Latest news with #Testnet
Business Insider
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Alpen Public Testnet Launches Offering Peek at Bitcoin's Own Financial System
Testnet opens doors to trading, borrowing, earning, and stablecoins secured by Bitcoin Bitcoin's market cap sits well above $2 trillion, but its participation in finance remains limited to opaque centralized services that require owners to give up custody. Alpen's Public Testnet is now live, a major step toward bringing Bitcoin's own financial system online. This milestone brings major financial apps like trading, borrowing, earning, stablecoins, and more one step closer to Bitcoin. 'Bitcoin's not just for holding anymore,' said Simanta Gautam, CEO and co-founder of Alpen Labs. 'Alpen is enabling Bitcoin holders to securely participate in Bitcoin finance in all the ways they've wanted, without the middlemen. We're bringing together some of the best teams in the space to create a vibrant financial ecosystem for BTC.' The Alpen testnet allows developers to experiment, build, and test BTC applications that were once confined to centralized exchanges, custodians, or wrapped tokens outside Bitcoin. Products such as the Bitcoin Dollar will demonstrate what's possible on a Bitcoin-secured financial system. The Bitcoin Dollar (BTD), being developed in partnership with the Liquity team, is a BTC-backed dollar stablecoin that also enables holders to borrow against their BTC. Alpen is the distillation of years of research by the Alpen Labs team into secure programmability on Bitcoin. Alpen's EVM compatibility enables crypto's largest developer base to use familiar tools to build a financial ecosystem on Bitcoin. Alpen's zk-rollup architecture enables faster, lower-cost transactions while inheriting Bitcoin's unmatched security. 'I believe this represents one of the most important breakthroughs in blockchain history, uniting Bitcoin's unmatched security with the programmability we've waited 15 years for. Alpen is a game-changer for Bitcoin, and we're proud to back a team that's pushing the ecosystem to new heights.' — Nic Carter, Partner at Castle Island Ventures Founded in 2022 by four MIT alumni and backed by Ribbit Capital, Stillmark, DBA, cyber•Fund, along with individuals like Wences Casares and Ben Davenport, Alpen Labs is reshaping Bitcoin's ecosystem into one where many more users can securely participate in finance. This testnet paves the way for an upcoming mainnet launch that seeks to redefine Bitcoin's future. Users can learn more at and read the launch post. About Alpen Labs Alpen Labs is shaping the next chapter of Bitcoin's story. With Alpen, Bitcoin gets its own financial system, enabling trading, lending, stablecoins, and more without compromising security or decentralization. Founded in New York by four MIT grads, Alpen Labs is connecting innovative finance to the world's most trusted digital money. Contact Founder Phil
Associated Press
22-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Fogo Launches Public Testnet: Fastest Layer 1 Blockchain Sets New Bar for Onchain Trading
Former TradFi executives from Jump, JP Morgan, Citadel, and Morgan Stanley launch the fastest Layer 1 blockchain to date CAYMAN ISLANDS, July 22, 2025 (Bitwire) -- Today, Fogo, an L1 blockchain enabling the greatest onchain trading experience with unprecedented speed, near-instant finality, and scalability, officially announced the launch of its public Testnet, introducing the fastest Layer 1 chain to date. Created for traders by a team of veteran traders from Citadel, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Jump, Fogo is the first Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) chain to feature native multi-local consensus and enshrined dApps built directly into the protocol, and will become the first live implementation of the Firedancer validator client in its purest form. 'With the launch of this Testnet, we're officially rewriting the standard for what DeFi has to offer,' said Douglas Colkitt, Initial Fogo Contributor and formerly at Citadel. 'We've rebuilt the trading stack from the ground up to build upon what Hyperliquid has made possible and bring it to the SVM ecosystem. With vertical integration, real-time latency, and fee-free execution, Fogo gives top traders and builders a new performance frontier that's fully onchain and fully prepared to deliver the next generation of performance-first blockchains.' Unlike most blockchain projects chasing speed with compromise, Fogo was engineered from the ground up to deliver institutional-grade execution without sacrificing decentralization or composability. This, combined with native infrastructure and vertical integration, positions Fogo as the first true performance-focused alternative to Hyperliquid. Key features and differentiators of Fogo include: 'Fogo represents a new wave of performance-maximized infrastructure,' said Kain Warwick, founder of Infinex and Fogo partner. 'For traders who care about execution, latency, and fairness, this is a major milestone and the evolution that DeFi desperately needs.' Fogo's public Testnet launch comes on the heels of a community-first funding round via Echo in January 2025, where the protocol raised $8M in just under two hours. Crypto investor Cobie called it 'a first' for Echo deals, praising Fogo's token distribution that favors the community over insiders. A private Testnet launched on March 31, 2025, following a Devnet rollout in January. The Fogo Testnet is an open invitation for developers, traders, and protocol builders to start experimenting with its vertically integrated architecture. The network is built to handle institutional-scale throughput with unmatched responsiveness, merging the speed and determinism of TradFi with the open, decentralized ethos of crypto. The Fogo Testnet is now live. Learn more about Fogo, access Testnet, and get signed up for future updates at About Fogo Fogo is the fastest L1 blockchain designed to deliver the greatest onchain trading experience. With its unique architecture and Firedancer implementation, the chain offers low latency, near-instant finality, and unparalleled scalability. As a purpose-built blockchain, Fogo incorporates a carefully constructed, vertically integrated tech stack. This includes a curated validator set, native price feeds, an enshrined DEX, and multi-local consensus validators to create a truly differentiated trading environment. Backed by a team of trading and engineering experts and driven by a vision to redefine what's possible, Fogo is setting the standard for high-performance blockchain infrastructure, perfectly balancing the decentralization vs performance tradeoff whilst maximizing performance and maintaining global censorship resistance. ### Media Contact: Melrose PR [email protected]
Cision Canada
07-05-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Pharos Network Unveils High-Performance Layer 1 Testnet to Unlock RWA Adoption
HONG KONG, May 7, 2025 /CNW/ -- Pharos Network, a high-performance blockchain built for real-world assets (RWAs), announced the launch of its Testnet today. Designed for institutional-grade RWAs and enterprise-scale DeFi, Pharos offers a next-generation, modular infrastructure that addresses the key bottlenecks preventing institutions from entering Web3. The platform powers scalable deployment of decentralized applications, enables efficient payment solutions, and unlocks new use cases for tokenized assets. The Pharos Testnet achieves up to 30,000 transactions per second with one-second finality, setting a new benchmark for Layer 1 blockchain performance. Its GPU-like architecture could support billions of users and reduce storage usage by 80%. The network also features built-in support for decentralized AI and privacy preserving SPN. With ZK-based KYC/AML capabilities, Pharos ensures enterprise-ready security and compliance. It remains fully EVM-compatible, offering faster and cheaper transactions, while enabling flexible, on-chain innovation. Pharos's product stack directly addresses the core bottlenecks in RWA adoption—scalability, compliance, and flexibility—unlocking new use cases across sectors such as renewable energy industry finance, payment, supply chain finance, and tokenized real estate. Its modular, high-throughput infrastructure enables secure deployment of RWA at scale, while meeting the regulatory and performance demands of the financial industry. A growing ecosystem is already emerging on the Pharos Testnet, enabling innovative Defi use cases for RWAs. As an early collaborator of Pharos, OKX Wallet will support Pharos Testnet natively at launch. Early Pharos ecosystem projects include Zenith Swap, ELFi, Buzzing Club, Faroswap, R2, OpenFi, Hemera, Blocksense, Supra, and more. Founded by former AntChain and Alibaba blockchain leaders, the Pharos team brings deep enterprise experience, uniquely positioning it to deliver enterprise-grade solutions for institutions exploring green finance, payments, and new forms of programmable ownership and asset tokenization. "The Pharos Testnet represents a significant milestone in our mission to unlock the true potential of RWAs. By providing a high-performance, scalable, and adaptable platform, Pharos meet the needs of bringing real world assets on a chain and bringing utilities to these assets." said Alex Zhang, CEO of Pharos Network. "We're excited to watch innovation flourish on Pharos and accelerate the convergence of traditional finance and decentralized technology. Developers and users can access and experience the Testnet by visiting About Pharos Pharos Network is a revolutionary Layer 1 blockchain platform that sets new benchmarks in decentralized technology with its extreme performance and scalability. Founded by ex-blockchain leaders from Ant Financial and Alibaba, Pharos aims to build the best chain for RWAs and enterprise-grade DeFi, achieving the highest EVM Layer-1 performance with 50K TPS and being the first to reach 2 gigagas/sec. In addition, Pharos is a co-developer of SmartCogent, an AI toolkit for large language models (LLMs), and the core development team of DTVM technology. For more information, please visit
Associated Press
02-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Aztec Network's Public Testnet Launch Achieves First Major Milestone In Bringing Privacy To Web3
Programmable privacy solution enables developers to build fully private applications on Ethereum for the first time LONDON, May 1, 2025 (Bitwire) -– Aztec Network today announced the launch of its Public Testnet, celebrating a pivotal milestone in the company's eight-year journey to solve one of blockchain's biggest challenges: privacy. Open to all developers, Aztec introduces the first fully programmable privacy solution that protects sensitive information while still maintaining blockchain's inherent transparency. Testnet follows successful testing of the first decentralized upgrade process for an L2, with over 100 sequencers participating in successful deployments of both DevNet and ProverNet. It represents a crucial step forward as Aztec prepares for a mainnet that will launch fully decentralized from day one - because true privacy means no central entity gets backdoor access. 'We currently view blockchain privacy as all-or-nothing, but it doesn't have to be,' said Zac Williamson, Co-Founder of Aztec Network. 'Developers can use Aztec to build dApps with privacy features that seamlessly blend with Ethereum's existing infrastructure, and they won't need to struggle implementing complex cryptography.' 'We first invested in Aztec in 2022 because we shared its vision for making privacy programmable and accessible for any crypto developer,' said Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z crypto. 'Privacy is essential for blockchains to gain widespread adoption, enabling many new possibilities for crypto applications in financial services, gaming, identity, AI, and much more. Aztec's testnet launch is a significant step towards building that future.' This is the final step for Aztec following the development of several breakthrough technologies that paved the way to, and now set the stage for, mainnet: PLONK, a novel proving system for user-level privacy and programmability that yielded and Aztec Connect, which was a pivotal moment for privacy and encryption solutions; Noir, an intuitive zero-knowledge, Rust-like programming language; and a client-side library for a private execution environment (PXE). These tools allow developers to explore privacy-preserving applications across any use case where protecting sensitive data is a critical function. For more information about Aztec Network and to participate in the Public Testnet, developers can click here . For node operators looking to help run the network, click here . About Aztec Network Aztec is the only privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum, empowering developers to build applications that protect user privacy while enabling compliance. Backed by a $100M Series B led by a16z, Aztec is led by a team of world-class researchers and cryptographers who invented trustless client-side proving—the innovation that makes privacy-preserving apps on mobile possible. Using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and the Noir open-source, Rust-like programming language, Aztec is building a secure and scalable privacy layer for the decentralized future.
