Looking into 2022 with an update on the GLITCH mainnet launch
Hey there, Glitchers! We’re progressing well to build the best possible ecosystem in DeFi. There have been some crucial changes, and we have always believed in a fully transparent approach to addressing the community. This update is meant to give you an understanding of where we are and what to expect in the new year. Let’s dive into it.
2021 and our accomplishments
As we approach the end of the year, we wanted to start by reflecting on what we have built together so far. We’re proud of how far we’ve come in such a short period. To date, we have released:
- Glitch Testnet v.1.0 on Tendermint
- Glitch Wallet Testnet v.1.0
- Glitch Faucet Testnet v.1.0
- Glitch Explorer Testnet v.1.0
- Glitch Bridge v.1.0
- Glitch.finance website revamp
- GEX MVP internal prototype
- Glitch browser-extension internal prototype
- Community Advocate Program
- $2M Glitch Grants Program with GPool as first Glitch Grant recipient
- Glitch x GPool building together: GPool launchpad and staking platform
As of this month, we’ve finalized over 90% of the core blockchain documentation, continued to build, and started lining up the GEX MVP and Glitch browser-extension wallet prototypes for quality stress testing. We are quickly scaling our headcount to meet the objectives at hand. Over the year, we have expanded to 27 team members, with 20 volunteer Glitch community advocates. Things at Glitch are ramping up in every way, and we’re excited for what’s in store in 2022.
Mainnet Update
As stated before, strong communication is essential, and it is always our intention to be transparent with the community. We’re getting close to launching the first iteration of the GLITCH mainnet v.1.0. Initially, we wanted to go live this quarter, but we must ensure a quality launch. And with that in mind, we now have established a new mainnet rollout plan for 2022 seen in the next section below. We have also confirmed a date for the Phase 1 mainnet and the launch of GLITCH Genesis Block #0!
The mainnet will launch in phases based on our redevelopment and testing timelines. The GLITCH mainnet will launch in phases to ensure that everything functions correctly and to allow enough time to complete objectives at a responsible speed. We had a little fun with the theme of each phase, each named after Greek mythology and famous Austrian economists that founded the ideas of finance.
So why do we have to make these changes? Until the end of the year, our technical team built GLITCH with the Tendermint consensus engine at its core. As development and testing continued, we realized that Tendermint is not suitable for the type of network we aim to build. As a purpose-built blockchain for DeFi, Tendermint brought many challenges to the network, including high cost, development time, security, speed, and the stability of the chain. We thoroughly tested different scenarios and have identified that the Substrate framework will allow the core aspects of GLITCH, such as the revenue share model, transaction speeds, staking, GEX, and dApp compatibility on Ethereum, to function correctly. Our team has been researching the libraries, customizing key aspects of the blockchain, and migrating features to the new testnet under Substrate. This migration process is time-consuming, and so far, the team has been doing great getting it done. And we’re not going to rush or take shortcuts.
Substrate is one of the most prominent and widely used interoperable frameworks globally. It is developed in Rust and features a robust system language to connect to layers compared to Tendermint, which uses ABCI.
Benefits of building with Substrate as opposed to Tendermint on GLITCH which enables:
- Correct functionality across the network and multiple other blockchains
- Developers can easily migrate from Ethereum-family (EVM) chains with no barriers to entry.
- Superior features for smart contract development and all of the latest ERC compatibility.
- Flexibility to complete forkless upgrades (which means we don’t have to fork the blockchain every time we need to push a critical update).
- Internal team can seamlessly build the revenue sharing vault, which will bring immense value from the dApps to GLITCH network participants and $GLCH holders.
Now that the developer documentation is near completion, the GLITCH whitepaper v.2.0 and the 2022 Roadmap Breakdown are in progress planned to be released around the Phase 1 launch. Instead of your standard roadmap, we are creatively designing the content to match our real-time efforts, and it’ll be easy to track where we are launching the next mainnet phase closely. The 2022 roadmap breakdown will be publicly available on our website in a few weeks.
We appreciate your understanding and thank you for all of your patience as we work hard to redefine, customize, resolve existing vulnerabilities and release the new blockchain in phases over the coming months.
Mainnet Phases
Below is the release plan for all GLITCH mainnet phases based on the protocol redevelopment and testing timelines. There are 4 phases in total: Menger (Phase I), Von Mises (Phase II), Hayek (Phase III), and Bellerophon (Phase IV). Besides Phase 1, the dates below are conservative estimates, and phases may be released sooner than anticipated!
Phase I: Menger
GLITCH Phase 1 Mainnet Launch Date: January 17th, 2022
We’re excited to formally announce that January 17, 2022, is the official launch date for the GLITCH Mainnet Phase I and Testnet v.2.0 on Substrate!
Menger consists of:
- Testnet v.2.0 on Substrate
- Mainnet v.1.0 & GLITCH Genesis Block #0
Expansion in details:
- The Testnet v.2.0 on Substrate will be made publically available.
- The Mainnet v.1.0 will launch internally. Genesis Block #0 for GLITCH will begin. This marks the official launch of the network.
- As a Glitcher, for Testnet v.2.0, you will be able to retest and resend transactions. For mainnet v.1.0, you will see pure native internal transactions. The Mainnet v.1.0 will temporarily begin as a centralized launch with Glitch Finance having control of network validators/nodes. This temporary measure will help keep vulnerabilities out while development and UAT continue. Tokenization will not occur at this time.
- The GLITCH Testnet v.1.0 will remain publicly available.
Phase II: Von Mises
GLITCH Phase 2 Mainnet Launch Date: March 14, 2022
We’re excited to formally announce that March 14, 2022, is the official launch date for the GLITCH Mainnet Phase 2!
Von Mises consists of:
- Developer Documentation
- Allow network participants to run nodes/validators on Testnet v.2.0
- Explorer Testnet v.2.0
- Faucet Testnet v.2.0
- Browser-extension Wallet on Testnet v.2.0
- Mainnet v.1.1 stress testing
Expansion in details:
- As a Glitcher, you will be allowed to create test nodes/validators on the Testnet v.2.0.
- A new version of the Explorer, Faucet, and Browser-extension Wallet on Testnet v.2.0 will be released to support the latest framework and introduce additional features to get more involved.
- Developers can begin to review the GLITCH network documentation, updated at frequent intervals to get familiar with the Glitch core.
- The technical team will continue developing, completing stress testing, and preparing to launch mainnet v.1.1.
Phase III: Hayek
GLITCH Phase 3 Mainnet Estimated Launch Date: June 2022
Hayek consists of:
- Ability to support (GRC) tokens on Testnet v.2.0
- Smart contracts on Testnet v.2.0
- API from the nodes on Testnet v.2.0
- Mainnet v.1.1 launch
- Allow others to run nodes/validators on Mainnet v.1.1
- Explorer Mainnet v.1.1
- Browser-extension wallet on Mainnet v.1.1
- Bug Bounty
Expansion in details:
- Mainnet v.1.1 is the second iteration of the core blockchain. As a Glitcher, you can now create nodes/validators, and developers can start building on GLITCH.
- Decentralization of GLITCH begins.
- Network participants can begin to elect validators per epoch.
- Developers can begin to utilize smart contracts on Testnet.
- The technical team will continue the development of the core blockchain and stress testing.
Phase IV: Bellerophon
GLITCH Phase 4 Mainnet Estimated Launch Date: September 2022
Bellerophon consists of:
- Smart contracts on mainnet v.1.1
- Revenue sharing vault v.1.0
- GEX on mainnet
- Staking on mainnet
- Expansion on interoperability and Glitch Bridge
- Glitch Academy
- Developer Hackathon
Expansion in details:
- As a Glitcher, you can experience the complete network and earn passive income from revenues generated.
- Revenue sharing vault, GEX, and staking on mainnet go live.
- $GLCH token buybacks on GEX go live.
- Smart contracts with utility go live.
- The technical team will monitor the network, make necessary adjustments, and will build on the network.
The Importance of Testing and Getting It Right
Glitch is committed to keeping user security and quality assurance in mind in every part of the development process. We will never sacrifice time for quality to push out something that isn’t quite ready when millions of dollars are at stake. It has always been known that, if necessary, we will be flexible with roadmap deliverables to ensure that we get it right the first time. We respect our community and future ecosystem users too much to put their wealth at risk.
In terms of testing, the development team is currently facilitating internal user acceptance tests (UAT), which are ongoing throughout all phases. We’ve partnered with Kurtosis to automate the test environment orchestration and simulate outages or malicious behavior on GLITCH before we can begin to decentralize the network and make it publicly available for all end users. The Kurtosis integration testing is automated starting January 17 in Phase 1.
Glitch is determined to prioritize network security in constructing this blockchain ecosystem. We will ensure that significant vulnerabilities are nonexistent, and we are working with the right people to build GLITCH in the most sustainable way possible.
Wrapping Up
Overall, we believe GLITCH has an extremely bright future ahead of it by keeping our eye on the ball and focusing on our mission. We are recommitting to our promises to deliver a fully functioning ecosystem where all network participants benefit from a unique revenue-sharing model. We aspire to create a blockchain with no vulnerabilities, and we intend to support decentralized applications that users can trust.
As we end the quarter, there’s still lots to look forward to, such as the launch of the GPool staking platform that we have been co-developing and the soft launch of the Glitch Plebes clubhouse in The Sandbox metaverse. With the outlined changes, we are more confident than ever we will reach our goals and build impactful, secure products that make your support worthwhile. GLITCH is setting the stage to become one of the world’s most impactful and profitable alternative layer-one networks for decentralized finance. 2022 will be our biggest year to date.
Let’s keep building the future together!
About Glitch
GLITCH is a blockchain-agnostic super protocol explicitly designed for trustless money markets and decentralized financial applications (dApps). Glitch solves the expensive fee structure of other blockchain platforms while simultaneously rewarding all ecosystem participants and guaranteeing low network fees. Glitch plans to incorporate token wrapping bridges, where dApps can run more efficiently, all in service of Glitch’s ultimate goal: to become a cornerstone of blockchain infrastructure.
