Everything You Need to Know About IoTeX Mainnet Beta
Today we are proud to unveil Mainnet Beta, an important milestone for the IoTeX blockchain. Blockchain is the foundation for IoTeX, serving as the root of trust and decentralization for the entire network.
IoTeX was created in 2017 with a vision to transform the Internet of Things using blockchain technology. What started as an ambitious whitepaper has now blossomed into a dynamic global network. But our journey is just getting started — real world products, DApps, and businesses that will be “Powered by IoTeX” are just on the horizon.
Today we are proud to unveil Mainnet Beta, an important milestone for the IoTeX blockchain. Blockchain is the foundation for IoTeX, serving as the root of trust and decentralization for the entire network. As such, Mainnet Beta is more than just a code release — it is a manifestation of IoTeX’s evolution and a signal that the Internet of Trusted Things is finally here.
The Internet of Trusted Things, where all physical and virtual “things” — humans, machines, businesses, DApps — can securely exchange data and value at global scale.
In this blog, we explain the new features and enhancements included in Mainnet Beta, as well as our plans to launch new “Powered by IoTeX” products using Mainnet Beta.
Powered by IoTeX
Today, we are required to make a choice between living a connected lifestyle OR protecting our privacy. Without any alternatives, society is slowly being programmed to accept this as the status quo. IoTeX is here to change this — new devices and ecosystems that are “Powered by IoTeX” will allow everyone to own their device, data, and identity while enjoying a fully connected user experience.
In the coming months, IoTeX will launch the first privacy-focused IoT products that will run on Mainnet Beta. These will be the first blockchain-IoT products on the market, but this is not our end goal. The most important thing is that these products serve as a “template” to inspire and guide developers/enterprises to build next-gen IoT products with built-in privacy and trust using IoTeX technology. This is a future trillion dollar market that will be “Powered by IoTeX”.
Mainnet Beta — What’s Under the Hood?
Since Mainnet Alpha launched in April, IoTeX has been more focused than ever. Throughout 2019, IoTeX has been in the “Top 20 Blockchain Projects by Developer Activity” by Consensys, Flipside Crypto, and more. So what do you get when you combine the top team in the industry and six months of industry-leading development? Lots and lots of exciting progress …
Mainnet Beta comes with a multitude of new features and enhancements across blockchain infrastructure, developer tools, and the Delegates Program. Over the past six months, IoTeX has incrementally built towards Mainnet Beta, which is the most decentralized, robust, and developer-friendly version of IoTeX blockchain yet! See for yourself on Github.
Key components that have been released in Mainnet Beta include:
- Native IOTX Staking: stake/vote for Delegates using native IOTX for the first time via IoTeX’s Desktop Wallet (note: activated by end of October after v0.9.0 is installed by Delegates)
- Expanded Delegates Pool: # of Consensus Delegates grew from 12 (April) to 24 (June) to 36 (August), adding further decentralization to the network
- Upgraded Virtual Machine: IoTeX virtual machine is upgraded to EVM St. Petersburg and now supports Solidity v0.5.X+
- Cross-Chain Transfers: framework to transfer assets (e.g., stable coins) and data to other blockchains (e.g., Ethereum)
- Faster Block Production & TPS: reduced block time, higher transactions per second (TPS) and transactions finalized 2x faster across the entire network
- Optimized Data Storage: ~40x improvement to storage size, ~10x improvement to sync speed, and data partitioning for easier backup and archiving
- XRC20 Token Standard: allows anyone to create new tokens on the IoTeX Network for use in explorer, wallets, and DApps
The full list of new features and enhancements is provided in the table below.
What’s Next?
Blockchain
The next milestone for the IoTeX blockchain is Mainnet GA (General Availability) coming in early 2020. Layer 2 sidechains, authentication/authorization based on decentralized identity (DID), trusted computing capabilities, and more developer tools & APIs will be the stars of this monumental Mainnet GA release — we can’t wait to share with you our full-fledged blockchain!
IOTX Token & Staking/Voting
Before the end of October, Native IOTX staking/voting will go live and we will release detailed staking/voting tutorials using the Desktop Wallet. Furthermore, we will issue our official token guidance, outlining plans for IOTX & IOTX-E (ERC20) staking, token swaps via exchanges, and migration to a fully native IOTX ecosystem.
Platform Components
From now until Mainnet GA, IoTeX will be extremely integrating secure hardware, decentralized identity (DID), and confidential computing with our blockchain. For the very first time, these IoTeX-only innovations will be combined into real world, consumer IoT products. We will have many more details regarding how these technologies converge to deliver end-to-end trust and consumer data privacy/ownership in the near future.
As we evolve across all fronts, now is the best time to get more involved in the IoTeX Network. Whether you are a developer, researcher, end user, or enterprise, contributing to IoTeX means you are contributing to a brighter future. Let’s celebrate this Mainnet Beta launch as one global community, and let’s build the Internet of Trusted Things together.
About IoTeX
Founded as an open source platform in 2017, IoTeX is building the Internet of Trusted Things, where all physical and virtual “things” — humans, machines, businesses, and DApps — can exchange information and value at global scale.
Backed by a global team of 30+ top research scientists and engineers, IoTeX combines blockchain, secure hardware, and decentralized identity to empower intelligent IoT networks and machine economies. By serving as a decentralized trust fabric for IoT, IoTeX will empower the future decentralized world by “connecting the physical world, block by block”.