Raiden, an ethereum payments channel project, has launched a final test network ahead of a planned mainnet launch later this year. This was revealed on Thursday at the ongoing Dappcon Developer Conference in Berlin, Germany.
During a presentation at the event, a core developer for the project, Lefteris Karapetsas stated that the latest testnet version opens the way for the MainNet release referred to as the Red Eyes Milestone. In a subsequent post, Raiden explained that the latest testnet version will require only minor changes before it is launched on the ethereum blockchain. Karapetsas said that the new release is an early implementation of the mainnet release itself. “Feature-wise, he said the plan is to just launch with the same features that have on the testnet right now.”
Raiden Ethereum Scaling Solution
The Raiden Network is an off-chain scaling solution, which enables near-instant, low-fee and scalable payments. It is an ethereum scaling solution similar to bitcoins lightening network and makes use of the Raiden Network Token.
“Raiden is essentially the payment channel network for ethereum, it’s supposed to help us scale token transfers,” Karapetsas
The next step in its roadmap it’s the MainNet release which is expected this summer though no specific date has been announced. After, this developer will continue to make improvements to its code. According to Karapetsas, “The long-term goal would be to have people use Raiden from a mobile device and be able to make off-chain token transfers just from their phone. That would be the long-term vision, it would probably work in combination with various scaling solutions, sharding, plasma, a sort of hybrid.”
Karapetsas also urged developers to use the testnet to help discover any potential bugs. He promised that a bug bounty program will also be announced to provide an incentive to developers. He stated:
“We really want people to really test this so we have a user interface, we have an API and we’ve created an open Github for everything they could find, so if we go hopefully bug-free on the mainnet.”
Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.
