September 30 2018

Bloom Year One in Review

Shannon Wu

What an exciting first year here at Bloom!

Thousands of users like you have used the Bloom app. We’ve launched partnerships with major Fortune 500 brands. Developers are building on the Bloom ecosystem. We’ve pushed decentralized tech and UX forward. More than 100,000 people have joined the Bloom community to follow along.

To call the last year a sprint would be an understatement. Let’s take a look at where we are!

Over the past year, we’ve seen incredible traction and milestones:

Growth Milestones:

Collaboration with BMW
12,000+ BloomID’s Created
Coverage in: Forbes, Inc, VentureBeat, Nasdaq
Major Publications from our Economic Research Division
Thought Leadership Panel with VantageScore and Experian
100+ Community Update Blog Posts
100,000+ community members across the Bloom ecosystem

Technical Milestones:

iOS App Launched
Introduced New Attestations
Launched Bloom Development Documentation
Launched Delegated Transaction Fee-Free Voting
Released the Bloom Attestation Kit
Payment Channels Enabled by Whisper
Open Sourced Attestation Kit + Attestations Library
Developer Ecosystem Documentation for the Bloom Protocol and Attestation Kit
Updating All our Contracts
Redesign of the Bloom Web App
Successful Launch of Bloom on Mainnet

In this post, we dive deep into 7 core areas of Bloom over the past year:

Tech & Product Development
Traction
User Experience
Innovations
BERD
Community
Partnerships

Tech & Product Development: Smart Contracts, Mobile App, Voting, Developer Docs and More

Deployed Smart Contracts on Mainnet

Our Phase 1 and 2 Contracts are fully deployed on Mainnet. We’re excited to announce that all of our core contracts have now been deployed on the Ethereum Mainnet. Check out bloom.co/docs to get started interfacing your dApp directly with our smart contracts.

Our contracts enable all of the Bloom protocol features outlined in our white paper. We introduced optimizations to scale the protocol by requiring fewer on chain transactions without sacrificing security or decentralization. We have also eliminated all transaction fees from the day to day protocol interactions by BloomID holders. Users can request attestations, vote, invite friends and more all without holding any Ether.

Innovation in Attestations

This past year, we made huge strides in attestation innovation, enabling secure and efficient verifications. We released multiple new attestation types for our users to complete their BloomID profile. You can link multiple social media accounts, such as Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to your BloomID, along with a verified sanction screen, your email and your phone number.

Advancements in Voting

Bloom is driving the transition from a central corporate-led system to a decentralized community led one. Votes play a critical role in shaping the future of credit.

Bloom regularly releases polls on critical issues with regards to data attestations, research, initial markets and more. We also introduced new delegated transaction fee-free mobile voting. Users can now vote on with no transaction fees directly from the mobile app, by delegating Bloom to vote on your behalf, allowing you to easily make your voice heard on protocol-level decisions.

Officially Release of the Bloom Mobile App in the Apple Store

We are very excited to share that the highly anticipated Bloom iOS app is now LIVE in the App Store. It’s also available on iPad.

You can download the Bloom App here.

After more than a year of development and thousands of new users, the Bloom iOS app release marks a revolution in the way individuals control their data. For the first time, you have the power to decide exactly how your data is used, preventing predatory third parties from accessing your data and greatly reducing the risk of identity theft. The mobile app is now live in the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad!

Our vision is for the mobile app to be the center of your BloomID experience.

Your phone will hold all of your encrypted personal information. Bloom will enable you to verify this information with our network of data attesters. Any time a third party requests access to your personal information you will authorize releasing the data via the mobile app.

With the mobile app you can:

Create your BloomID
Link your existing BloomID
Vote in the latest polls
Access transaction-free voting
Complete phone attestations
Complete email attestations
Complete social attestations: LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
Get the latest Bloom updates
Link across your devices
Setup your ID for expedited use later
Be among first to access the future of credit

Coming Up: Each week, we’ve been rolling out new features to our iOS beta testers. Upcoming updates include Android development, new mobile attestations, and more.

Fostering the Bloom Developer Ecosystem

Over the past year, we’ve fostered a strong development ecosystem. We released key documents and information that developers need to get started on directly interfacing with our smart contracts:

Developer Documentation: We are consistently pushing forward to build a vibrant development community for businesses and projects building on Bloom. Now, with clear documentation and streamlined features, it’s easier than ever to begin building your business, dApp, or feature on Bloom’s infrastructure.
Attestation Kit: Easy Bloom Node deployment with Docker through an open sourced Bloom Attestation Kit, enabling any qualified party to become a data attestor. The Bloom Attestation Kit is an easy-to-use solution for deploying a service for interacting with the Bloom ecosystem in your product.

Coming Soon: Stay tuned for more on the public launch of the Bloom Lending Marketplace!

Traction: 12K+ Bloom Users on the Platform

We’re extremely proud to look back at everything we have accomplished together. In making great strides in product, in the first year, we had over 12k users join our platform, making Bloom one of the most successful dApps on the market.

12,000+ BloomID’s Created
100,000+ Community Members in the Bloom Ecosystem
Over a Dozen Lending Partners

Driving Blockchain Adoption through Good UX

Bloom is currently pushing the ecosystem forward in terms of user experience. This past year has been a huge success as we have been extremely focused on delivering a great experience for our users. Every action within the Bloom protocol has been designed to be as frictionless for users as possible while maintaining a high level of security and decentralization.

Best Practices for Dapps:

Abstracting the Blockchain: Moving Technical Features to the Background.
Optimizing around great users experiences without compromising security
Making Features People Will Love and Use
Stay True to the Vision

Reducing Transaction Fees

Reducing the headache of dealing with gas fees, we eliminated transaction fees from day-to-day protocol interactions by BloomID holders. Users can request attestations, vote, invite friends and more, all without holding any Ether.

How does this work? We released a new smart contract VotingCenter which enables Delegated Voting. Here you can sign for an intended action and authorize a Bloom admin account to submit the action on your behalf, transferring the cost of transaction fees to Bloom.

Voting no longer requires tx fees. Users can sign their intended vote with their Metamask wallet or with the mobile app. Then Bloom submits the vote to the Poll contract on their behalf. Each signature contains the choice, the poll address and a random nonce which makes the vote single-use.
Invitations to new users no longer require collateral.

Device Syncing

Most people have more than one device. However, blockchain is currently very bad at device linking. We’re fixing this. We’re experimenting with technology that will backup keys to your other other devices in a sort of “mesh network” of your devices tied together.

Users can now link their mobile Bloom app to their web account. By having multiple wallets linked to the same BloomID users can keep their BLT safe in offline cold storage but still exert their full influence on polls by voting from a linked wallet.

Status Page

Our Status Page displays real-time and historical data on system performance. This page allows you to view uptime of the Bloom dApp, the Bloom website, as well as auxiliary Bloom modules over the last 90 days. We will report any past incidents and provide transparency into any planned maintenance or API changes.

Coming Up: We strive to continue building fantastic experiences for users, lenders and partners alike. Support for hardware wallets, a streamlined experience for lenders, and new mobile app integrations are all coming soon!

Innovation in Technology

Creating a novel solution in a new space often means leveraging and improving new technologies. We’ve been at the forefront of understanding how to build and bring dapps to market. To do this, we’ve worked with, and advanced, several new tech tools.

Specifically, the Bloom engineering team has introduced new and novel approaches to iOS and Blockchain with advanced technologies like Whisper, Swarm, state channels, multi-device syncing, and more! Whisper, state channels, Swarm, storage, multi device syncing and more.

If you want to build a data sharing model that actually works, what does that look like? Blockchain has a lot of opportunity to rethink data sharing. After the Equifax hack and Cambridge Analytica scandal, now is the time to really rethink what data and identity actually means. You can check out Jesse’s talk on this here.

We’re pushing the industry forward in mechanisms to control your own data and secure it with technology like FaceID and TypingID. We’re building technology making backups even easier, preventing data loss, and putting you in control of your information at all times.

To create data sharing models that work:

Put the user first
Allow reusability of information
Limit access to information
Get the data out of the hands of central parties

Bloom enables unique aspects:

Users control access to raw data
Users limit access and privileges to data through attestations
BloomID allows for low-cost reusability
Gamification and natural UX enables sticky users

BERD

Bloom’s Economic Research Division has been instrumental in conducting research, analyzing data, and informing the community on the most important economic and financial issues facing borrowers and lenders today. BERD serves as a core team within Bloom responsible for leading an open-source data approach to credit analysis.

Over the past year, we have shared rigorous and comprehensive research reports assessing the Student Debt Crisis, China’s New Credit Paradigm, and more. Moving forward, we will continue to dive deep into issues in the credit space and shed light on the most pertinent topics of the day.

If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out our Credit Conversations series. As part of BERD’s mission to open source our learnings and interviews, we are especially proud to share a more personal angle on the space and highlight the human stories behind credit. We have interviewed people from around the world and shared their diverse experiences and life journeys. These stories raise awareness on how credit impacts all of us. Stay tuned for more BERD reports, credit conversations, updates, and resources coming soon!

A Thriving Community

Regular Updates

Tune-in to the Bloom video series. Bloom episodes feature the latest updates, demos upcoming features, and announces key partnerships and news. It’s one of the most informative pieces of content we create. It’s where we announce major milestones and Bloom news. Make sure to check out our latest episodes!
Additionally, our Fireside Chats give insight into our partners as we get the latest important updates, hear interesting perspectives on their work, and learn more about their company.
Bloom is regularly at industry events, meeting with critical stakeholders and hosting our wonderful community. Check out our presence and talks at events such as Underscore Blockchain Summit, Berlin Blockchain Week and CardCon Orlando.

Community Alliance Program

We’re proud to have a thriving community, supported by the successful Community Alliance Program. We’re extremely excited and humbled to have a community that is so passionate and thoughtful. The community has been key in bringing in thoughtful perspectives, giving feedback and participating in community programs like Trivia Night. As always, community members can read the latest updates on our blog, chat with us in Telegram or Slack, and engage with the team at our events.

Coming Up: Evolving video series, new content, new community initiatives, more meetups and events, and of course, a continued commitment on updates!

Bloom and Lenders

The traditional lending process is cumbersome, puts consumer data at risk, and struggles to accurately score all borrowers.

Bloom is fixing this and has worked with over a dozen partners along the way.

Through Bloom’s blockchain-based mobile app, individuals can finally secure their data on their local device and apply for credit without putting their data at risk. Bloom’s commitment to user experience is evident in the seamless onboarding process. Now anyone can take advantage of blockchain technology without the steep learning curve.

Bloom and AutoLoans

Additionally, Bloom is working with BMW. Bloom was Selected to Join First-Ever BMW Group Financial Services U.S. Collaboration Lab.

Through Bloom’s lending infrastructure solution, users will experience a new way for consumers to apply for financing.

Learn More

To learn more about the latest with Bloom:

Bloom Year One in Review

In this post, we dive deep into 7 core areas of Bloom over the past year: