Detailing network stats and spotlighting community efforts one full week after launch.
The much anticipated testnet DayBreak saw its release on March 22, giving our community (and any other interested parties) a closer look at an iteration of the network we’re proud to share with the public. Behind the scenes, the Dusk team is hard at work preparing the implementation of new capabilities, preparing new technologies for the protocol, and incorporating community feedback.
After all, the function of the testnet is as a stepping stone towards mainnet; an environment that puts the fruits of our labour to the test.
It cannot be overstated how much it means to us to see the greater crypto and blockchain community take to the features of our testnet. We’re certain this excitement will persist as we institute release cycles going forward; ensuring extensive testing of the network’s many components in a real-world environment.
It’s all very exciting stuff, but what did this first week of an active DayBreak look like? At launch, there were three public facing means of interaction for the general public. Let’s take a look at the numbers:
Node Sign-ups
Public nodes are set to start onboarding after one of our upcoming release cycles, but the community enthusiasm has already been overwhelming. Over 2.700 applicants have signaled their willingness to become Provisioners on Dusk Network. Want to know what the role entails? Find out more in our dedicated Staking Portal or join the queue yourself.
Block Explorer
Interactions with our public Block Explorer opens up a world of testnet statistics, including transaction numbers, block times, and total numbers of blocks added to the chain. Since DayBreak launch, hundreds of people have taken a dive into the testnet statistics.
CLI Wallet
Users can utilize the CLI Wallet to execute DUSK transactions on testnet. The system currently utilizes the terminal and is therefore best suited for developers and tech savvy users. Regardless, many have done so, resulting in over 60.000 new blocks over the course of 7 days. In a historic moment for the project, the first of these transactions was made at block 147.
In the community.
Community excitement didn’t start and end on Dusk Network’s portals and stat sheets; our communities on Discord and Twitter did an amazing job amplifying our most significant breakthrough yet through user created content. In particular, we’d like to spotlight the incredible work of @CyborgJox, who created a wonderfully meme filled 2-minute tutorial.
https://twitter.com/cyborgjox/status/1506373091450142738
Well worth a watch!
In addition, we’d like to also thank users Marcel ☽, Robert H, Sanderdms, and Theselights, and the many others who took their digital sledgehammers to the network in an attempt to push it to the limit. While doing so, they set the official transaction record for a single block! The community came together and set a record of 21 transactions into block 60237. We also achieved fast 1-second block times without forking. As stated in our Insights & Highlights document, we’re targeting 15 second block times for the network.
What’s next?
Fulfilling its purpose as a testnet, the past week has given our development team the opportunity to iron out slowdowns and technical hiccups that arose over the course of public interaction. We’re very pleased to have encountered zero major upsets with the network so far, with smaller obstacles merely requiring minor rectification.
Meanwhile, some of the finalized and on-going UX/UI developments include infinite scrolling on the Block Explorer for those browsing the blocks and transactions & new Block Explorer filters for enhanced searches. These will further aid in laying bare the network’s capabilities over the coming weeks.
As DayBreak continues to grow in usage and capabilities, we’ll be here detailing its developments and achievements in future articles. As always, development can be tracked on our Github. Thank you for reading, and thank you for participating.