Beta Update
DEX Labs maintains beta.derivadex.io, which reflects the latest stable release of a potential DerivaDEX exchange. This update reviews the current status of beta and outlines next steps.
Checkpointing, Upgrades, and Stability
The current deployment has attained 6977 checkpoints, which occur roughly every 10 minutes. A checkpoint indicates that consensus about the state of the exchange has been shared among operators. When withdrawals are initiated, checkpoints are committed on-chain to Ethereum.
This is the longest ever deployment with a continuous state.
The current deployment has been upgraded with no downtime several times. The upgrades include:
- two separate upgrades to new code versions with small bug fixes
- an exchange resumption after an out-of-space error on the test servers
As a reminder, in a main-net deployment, all upgrades require a standard, public governance procedure. The purpose of testnet upgrades is to verify the upgrade procedure is robust, that state is preserved across versions, and that infrastructure requirements for upgrades are in place.
This version of the exchange utilizes three operators, who achieve local consensus and periodically commit that state to Ethereum. Upgrading the exchange logic in this architecture involves:
- Transitioning the code version expected by the smart contracts via governance
- Indicating the epoch at which the operator cluster is expected to transition
- A new operator cluster with updated code version starts up and runs all exchange logic, matching the state of the previous operator cluster
- At the indicated epoch, smart contracts begin accepting checkpoints ONLY from the updated operator cluster.
This procedure is critical for exchange stability, and has been a core focus of testing for the DEX Labs team in recent months. An exchange with multiple operators is functionally more decentralized and more robust, both from a technical standpoint and from a security perspective.
While upgrades are (intentionally) seamless from a user perspective, user testing of the exchange has been extremely useful. It has enabled the exchange to catch UI bugs, iron out confusing UX states, and test the functionality of the exchange in a cross-device context.
From Upgrades to Infrastructure
In the coming days, exchange testing will shift from exchange logic, operator networking, and upgradeability to focus on production infrastructure reliability and robustness.
DEX Labs will share an announcement when the testnet environment for this focus is ready. External dependencies here involve hardware procurement and data center availability.
Infrastructure is the final piece in the puzzle of technical requirements for the exchange.
Key user testing of this component will be performed largely by operator candidates and market maker candidates, to ensure that a production-ready infrastructure of the exchange meets requirements as expected. However, front-end and API testing by traders remains critically important, and is the best way to contribute to building an exchange that is usable and bug-free.
Get Involved!
DerivaDEX is still in open beta, and is always available for testing and feedback and other contributions at beta.derivadex.io.
For governance discussion and proposals, the forum (forum.derivadex.com) is ideal for long-form conversations.
To get testnet tokens and learn more about how to test the exchange and provide feedback, or to participate in the DerivaDAO, check out the Discord.
Finally — follow @DDX_Official on Twitter for the latest updates!
