We are excited to announce that the Tellor Layer public testnet, Antietam Testnet, is now live! This marks a significant milestone in the development of Tellor Layer, our stand-alone Layer 1 blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK.
What is Tellor Layer?
Tellor Layer is designed to come to consensus on any subjective data by leveraging a network of staked parties who are economically incentivized to report data honestly. It operates as an L1 blockchain, allowing users to request and validate various types of data. The network relies on validators who play a crucial role in maintaining the blockchain’s integrity and consensus. For those new to Tellor Layer, you can dive deeper into its architecture and functionalities by checking out our whitepaper and ADRs for a deeper look at the architecture decisions.
About the Public Testnet
The public testnet serves as a crucial phase before the mainnet launch of Tellor Layer. It allows us to test and refine the processes involved in participating as a node, validator, and reporter. There will be at least 2 iterations of testnet deployments and this initial version, referred to as Antietam Testnet, will be focused on testing the basic functionality.
*Please note that Antietam testnet will not be a realistic testing ground for validator/reporter rewards as the team’s validators will have a large majority of the test tokens staked. Maintaining control of the network while we stress test it is essential. Future testnets will be designed with more realistic token distribution.
**There will be no airdrops incentives for participation in testnet.
Validators are responsible for:
- Transaction Validation: Validating transactions and adding them to the chain.
- Consensus Participation: Participating in the consensus mechanism to agree on the state of the chain.
- Block Proposal: Proposing new blocks and ensuring all committed transactions are included.
- Signing: Signing aggregated data values to ensure their correctness before they are relayed to other chains.
*Note – the number of validators is capped at 100.
Reporters are responsible for:
- Submitting values for data requests (queries) that are subject to validation and disputes.
*Note – validators can be reporters but not all reporters will be validators. There is no cap for reporters.
Participating in the Public Testnet
The goal of Antietam Testnet is to have the public run the setup processes and test the functionality of the chain. That means, starting up a node, staking a validator, reporting, and bridging test TRB to and from Tellor Layer.
We have provided a comprehensive guide to help you set up and configure a Tellor Layer node, join the network, stake test as a validator, and to start reporting. Our guide covers:
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- Node Configuration: Step-by-step instructions to configure a Tellor Layer node
- Staking and Validation: How to use your node to stake test TRB and earn rewards as a Layer validator.
- Reporting: How to begin reporting values with your validator.
Note: The guide assumes a basic understanding of the Cosmos SDK and comfort with running experimental code via the command line interface. Currently, oracle data reporting is not ready for public testing.
Getting Started
To participate, follow the guide in our in the Tellor Layer docs.
We encourage all participants to read the entire guide before starting to ensure a smooth setup process. Your feedback and participation are invaluable as we move closer to our mainnet launch.
Conclusion
The launch of the Tellor Layer Antietam testnet is a significant step towards bringing a robust and secure Layer 1 blockchain to the community. We look forward to your participation and contributions in making Tellor Layer a success.
If you need additional support please join our discord, hop in the “testing layer” channel to speak to the team directly.
