Testnet is Coming

Published in

Hedgehog Protocol

4 min readMay 17, 2024

Hey (soon to be) hedgooors!

Let’s get straight to the point. We are happy to announce that the Hedgehog Protocol Testnet is on the horizon! We’ve teased about it in the past few articles, but now as audits are being finalized, we want to give you an overview of what to expect, why the Testnet is crucial for us, and how it fits into the broader vision of Hedgehog Protocol.

What to Expect

The Hedgehog Testnet will offer users the chance to engage with our platform’s core functionalities in a risk-free environment. Basically: be the first to use and understand Hedgehog. Here’s a glimpse of what you can look forward to:

- Minting BaseFee Tokens: You will be able to mint BaseFee tokens using wrapped staked Ether (wstETH) as collateral. This process is central to how Hedgehog transforms gas fees into tradable assets, allowing users to hedge against gas price volatility or speculate on future gas prices.

- Managing Collateralized Debt Positions (CDPs): Users will manage their CDPs by monitoring collateralization ratios, adding more collateral, or reducing debt as necessary. This hands-on experience will be invaluable for understanding the intricacies of maintaining healthy positions within the protocol.

- Trading and Providing Liquidity: The Testnet will allow you to trade BaseFee tokens and provide liquidity to decentralized exchanges. This is a great opportunity to explore the market dynamics and the potential for profit within the Hedgehog ecosystem.

-Participating in the Stability Pool: You can stake BaseFee tokens in the Stability Pool, contributing to the protocol’s robustness while earning rewards. This feature is designed to absorb losses from liquidations and ensure overall system stability.

Why the Testnet is Important

Well, some points might be obvious but some are not, so let’s list them here. The Testnet phase is a critical step in the development of any DeFi protocol, in the case of Hedgehog Protocol it is specially important for several reasons:

-User Feedback: Engaging with the Testnet allows us to gather valuable feedback from the community. Your insights will help us identify areas for improvement, ensuring that the platform is user-friendly and fully optimized for launch.

-Stress Testing: By simulating real-world usage, the Testnet helps us stress test the system. This is crucial for identifying potential vulnerabilities and ensuring that Hedgehog can handle high transaction volumes and volatile market conditions.

-Educational Opportunity: The Testnet provides a learning platform for users to familiarize themselves with the protocol’s features without financial risk. It’s an excellent way to understand the mechanics of minting, trading, and managing BaseFee tokens before the mainnet launch.

Core Features and Applications

To help you prepare for the Testnet and have a holistic view of the protocol, here are key excerpts from our previous articles explaining Hedgehog Protocol’s innovative solutions. We highly recommend you to take a quick read at them before the launch:

Dencun Upgrade Effects in the Gas Market and Hedgehog: Discusses the impact of the Dencun upgrade on gas fees and the benefits for rollups.
Hedgehog Summary: Provides an overview of Hedgehog’s core features and applications.
Understand How the Base Fee Token Works: Explains the mechanics of the BaseFee token, including minting, managing, and using it.
Architecture of the Modular Synthetic Blockspace by Hedgehog Protocol: Details the architecture of Hedgehog’s modular synthetic blockspace.
What is Hedgehog?: Introduces Hedgehog Protocol and its innovative approach to managing gas fees.

Community Involvement and ⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️

To maximize its impact, this Testnet will involve several communities in the Web3 space, bringing native users expertise to sharpen the product and shape it by the needs of the community. We are working with diverse groups to ensure a robust testing phase. If you’re part of a web3 community and you think that it makes sense for you to be part of our Testnet, reach out to us ASAP, whitelistings will be limited.

Additionally, users who actively trade and test the platform might be ⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️ for their participation 👀. Stay tuned for more details on how you can earn ⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️ while exploring the Hedgehog Protocol Testnet.

Join Us

As we prepare for the Testnet launch, we invite you to stay tuned for further announcements. Detailed information about participation and expectations will be shared soon. This is your chance to be among the first to explore the capabilities of Hedgehog Protocol and contribute to its development.

Follow us on Medium, Telegram, and Twitter for the latest updates. We look forward to your participation and feedback as we move closer to introducing a new primitive with gas fees as a tradable asset, and how it is managed in the blockchain ecosystem.