Delegated Proof of Private Stake — Beta general information and schedule
The DPOPS (standing for Delegated-Proof-of-Private Stake) is a brand new and unique Delegate-Proof-of-Stake consensus integrated into X-Cash, an open-source fork of Monero which has since the beginning of the project brought new innovation to the privacy coin space (notably FlexPrivacy, public & private transactions on the same blockchain, from the same wallet).
The alpha phase of the DPOPS is officially over! 🎉
After nearly a year of development, planning, and testing, we are glad to finally enter the beta phase of the DPOPS. We are really excited to enter this phase with the community, stress test the network, and work together for the DPOPS to become mainnet.
If you joined us recently, we recommend that you have a look at our latest articles about the progress that has been made in the alpha, and general question about staking and voting.
In today’s article, we want to give you general information about the beta, establish the schedule, and accompany you into joining.
📅 Schedule
There are several organizational steps to observe before the start of the beta and the forging of the first block. We will give you a detailed explanation of each step, what it entails, and what you need to prepare.
- Between the 29th to 30th of June: Snapshot of the blockchain
- July 2nd: Release of the binaries and instructions
- July 28th: Official start of the beta and forging of the first block (and XCASH 2nd anniversary 🎂)
In practice, this schedule should give you plenty of time to prepare a delegate node, get accustomed to the program and the ecosystem.
📷 Snapshot of the blockchain
The beta phase will run on an alternative chain of X-Cash that doesn’t interact with the mainnet. Because the new consensus might still be prone to some bugs and adjustments, it is important that the mainnet keeps running on a PoW consensus for the duration of the beta and until we are 100% sure that the DPOPS runs flawlessly.
We will take a snapshot of the X-Cash blockchain at the block 640,000 (at the current block time, this should happen on the 29th of June). While the main blockchain will keep running with the regular CN Heavy X mining algorithm, we will use this snapshot as a starting point for the DPOPS beta.
Practical information
After the snapshot, there will be two chains running in parallel. The mainnet will continue as it is, on the current X-Cash version (1.5.0). The entirety of the ecosystem, meaning exchanges, X-Payment, X-Bank, mining pools, etc… will continue to be on the mainnet until the end of the beta phase.
On the other hand, the alternative chain will run on the new DPOPS consensus. The delegates will be able to get elected with votes from the community, distribute rewards, and so on.
At the snapshot, you will be able to interact with the two chains with different versions of the wallets. You can open with the current version (1.5.0) that will have your XCASH, and a copy of the main one with the same amount that you can open with the beta-binaries (2.0.0-beta), which will only be usable in the DPOPS ecosystem (voting for delegates, getting rewards, etc…).
As you know, you won’t be able to send XCASH from the beta-chain to the mainnet, and vice versa. It also means that any XCASH bought or obtained after the snapshot will not be reflected on the beta-chain, as they will be obtained on the mainnet.
If you want to run a solo node during the beta, you will have to get your XCASH before the snapshot. If you plan to vote with funds from your X-Bank account, you will need to send them before block 640,000 on a wallet where you own the private key as it is not possible to vote from the X-Bank yet.
Once the beta is over and we switch to mainnet, the beta-chain will be discontinued, so any X-Cash earned during the beta will not be taken into account.
✅ Release of binaries and instructions
Once the snapshot of the blockchain is made, we will need a few days to build new binaries dedicated to the beta (wallet, daemon, etc…) to interact with the DPOPS chain. We plan to have the binaries ready for all platforms by July 2nd. We will also give additional instructions to be ready for the official launch.
If you want to have a look before the snapshot and prepare yourself, we recommend that you thoroughly read the documentation and get started with your node installation if you plan to run a delegate node: https://docs.xcash.foundation/dpops/get-started
We have also prepared a dedicated channel in Discord to post your question and get help with the community: https://discord.gg/fHvSXUh
🚦 Official start of the beta and forging of the first block
The beta will officially start on Monday, July 28th 🎂. We believe that three weeks is sufficient for people who wants to participate in the beta to prepare themselves and get a server running.
If you want to run a delegate node, you should by this date have a server with the xcash-dpops program running and be registered as a delegate. At that point, people will be able to vote for you and you will compete for a place in the top 50 for a forging position. We will use the snapshot of the blockchain as a starting point and the first block will be forged.
I want to participate in the beta, what should I do?
If you plan on becoming a delegate, we thoroughly advise you to participate in the beta. You will learn to get accustomed to the programs and avoid user errors when we run the DPOPS in mainnet. As your ability to be online and a reliable block producer will an important factor for the voters, participating in the beta will give you hands-on experience and will put you at an advantage towards other delegates.
I just want to stake/vote
Before the snapshot on June 29th, you should have prepared a wallet (where you own the key) with the amount of XCASH you wish to vote with. When the wallet binaries release, you will need to download them. You will then be able to vote for your preferred delegate using the CLI wallet.
Refer to the voting guide to have an early look at the instructions: https://docs.xcash.foundation/dpops/vote-and-staking
When the beta starts on July 28th, the delegates you voted for will start forging blocks and you will earn rewards on the beta-chain. You can only use these rewards to increase your vote or to send to other wallets running on the beta-chain.
I want to run a delegate node
Before the snapshot on June 29th, you should have prepared a wallet (where you own the key) with the amount of XCASH you wish to vote towards your node. You can already prepare a server with our server setup guide. You can also install the xcash-dpops program and familiarize yourself with the different steps.
When the binaries are released, you will have 3 weeks to prepare your node, register yourself as a delegate, advertise on the delegates Discord channel, and place yourself in the top 50 delegates. The beta test will start on July 28th, at which point you will start forging blocks if you are selected as a block producer.
Got any additional questions or need help? We created a dedicated channel on Discord for that 👉 https://discord.gg/fHvSXUh
