May 5, 2021 Update

Greetings community,

This month’s development was focused around the following:

• Evidence uploader: https://github.com/solomondefi/evidence-uploader
• Demo (frontend): https://evidence.solomondefi.com/
• Blockchain notifier/mailer: https://github.com/solomondefi/blockchain-mailer
• Documentation updated:
• https://solomondefi.github.io/docs/utilities/
• https://solomondefi.github.io/docs/utilities/mailer.html

These are critical services and applications that support the core payments system. By exploring the documentation site and the links above, you can view early demos, github code, and further explanation.

High level descriptions of these functions are reproduced here for your convenience. We look forward to bringing you further updates and demos in the future.

Evidence Uploader

The purpose of the uploader is to provide a simple interface for uploading evidence links to the blockchain during escrow disputes. Links must exist for the duration of the dispute (generally a maximum of 2 months). There are several methods for uploading evidence, and it is straightforward to add more.

1. User provides their own link
2. User provides files and the backend uploads to an S3-compatible data store
3. (TBD) Pin on an IPFS node for the duration of a dispute

Currently, only Metamask is supported as a wallet provider for posting the link to the blockchain, but WalletConnect and other methods may be added in the future.

A hosted frontend and backend are provided by Solomon, a UI demo can currently be viewed at https://evidence.solomondefi.com

Blockchain Notifier/Mailer

A service that scans the blockchain and triggers actions based on incoming log messages. It is intended for use in the Solomon payments ecosystem, but may be adapted for general use.

At a high level, the operation is simple:

1. Scan blocks for events from a list of contracts
2. On meeting some event condition, e.g. CreateEscrow emitted, trigger a list of actions

The list of scanned contracts may be dynamically updated, and actions adhere to a standard plugin interface.

Solomon implements scanners for:

• Notifying (via email) buyers, merchants, or escrow holders when a contract deploys
• Notifying both parties when a dispute is initiated
• Notifying parties when funds are withdrawn from escrow

The service is written with Typescript as a nodejs application. See the Github repository for more technical details including setup and deploy procedures.