Cypher Network — Testnet2 Update

Published in

Tangram

3 min readJan 12, 2021

Cypher is an unaudited and unrefined release of Tangram. It is intended to serve as a proving ground, allowing developers and teams to build and deploy nodes, send and receive transactions, and test and evaluate the consensus and privacy.
Warning: this is a pre-production environment of an experimental network - expect glitches in the matrix.

On the 29th of December 2020, we deployed the code-base for Tangram’s Cypher Network — the first deployment of the protocol with the full functionalities of its original conception around three years ago.

Cypher for now is a Tangram Testnet.

Previous Testnets were aimed at testing certain segments or components of Tangram. Cypher more accurately resembles how you will interact within Tangram in the future, allowing teams and developers to build and deploy a node, set up a wallet try out Tangram’s send and receive features, staking, rewards and validation functionality. Validators can test their deployments, and eventually everything you can do on Cypher, you will be able to do on Tangram.

Phases of Cypher within Checkpoint 1:

We have gone with the approach of testing individual features/functionalities (selective activation) and their corresponding core codebase with volunteered testers to minimize the ‘noise’ and ensure we are focused on pieces rather than the entire network as a whole. This allows us to identify any issues more efficiently and focus on the release features only. This lean approach will help us fast-track each release cycle.

Checkpoint 1 is scheduled to run for ≈2–4 weeks, and we are currently at the end of the 2nd week. With testers we are covering the basics when it comes to setting up and installing cypnode, core (Node code), and Bamboo (Tangram’s CLI wallet) and releasing features through a release type cycle following the below:

29th Dec — 5th Jan 2021 (Completed):

Release 1 — Setup and testing of a node
Release 2 — Setup and testing of joining members within a cluster
Release 3 — Testing the Serf Gossip protocol

The dates for Releases 4–8 are still to be confirmed, however for Release 4 the repository has been committed based on the updated and refactored codebase since the 5th of January.

Release 4 — Setup and testing of Bamboo (Tangram’s wallet)
Release 5 — Coinbase transaction for rewarding nodes
Release 6 — Mempool validation and verification for double spends
Release 7 — Validate Multilayered Linkable Spontaneous Anonymous Group Signatures (MLSAG), including checking that inputs are referenced from the blockchain;
Release 8 — Blockmania’s consensus

Updates made for each Release

Release 1:

Some refactoring across files
Creation of cypnode.service
Creation of Linux and windows install scripts for cypnode
Some minor bug fixes

Release 2 & 3:

None required

Release 4 will begin soon™️

Looking forward

As we move along the Checkpoints and given release cycles, further updates will be made to keep everyone informed of progress and ensure alignment across the community.

As previously announced, everything is ready. There is nothing more to integrate, implement, or figure out. Refactoring, bug fixes and further enhancements and optimizations will be made from here until Mainnet to minimize any surprises.

What we have today is fast, fee-less, fungible, and private, and soon we will open up for public testing. You’ll be able to see this for yourself!

Thinking of contributing to Cypher?

You can find Cypher’s codebase here: https://github.com/cypher-network/

Connect with any of the core team members and/or community managers, OR simply create an issue/pull request!