Casa custodian founder urges resetting bitcoin testnet due to “block storms”

In the testnet, the number reached 2 811 000

06.05.2024 - 09:40

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What’s new? Jameson Lopp, the co-founder and engineer at digital asset custody company Casa, has said TBTC, the most popular bitcoin blockchain testnet, needs to be restarted because of its ongoing “block storms.” For example, the main Bitcoin network produces an average of 144 blocks per day, while the test network, which is subject to “slightly different consensus rules,” sometimes produces more than 10 000 blocks in the same amount of time.

The developer’s blog

What else is known? According to Lopp, these “block storms” have brought the number of blocks in TBTC to 2 811 000, a figure the mainnet will not reach until 2061. He added that due to the significant increase in the number of blocks in the testnet, the rewards for its miners have been reduced to almost zero. This made the testnet almost unusable for developers of new tokens.

He also noted another problem: often attackers sell bitcoins from the testnet to users at the cost of coins in the mainnet. Bitcoins from the testnet, which actually have no value, are sold through the MotoSwap exchange and the Buy Tesnet firm, among others. In addition, TBTC’s testnet used SatoshiVM’s Layer 2 (L2) network to conduct airdrop.

Lopp notes that he is in favor of relaunching TBTC because testnets should be free for developers and testnet-supporting wallets should clearly state that bitcoins from testnets have no value.

The developer believes the only way to ensure that the testnet will not be profitable is to introduce a “culture of regular resets”. He advised other developers and users to migrate their infrastructure to testnet4 in the coming months.

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