Zilliqa has made significant progress in its journey toward the full rollout of Zilliqa 2.0 with the recent launch of the Jasper proto-testnet. Jasper serves as the first public test environment for developers and validators to explore Zilliqa 2.0's enhanced features. 

This key milestone showcases the benefits of Zilliqa 2.0's new Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which delivers faster, more efficient transactions with reduced energy consumption. The transition to PoS will allow validators to stake ZIL tokens to secure the network, earning rewards in return.

Jasper achieves a 99% reduction in energy use compared with the original Zilliqa blockchain protocol, while also improving scalability and network performance.

Early testing has demonstrated lightning-fast block times, which significantly enhance the speed and throughput of transactions. Jasper’s PoS consensus, combined with the Pipelined Fast-HotStuff algorithm, also ensures better network security and greater resistance to attacks​.

Developers and potential validators are encouraged to read the docs for Zilliqa 2.0 to get started with the Jasper proto-testnet.

Early adopters and impressive performance

One of the earliest adopters of the Jasper proto-testnet is PlunderSwap, a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform currently operating on the Zilliqa network. PlunderSwap has successfully integrated its app with the Jasper proto-testnet, becoming an early adopter of the network in preparation of the Zilliqa 2.0 mainnet launch.

The PlunderSwap team was enthusiastic about the network’s potential, saying: 

“Zilliqa 2.0’s blazing speed propels it to the forefront of Layer 1 blockchains, leaving competitors in the dust. It’s thrilling to witness just how much faster it is—and we can’t wait to see what groundbreaking innovations come next!”

Web3Auth has also added support for the Zilliqa 2.0 proto-testnet, allowing dApps to easily build in account verification that lets users log in with their email address or social media accounts. Check out the docs to learn more about integrating Web3Auth with your app on Zilliqa 2.0.

This early adoption demonstrates Jasper’s potential to handle real-world decentralised applications (dApps) and serve as a reliable, high-performance platform for large-scale solutions aimed at driving mass adoption. 

As developers and validators test out the Jasper proto-testnet, it has showcased the impressive performance of the upgraded Zilliqa 2.0 protocol, already reaching block 1,000,000 through its fast finality and improved block times.

Looking ahead to Aventurine

With Jasper performing well and gaining traction, we are looking forward to the next major milestone in the Zilliqa 2.0 roadmap: the launch of the Aventurine proto-mainnet. 

Scheduled for release in the coming weeks, Aventurine will remain a test network but will introduce key features such as cross-chain smart contracts and interoperability between EVM and Scilla. It will also lay the groundwork for a smooth transition to Zilliqa 2.0 upon mainnet launch.

Source : Zilliqa — Official Blog - Oct 28, 2024