Massa TEST.2.0

We are happy to announce that the first episode of our testnet incentive program is coming to an end. We will be shortly launching the 2.0 version of our TESTNET

First, we would like to thank you all for participating in our testnet! With over 1500 nodes running constantly, our testnet is already one of the most decentralized networks compared to existing blockchains! Our community is growing fast: more than 3000 members on discord and over 700 on Telegram.

What will happen at the end of the episode?

The 30 of august 14h30 GMT your node will stop functioning and you’ll have to download a new version of the testnet to participate.

The incentive program will continue in the next episode. Make sure to save your staking private key. In case you IP changed, you must send it once again to the chatbot.

To give everyone time to update its node, we will start scoring participants the 4th of september.

What’s new in the TEST2.0 version?

In the TEST2.0 version we have added the endorsement system. Endorsements add a layer of security to the testnet: when a block is created, some nodes (8) are randomly selected to confirm that the block is valid. Those endorsements are added in the next block of the same thread. As a result, it’s much harder to perform a fork of the system with endorsements (see technical paper for details).

As with block creation, nodes that produce endorsements are rewarded with coins. This further improves the opportunities to get rewarded by staking. In Massa, even with a low staking amount, nodes are rewarded frequently thanks to the high block throughput reducing the need for pooling and further increasing the decentralization!

How to update my node?

It should not be necessary, but just in case, before updating your node, make sure to save:

• Your node private key (massa/massa-node/config/node_privkey.key)
• Your wallet (massa/massa-client/wallet.dat)

If you are using git to manage the code (which you should) update your node using the following commands:

cd massa
git stash
git checkout testnet
git pull

Using git stash will remove changes to the config file (massa/massa-node/config/config.toml). For example, if you have registered your ip to the discord bot you need to put it back. In the new version of the testnet, the configuration file has been moved and a custom configuration is defined using the user config file:

create a new massa/massa-node/config/config.toml file

edit it with the following content:

[network]

routable_ip = “AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD” # your IP goes here

If you modified anything else in the config.toml file, you can put it here following the same format.

What’s coming next?

In the next months we’ll be working on the smart-contract system. We are currently finishing the specification of the smart contract engine.

Our long term plan is to support both EVM and a custom WASM engine that will allow novel things such as autonomous smart contracts.

Useful Links:

• Testnet explorer: test.massa.net
• Source code and tutorials: github.com/massalabs/massa
• Telegram: t.me/massanetwork
• Discord: discord.com/invite/TnsJQzXkRN
• Reddit: reddit.com/r/massa/
• Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UChVfdvYpn0eFk4B-T7TGmOg
• All releases & changelogs from all versions

With over 1500 nodes running constantly, our testnet is already one of the most decentralized network. In order to keep pushing decentralization we will give a small bonus to people that run their node at home or on less used VPS. To this end, we will be analysing the IPs of the routable node.