regarding this project?

As some may have noticed, we decided to delay our ICO further. This followed our latest meeting with the British Columbia Securities Commission. It sounds like we've come about far enough to get a securities exemption at this point, but we'd like to try to push for full utility token status because of how legally groundbreaking that would be. As such, we're still editing our whitepaper and building the TryEnglish app; the more complete the project is, the less speculative the ICO appears.

On the whitepaper front, we've almost finished all of the major diagrams. Below you can see the progress we've made figuring out how to integrate DCore. It will be a purely practical use of dual blockchains: ESL Coin can provide services more cheaply on some chains than on others. In this case, the service in question is content distribution.


Instead of a traditional non-profit or corporation, ESL Coin is legally registered as a cooperative. These decentralized legal structures better mimic the logic of blockchain-based organizations, and offer more regulatory protection for utility tokens. Below you can see how it will work.


The conferences have also been going well. Below you can see our booth at TESOL 2018, the world's largest ESL conference (we were sponsors). We also spread the word at CoinFest and are about to tour Europe, with meetings and speaking engagements in Essen, Arnhem, Amsterdam and Manchester.


Stay tuned for more exciting updates! The pace has been picking up as our team has been expanding.

We're getting ready to spread the word about ESL Coin at two upcoming conferences, one for the ESL industry and one (CoinFest) for the cryptocurrency industry. As part of that, we refocused efforts on completing diagrams for postcards and brochures for our booths. Check out this one below!

We're hoping the April 23 date is certain now. We need to speak to the BC regulators again soon to make sure we are cleared in time.

The bounty program we wanted to open sooner, but have been too busy focusing on the main tasks to get underway. Maybe we should just find a competent campaign manager who accepts a piece of the token supply as payment. We have an outline, but orchestrating and maintaining it will require a lot of work.

I see you have set ICO on April 23, whether this is certain or there will be a delay.
And why do not you open the Bounty Program sooner? would not this help you more to introduce this project to the community.

I hope to get the news update about your project in telegram soon

There was no stop to the project only the ICO is postponed. Maybe you are confusing some other tokens present on your address. Please recheck.

We have not given away any tokens in in form. It is still not created. If you have any questions please let us know.

thankyou

Not sure what you mean, MEW? This project is ongoing, though, not starting again

Sorry to keep everybody in the dark. We've actually been super busy the whole time, so we're gonna give a lot of updates all at once. First of all, we've been to a couple of conferences and lots of Meetups. We had booths at the VanFUNDING conference in Vancouver and the Crypto Economy conference in San Francisco, and the founder spoke at both. Everything was well-received... one of the videos is on YouTube already thanks to our partners at NewsBTC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ2C5x9gNCo


After talking to the British Columbia Securities Commission--some of whom saw us at VanFUNDING--as well as some top-notch Canadian lawyers, we're revamping the ESL Coin Foundation into a Cooperative and scrapping burning from our concept. This makes us more certain to get the regulatory greenlight, but unfortunately delays our ICO significantly to April 23 (UN English Language Day).

In the mean-time, we've been expanding upon our concept a bit. In addition to content registration & distribution, chatting and a marketplace, the ESL Coin DAO will include DApps responsible for services such as academic record transmission, translations and accent reduction. We're also refining our token economic model to the greatest detail so we can finalize terms with partners such as iComply, DECENT and Mooti. We hope to polish our whitepaper in time for the ICO.

Sorry we haven't had time to finalize the terms of our bounty campaign, yet. In the meantime, please join the conversation on Slack and Telegram; Slack is more active, for now, as that's where our team communicates. We hope to have our Telegram full of shills in due time.

We had a great time sponsoring the Teachers of English as a Second Language Ontario conference in Toronto! Our booth was very popular, our CEO got a round of applause for his brief talk, and our logo was up all over the place. We also made flyers especially to educate attendees about Bitcoin and blockchain technology in general.

We also set up an Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/eslcoin/) and made further updates to our website. Unfortunately, Bittrex is no longer doing ICOs--they stopped around when they started verifying everybody, which probably means the regulators forced them to. We've therefore decided to postpone our ICO until January 15, giving us time to figure things out and talk to some regulators, ourselves. Our partners in the ESL industry demand things more above-board than crypto entrepreneurs do.

Hi everyone! Just added ESL Coin ICO to my website https://concourseq.io/Q/Esl_Coin! Anyone with an account can submit contributions to your page, so we want to get this community involved.

ESL Coin's latest ad, designed to convert ESL teachers and entrepreneurs to decentralized economics.

After a lot of research, concept development and professional design, the ESL Coin website is finally live! Please share as we get closer to the ICO to spread the word about this groundbreaking combination of ESL education and blockchain technology.

Link: http://eslcoin.org/

In case anybody was wondering how we plan to tackle the regulatory hurdles of ICOs, we actually lucked out by being based in Canada. The authorities recently greenlit an ICO that was straight-up a security, and didn't have the feel-good pro-education mentality ours does. We could always base our company in a start-up company somewhere, of course, like many others have, but it's better if we don't have to.

https://www.coindesk.com/ico-ban-canadas-regulators-giving-one-token-sale-big-break/

ESL Coin will be exhibiting at the Advanced Digital Innovation Summit, September 12-13 in Vancouver. Should be fun with heavy-hitting speakers like Andreas Antonopoulis. Come find our booth if you're attending!

Although it's true that education is a good cause which helps motivate the ESL Coin team, this is a real investment opportunity, as well. Here you can see just how many potential users and advertisers the Try English app has, and the true size of the industry our cryptocurrency will tap into. Imagine they all used ESL Coin!

We've decided to have a pre-sale of ESL tokens at a 10% discount starting now. Since our pre-ICO funding needs are not excessive, you will not see it advertised heavily, and we may choose to limit the amount individuals can buy and/or the pre-sale total. We just wanted to make sure you all had an equal chance to participate if you were so inclined, in which case please send a PM so we can arrange it.

Our next update will show off some research about the ESL industry--following that, the launch of eslcoin.org. Stay tuned!

Really looking forward to this guys great idea!!!

To the moonBTC

I think mostly people don't have the patience to wait until November-December. A lot of forum activity is generated by bounty hunters and speculators, and they're currently focused on other projects that have the potential to yield immediate results. Once we're closer to the ICO and the bounty program has been established, you can expect a resurgence in community activity.

Why is the community not lively at all? The team is also updating the schedule. Some quality activities should be held

Some quick facts about the ESL Coin ICO and initial coin distriution

Good question. We are currently considering it heavily, but if there is a pre-sale, the bonus won't be huge. We don't want some people to feel like they missed out. We might even make it a private pre-sale and have no bonus at all, as our pre-ICO funding needs aren't excessive.

hi dev I'm just curios since this ico will take place on nov 13 are you going to do some pre sale? I seen from other ico coins about this and I'm just curios
to know if you are also doing that so I can assess if holding it in this early stage will be more beneficial again its just out of curiosity so just let me know.
thanks and good luck.

oh I see I have no problem with that Sir I am not narrow minded but it's not good to keep someone waiting at least you should reply though.

I am waiting for upcoming news about this project, look forward to it 

We picked someone else, sorry... see, the Indonesian one is already translated. It made sense because she is an English teacher and so has more useful existing connections. We hope there are no hard feelings

I am still waiting for your order to translate sir, when will i can start translating?

Thanks

Good job! We now have the ANN translated to Hindi, Indonesian and Tagalog. We've decided to lump the Translator roles together with Community Manager roles... they will help us reach not only regional crypto fans, but regional ESL students and business, as well, and get paid a regular wage after the ICO is complete. We're still particularly interested in finding people for China and Japan

Hindi translation complete: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2006246.new#new

Sir I sent you a PM regarding to Filipino translating hope I will be qualified.
Here is my past work
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-ixt-insurex-blockchain-secured-marketplace-for-insurance-1967393
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/annico-spectiv-decentralized-vr-streaming-platform-attention-market-token-1979016

Thank you.

Thanks again for your supportive comments. Soon we will begin choosing our translators, who will need to do the ANNs, white paper, website stuff... we're also crafting a structure for social media and forum bounties.

In the meantime, check out this graphic. It shows what the layered structure of the ESL Coin ecosystem will look like once it's mature. We may drop Ethereum for an independent blockchain if it has too many more freakouts like the other day, but the concept remains the same: the ESL Coin Network will provide the (distributed) user database, which would otherwise be controlled and milked for profit. This will allow third parties to utilize it and add their users to the Network, as well.


First we need to get the app working with a server, of course, but I thought that would be boring to look at--just a simple cryptocurrency integration, been done before (just not for ESL students).

I would be very interested in contribute to your project with, a professional quality, Portuguese translation for the BtcTalk official thread and also other elements, as the White Paper, Website, articles and interviews.
Let me know if you are interested.

previous jobs:
-- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/internet-of-coins-blockchain-liberdade-revolucao-1786648
-- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/matchpool-fazendo-conexoes-humanas-1767517
-- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/annicoedgeless-casino-ico-comecou-50k-eth-ja-angariados-1792597
-- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-ico-taas-servico-num-token-fundo-de-investimento-fechado-1794030
-- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-ascendancy-cuidado-possivel-scamexit-burla-1751650
-- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-qtum-a-plataforma-de-transferencia-de-valores-estaveis-1728455
-- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/annico-live-pro-commerce-moeda-de-recompensa-app-de-solucao-de-negocios-1766556
--------------- and more----------------

Good luck.
And best regards.

News update! The ESL Coin ICO will last for three weeks from November 13 to December 3. No new coins will be created, and the pre-mine will be distributed as follows:
 

• ICO backers: 50%
• ESL Coin dev team: 10%
• Third-party app devs: 10%
• Try English team: 10%
• Marketing and PR: 10%
• ESL Community Grants: 10%

ESL Coins will be sold throughout the crowdsale for a constant price of 1000 satoshis (0.00001 BTC). The total supply will equal twice the number of ESL Coins purchased; once the ICO is over, the second half will be created and properly distributed, and then coin creation will be locked.
 
Example: suppose 1 billion ESL Coins are sold for 10,000 BTC. Another 1 billion ESL Coins will then be created for a total of 2 billion, with 200 million each going to the ESL Coin development team, third-party app devs, the Try English development team, marketing, and the ESL community.
 
All grants, bounties and the development fund will be controlled by the ESL Coin Foundation. Its directorship is currently made up of the Try English team, but others may be admitted to the board for reasons such as having made a large ESL Coin investment or developed a third-party app. Other reasons for admission and specific procedures will be outlined in another post.
 
All funding from the ICO itself will go to the Try English team with app development as the immediate and primary goal. If funding from the ICO exceeds our goal of $10 million, excess will all be given to the ESL Coin Foundation to be used at its discretion. The crowdsale will close prematurely if a maximum of $100 million is reached.
 

Grants will be given to ESL Meetups, groups, clubs and student bodies based on their size and activity levels with the expectation that they will participate earnestly in the ESL Network, which may include acceptance of ESL Coin. By the time we run out of funding, the network effect will already have taken hold.
 
Third-party developers and marketers will be on a bounty system. Developer bounties (one of which will be received by the Try English team upon the app’s completion) will be sized according to the scope of their project, and marketing bounties will be given to translators--who will be highly significant--as well as writers and for social media and forum activity.

Hey guys,

I would like to say thanks to Andrew for inviting me into the team, as some of you know I have worked with Andrew on CoinFest for over two years now, bringing CoinFest to the UK. I hope to bring my experience of business-to-business contacts, fundraising and business knowledge to the project. I will also be offering support with my crypto-dedicated hosting company and helping promote the app via CryptoBatesGroup.

Aswell as Andrew I know Isaac personally, he has an amazing vision with design and is a very dedicated to his work - The type of designer we need for this project!

I am hoping to dedicate more time to this project in the coming months, the team is very active on Slack, plenty of ideas being bounced around.

Adam

Hello dev, is there any update about the bounties?
What kind of bounties will be held?

That's because we will have two separate websites, the domains for which have already been reserved. We may play with the colors more going forward, but Try English and ESL Coin do not need to have consistent designs. The ESL audience and the crypto audience are very different and have different tastes, and a large number of students will never visit the site or care about crypto (and vice versa, actually).


At first, it will be an in-app payment method, which is very simple. Mainstream users are relatively familiar with the basic concept of credits or tokens and need not understand the cryptocurrency part.

We hope to work on more advanced decentralized features, however, such as putting the app's account and reputation system on the blockchain. The ultimate goal is to make the Try English app itself peer-to-peer, but we will have to rely on a server for a while.


More news very soon. Thanks for your patience, guys.

After reading the first post, I've still confused of what it is, and how it work, how will the coin will work with the APP?

interesting coin, but the front page UX not consistent, one with green/blue, another with red/orange, looks like a kid is playing with the color...

There will be bounties for translations, social media, articles, etc, but we're still looking at different possible systems for managing it. More immediately, we need to decide the exact percentages of the initial coin distribution, and then we'll announce the details of the ICO. The premine will be divided between:

• ICO backers
• The ESL Coin dev team
• Development bounties for third party apps
• Marketing and PR bounties
• Grants incentivizing ESL groups/institutions to join the network

Dev, I really liked your project! But you still inactive... And the rewards campaigns, when will they be announced? Any news? Which campaigns will be offered?

Hi everyone,

I am glad to be a part of this amazing and dedicated team.

We are working on things as i speak. I will be looking into the graphic designing and also helping with other small things.
All the suggestions and criticisms are welcome, which would only help us improve and refine the project.

Regards,
Isaac 'aizzaku' Nandgavkar

ok,, i will wait for that,,
and i hope the draft version will finish as soon as possible
thank you

Want to get involved working with ESL Coin? We know you do, so use this form to get invited to our Slack channel! That's where our team hangs out: https://slackpass.io/eslcoin

Also, our Facebook and Google Plus pages are up! Please like/follow and share  

Thanks for your support, everyone! It's very encouraging.


We might give coins away to ESL students en masse via partnered schools. Still deciding how much of the premine will be for giveaways like that.

By the way, check out or new Twitter banner. Will probably adapt it for use on other social media channels: https://twitter.com/ESLcoin/status/872597445762441216

dev you have any air drop or bounty

support full for this project
I am waiting for further news about date ICO sell and bounty
hope full wii be succes

One of many reasons it makes sense, yes. On that note, did you know our Advisor and Board Member Brad Chun is also the same for another crypto company that does remittance in Asia? Maybe we could convince them to integrate ESL Coin, one day 

While I certainly agree that ICO ideas could use a tighter filter and founders need to just be willing to build on traditional platforms rather than crypto for the sake of crypto... this actually has a logical impetus if you think about it. You're throwing a whole bunch of people from all over the world into a basket to learn a language. How are they going to pay? USD? But they haven't made it to the US yet and why deal with all those conversion rates and non-global processors and folks who don't have Mastercard? What if you're going from baht to pesos? Sounds like a nightmare. They're promoting cross-cultural learning, why not use cross-cultural money - a crypto. Level the playing field and cross any border necessary with a token while funding the project to launch it at the same time with loyal fans and potential customers. The audience is 1) people who want to learn a language and 2) people who own BTC, ETH, or ESL. This seems like a focused yet large enough niche to gain traction with a project.

I've been browsing the forum for 20 minutes and found at least 5 new ICO. However this seems to be a good one, looking forward to see more.

I'll be waiting for more information about this project and bounty campaign! Good luck.

New ico again. See more details and news about bounty

It looks good & Working properly ....

Just keep watching this thread, for now. And check us out on Twitter--we just made our first tweet! https://twitter.com/ESLcoin/status/871954651171745792

How to get the news when the bounty program is released? via this thread or via newsletter?

No, because:

1.  The app is free and contains many educational features by default. The chatroom and Meetup functions should be popular judging from existing app usage patterns. ESL Coin will just be needed to buy additional services, such as tutoring and schools listed in the search engine (a marketplace).

2.  They will be able to buy ESL Coins directly in the app. We will partner with exchanges

So those who want to learn English will need to buy the coins at the exchange first?

They will be the medium for all in-app exchange, such as for tutoring services, and to buy ads, and to pay the fee to list your services or school in the search engine. Lots of apps have in-app credits or tokens or crystals or coins or whatever, so it will look similar. You could buy them by making an in-app purchase and need not even understand that they are a cryptocurrency.

Suport this project
Cause this is a good project
I will promot your project

support full for this project
i like the idea as combination betwen education with cryptocurency
goodjob dev

How as exactly coins will works on app?

great project with new concept make me interest..
hopefull this project will be succes  im waiting bounty social media dev

any bounty dev, i want reserve indonesian translation

The first draft version of it will be ready before we ICO later this year. Our next major announcement will be about the specific timing and structure of that. Then we'll get to work on the bounty system... we're keeping all the bounty requests in a pile until then. Sorry to make you guys wait

build on ethereum blockchain is good choice,,
but when i can read the whitepaper of this ESL Coin

Any bounty dev??
I see you have good project
And make me interesting
Thanks

  You think we should make the Try English app centralized, instead?

More bounty info, soon! We haven't decided the structure of the bounty system, yet. We will let everyone know as soon as we can.

Dev, will this project provide video bounty later?

I do not understand what the crypto market has to do with it. An unnecessary project.

Yes it is, This COIN also being supported with a solid team members, and the goal also rock solid.
I think this COIN will have a success.

Any bounty programe ?

Hope get some free coins:)

An idea that combines education and cryptocurrency, a interesting idea
Maybe this ico is worth waiting  ..

Cannot waiting bounty campaign announcements dev

Let send me a PM if you need Japanese translation for the project.
I will do it well.

This is really interesting concept nice to see it will be build on Ethereum blockchain which is perfect to run any legit business there. I would like to hear some news about bounties what you will offer to support this.

Vietnamese translation reserved, Please send me PM

Turkish translation reserve

what a very good concept!
this project will be helpful for everyone who wanted to learn English, the international language that has been used everywhere in the world in almost every field of life, and aside from that, they will be educated about the existence and usage of the cryptocurrencies.

I want to reserved for indonesian translation if its needed, waiting for your confirmation thanks

If necessary, please retain the Chinese Translation

Any bounties like social media or sig camp dev??? And reserve me the filipino translation well do it after you confirm me.

Reserving Hindi translation if needed.

This is an idea I’ve been sitting on for a long time now, patiently waiting to see if and when the stars would properly align. Over the years, I helped Factom, DECENT, Spells of Genesis, Synereo, Autonio and others achieve success with the launch of their coins, and while I learned a lot along the way, I’ve secretly been waiting for the opportunity to organize one, myself, leveraging my pre-crypto background.
 
I originally worked in the ESL industry, which stands for English as a Second Language. English-speaking populations constituted over 31% of the world’s GDP when measured in 2015 due to their size and relative affluence. As such, they are the primary target of consumer export-driven economies, causing English proficiency to be viewed as a sign of and gateway to professional success.
 
That means there is a huge demand for English education around the world, with over 1 billion students and almost double that projected by 2020. Most study in their home countries with the increasing aid of technology, yet many others travel to language schools in English-speaking countries, utilizing homestays and other tailored services. In the Canadian province of British Columbia alone, this has generated over $3 billion in annual revenue.
 
Unfortunately, the people involved have been generally ignorant about and even skeptical of cryptocurrency. Now that there have been numerous successful ICOs, however, and mainstream companies are considering them, I finally managed to convince the key players necessary of the pressing utility of blockchain integration. Soon, a plan was formed.
 
Gathering a couple colleagues whom I’ve known for years, I then reached out to some of my most trusted Bitcoin contacts, who have proven records of success in complementary areas. Together, we are embarking on a project that will enrich both the ESL and cryptocurrency communities while spreading blockchain technology further into the mainstream. Here are the details.


The history of our ESL group is intertwined with the history of Bitcoin, itself. It started as a small Meetup in Vancouver for ESL students to practice speaking with each other and local Canadians, making friends along the way. Over time, however, the Meetup grew, and it now boasts over 8,000 members who meet almost every day of the week.
 
With it came many connections to local event venue owners, which I (as a Co-Organizer) used to spread Bitcoin adoption. The world’s first Indian restaurant to accept Bitcoin was one of our meeting spots, and the cafe which houses the world’s first Bitcoin ATM is our most popular location. It’s safe to say it has been integral to the success of the Bitcoin Co-op and Vancouver’s cryptocurrency community.
 
That and other circumstances caused us to focus more on other projects for a while, but Conversational English continued to grow until our Facebook page caught international attention. Despite expending relatively little effort and $0 on advertising, we’ve reached over 21,000 likes, and our content frequently goes viral. Eventually, I was forced to create online chatrooms for us by popular demand, with most of the activity on WhatsApp and KakaoTalk.
 
We are expanding to other platforms, but our group will soon grow too difficult to manage. What’s needed is a multi-purpose platform specialized for the ESL community, which uses cutting-edge technology to automate some of our responsibilities and keep everything under one roof. In the process, we will use blockchain technology to build a decentralized ESL economy that gives back to the community.


Mobile phones are the future of user engagement, especially in developing countries where home computers are less common. It’s evident from the success of our WhatsApp & KakaoTalk groups (relative to Skype) that this is true for ESL students, as well, and so while we intend to produce a desktop version, the mobile app will be our primary focus.


Most of these features are currently provided by very high-paid consultants, who connect students, teachers and other clients in the industry. Our app will cut out the middlemen, utilizing small fees to fund its operational cost. Additionally, to satisfy ESL students’ demand for native English speakers to practice with, their participation in chatrooms and at events will be incentivized by very small payments (bots are ineligible).
 
As Try English is not just intended for the cryptocurrency community, it will be designed based on the assumption that users know nothing about blockchain technology and have no interest in it. In the background, however, it will be gradually decentralized over time, and strategically-placed links will lead many to learn more about the blockchain revolution. We are developing separate websites and marketing campaigns.


All transactions will, of course, be paid in ESL Coin, which will also be the medium of exchange for related goods and services. This makes it an access token, required to fully utilize the ESL Network and any apps built on top of it. It will also utilize blockchain technology for non-currency applications, particularly for the reputation system and user validation.
 
Users familiar with cryptocurrency will be able to deposit and withdraw ESL Coins to and from their Try English accounts as they would any other, and wallet support will be provided. Users not familiar, however, will buy ESL Coin directly in the app with fiat. They will see it as analogous to something like Facebook Credits or one of the many centralized tokens built into mobile games you can buy to accelerate the gameplay.
 
ESL Coin will be built on top of the Ethereum blockchain (at least for now). There are multiple reasons for this decision:
 

• We need micro-transactions immediately and cannot wait for Bitcoin’s scaling issue to inevitably be resolved
• It specializes in the features required and a lot of development has already been put into it, saving us time
• It has mainstream institutional support, which is convincing to potential partners in the ESL industry
• Immutability is not a concern for this project, as it’s apolitical. My plans to undermine the state (unrelated) are for another chain

As previously stated, ESL Coin is an access token. It draws buy support from people who want to pay for services rendered via the ESL Network, including students for tutoring and homestay operators for listing in the search engine. It does not draw buy support from unregulated revenue streams which ESL app developers control--such as the placement of graphical ads--if they choose to accept fiat directly, but Try English will only accept ESL Coin.
 
The total initial supply of ESL Coins will be determined by the success of the upcoming ICO, and no new coins will be created. The ESL Coins used to incentivize native English speaker participation will derive from small fees on settlement of services rendered via the ESL Network, instead, which will also be used to pay Ethereum’s transaction fees.
 
Although Try English will initially rely on a central server, the goal is to transition to a completely decentralized ESL economy. Therefore, Ethereum will serve as its backbone, assigning a numerical reputation to each tutor or homestay which changes according to feedback from students. Identity registration may improve users’ reputations as well as feedback from other users about them, and all are subject to banishment from the system if their conduct is reported and they reach a low enough score.
 
Although ESL Coin is an access token, it will be more than an appcoin. Our goal is to get everyone in the ESL industry to accept it, which we are uniquely situated to do with our resources and expertise. We may eventually pursue further ESL Coin projects, as well… the future of English education will not be centralized!



Try English will be owned and maintained by a private company, BitLingual, while ESL Coin will be under the jurisdiction of the ESL Coin Co-op. Both are operated by the same team, for now, but that might not always be true, especially if third-party developers build on top of the ESL Network. Our team:
 

• Founder Andrew Wagner, founder of CoinFest & Blockchain Gaming, Community Manager at NewsBTC and a director of the Bitcoin Co-op who promotes decentralized technology
• Chief Administrative Officer David Genest, a UBC Sauder School of Business graduate with finance specialization and over 10 years experience as an analyst for the energy sector
• Chief Academic Officer Aldona Dziedziedko, an ESL teacher who got her Masters from UBC and is finishing her B.Ed. with minors in international education and curriculum development
• Board Member Adam Rizvi, the founder of Crypto Bates Group and CoinFest UK
• Board Member Brad Chun, owner of Mooti blockchain ID platform, Founder of Shuttle Fund Advisor
• Concept Designer Isaac Nandgavkar, a dedicated crypto enthusiast who’s worked with multiple aforementioned projects

Any app developers interested in joining the team should reach out ASAP. Additionally, we are interested in hiring a developer who is versed in Ethereum smart contracts and/or an expert at cryptography in general. All other potential Try English or ESL Coin team members should please inquire.
 
The date and full details of our ICO will be announced soon. We're also still working on our bounty program... please be patient.

EDIT: The scope of this project has been expanded a lot since this original post. A good summary:

• There is renewed focus on test score transmission and other academic record keeping. This required new partners, the expansion of our smart contract architecture, and a new diagram and white paper adjustments
• We are focusing on other new decentralized services, as well. These include a decentralized application for translating content, accent reduction, and educational content registration (for IP purposes) and P2P distribution
• We've gone the regulated route, because our home country of Canada is relatively friendly and it's important to potential partners, many of whom are publicly-funded. This means ICO backers will be KYC'd, so anonymity-seekers need to stick to decentralized exchanges (after network launch)