We are thrilled to announce that the PolkaBTC Public Beta Testnet is now live!
Go to https://beta.polkabtc.io/ to mint your first trustless Bitcoin on Polkadot (testnet).
We are also excited to announce a 1300 DOT (~USD 45 000) incentive program for active beta testers, funded by Polkadot Treasury!
Follow @polkaBTC and @interlayHQ on Twitter to stay up to date with Beta events, challenges and rewards.
What is PolkaBTC?
PolkaBTC is the trustless Bitcoin-Polkadot bridge. PolkaBTC allows users to mint 1:1 Bitcoin-backed assets onto Polkadot — PolkaBTC — and use these across a wide range of applications, including decentralized exchanges, stablecoins, and lending protocols.
Funded by a Web3 Foundation grant, PolkaBTC is implemented in Rust using Parity‘s Substrate framework.
Read more in Polkadot’s Blog post about PolkaBTC.
How do I participate?
The Beta testnet is open to all who are interested. You can test as one of the following roles:
Users
Lock testnet BTC with Vaults to mint 1:1 backed testnet PolkaBTC on Polkadot.
Please see the Getting Started Guide. You will need (1) a Bitcoin wallet and (2) the Polkadot.js browser extension.
Vaults
Collateralized intermediaries who hold BTC locked on Bitcoin. Any user can become a Vault by simply locking DOT collateral.
Requirements: Download and run the Vault client (follow instructions here). You will need a Bitcoin testnet node.
Staked Relayers
Make sure the BTC Parachain is up to date with the state of Bitcoin by submitting block headers to BTC-Relay.
Requirements: Download and run the Vault client (follow instructions here). You will need a Bitcoin testnet node.
Beta Testnet Incentive Program
The PolkaBTC Beta testnet is the final testing phase of the PolkaBTC bridge prior to launch on Kusama and Polkadot. To achieve higher participation during Beta testnet, Interlay is organizing a number of events, competitions, and challenges to actively test critical components of the PolkaBTC bridge. Polkadot Council has approved 1300 DOT treasury funding for the PolkaBTC testnet campaign.
Watch out for the following events and challenges over the next week(s):
- Treasure Hunt: Test PolkaBTC, give feedback, and earn rewards! It’s as simple as that.
- King of the Hill: Top performing Vault & Relayer reward pools.
- Lottery: Random selection of lucky winners among all executed PolkaBTC mints.
To participate, you will need to issue/redeem PolkaBTC, run Vaults and/or Relayers and fill out the corresponding feedback forms.
Follow @polkaBTC and @interlayHQ on Twitter to stay up to date with the events and challenges.
Note: only meaningful feedback and human testing will qualify for DOT rewards. Interlay will, at its own discretion, ban bots and spam from the incentive program. You will need a valid DOT account to participate.
Call for Feedback
We are always looking for feedback to improve PolkaBTC.
Call for Feedback
Help us build the best possible bridge and tell us how you liked PolkaBTC & what we can improve:
https://beta.polkabtc.io/feedback
Bug Reports
This is a beta release. Bugs can happen. Report and get credited as contributor on Github:
Thanks for your support and happy testing!
About Interlay
Interlay is building a decentralized cross-chain settlement layer, “a network to connect them all”. As a first step, Interlay is building PolkaBTC, in collaboration with Parity Technologies and funded by the Web3 Foundation. PolkaBTC will allow Bitcoin holders to access Polkadot’s DeFi directly from their BTC wallet. Interlay is committed to decentralization, following a research-driven approach, shipping open-source code, and collaborating with leading research labs around the world.
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