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ZetaChain’s new long-term testnet, “Athens-3” is now live. The decentralized, upgraded network includes community participants and is a significant milestone in ZetaChain’s journey to launch the first EVM-compatible L1 blockchain that connects everything. The prior development testnet, “Athens-2” will end after a transitional phase.

A Successful Athens-3 Genesis

Athens-3, the latest iteration of ZetaChain, and the base of ZetaChain’s Incentivized Testnet Program, is live. The goal of Athens-3 is to serve as the primary ZetaChain testnet. With Athens-3 comes new features, greater ecosystem decentralization, and external participants in the form of validators operating the network.

New Features in Athens-3

For developers, notable changes to the network include:

1. Connector on ZetaChain: There is a Connector on ZetaChain that allows the ZETA token to be sent to and from ZetaChain across other connected chains. This significant development unifies the ZetaChain interoperability system, permitting omnichain smart contracts on ZetaChain to seamlessly access both the Connector and the ZRC-20 mechanics. Future upgrades will allow the Connector on ZetaChain to send arbitrary data out from omnichain smart contracts deployed on ZetaChain, which unlocks an entire new set of interactions.

2. ERC-20 Support for ZRC-20: The protocol added ERC-20 support for ZRC-20. This means ERC-20 assets on connected chains can now be used via ZRC-20 on zEVM, on top of the original gas assets already supported. These assets may be whitelisted by the network itself, allowing zEVM contracts to seamlessly manage new tokens like ERC-20s, in a decentralized manner.

3. Exposure of Cosmos Transactions Through EVM RPCs: To enhance transparency and indexability, transactions in zEVM that result from external Cosmos transactions are now more visible and traceable. This enables new capabilities such as the ability to index and search for transactions on zEVM caused by a cross-chain transaction from an external chain.

4. Enhanced Security and Continuous Audits: ZetaChain is committed to the safety and security of its network. Athens-3 introduces numerous security enhancements, code refactors, and bug fixes. Additionally, ZetaChain has and will continue to undergo extensive protocol and smart contract audits to ensure a high level of confidence in its security. More security audit information will be released over time.

The Transition to Athens-3

Athens-3 will serve as ZetaChain’s long-term testnet. A ~60 day closure period for the current Athens-2 testnet will start after Athens-3 achieves stability. The purpose of the overlap period is to provide developers ample time to migrate their projects to Athens-3.

Developer Migration Instructions

ZetaChain recommends all developers start planning their transition to Athens-3 now.

• If you deployed on zEVM, then it’s as simple as deploying the new Athens-3 network/RPC. You can find that information here.

• If you are developing with cross-chain messaging or interacting with TSS (for example, through ZRC20), then you will need to update the TSS/Connector contracts that your dApps use to those of Athens-3. You can find those here.

The grace period post Athens-3 stabilization should be enough time to move your projects over and familiarize yourselves with the new features and environment. For most applications already deployed, it should be virtually the same. You can view all the up-to-date docs and resources here:

• Connector and TSS Addresses

• RPCs

• Blockscout Explorer

• Updated examples

Please ask any questions you may have on the Discord channel 💬⼁dev-general. The documentation is also now open-sourced so the community is free to contribute edits, revisions, and even new docs.

Timeline

Athens-2 will reach end of life by August 2nd. Until then, both testnets will exist. Please note that these dates are subject to change if more time is needed to stabilize Athens-3 or help the ecosystem migrate. The community can stay updated through Twitter and Discord on any changes that may occur.

After this transition occurs, ZetaChain will have one primary testnet network (”Athens”) for the foreseeable future, where upgrades and developer testing can happen through the launch of mainnet and beyond. Athens will be a testing ground for new features prior to their upgrades into mainnet as well as the primary place developers build dApps.

ZetaLabs

ZetaLabs will remain on Athens-2 for the foreseeable future. ZetaChain will announce the timeline on which ZetaLabs will transition to use Athens-3. All ZETA Points for ZetaLabs will be retained. ZetaLabs will continue to act as a free testnet asset acquisition/swapping tool for developers to build across all testnets.

Incentivized Testnet Updates

With this post, the Incentivized Testnet’s Phase 1 is complete. The team is coordinating the upcoming Phase 2 where more validators will join and help test various facets of the network. You can learn more about the incentivized testnet activities in the Discord Nodes Zone. Anyone can take the validator docs and join the network. Rewards will be allocated for participants at the end of the testnet and distributed accordingly.

Looking forward

The shift from Athens-2 to Athens-3 is more than a tech update; it’s a major stride towards ZetaChain’s mainnet launch. The ecosystem is primed to learn more and continuously improve the protocol as development on Athens-3 scales. All community feedback, documentation and content contributions, node operation testing, and, of course, dApp building on ZetaChain, are incredibly value. Together, we are building an open and seamless future for crypto.

About ZetaChain

ZetaChain is the world’s first and only decentralized EVM-compatible L1 blockchain with built-in cross-chain interoperability, connecting all blockchains, even non-smart contract chains like Bitcoin and Dogecoin. With ZetaChain’s complete Omnichain toolkit, developers can build true omnichain dApps from a single point of logic, and users can access all of their assets, data, and liquidity in a single place, securely.

Follow ZetaChain on Twitter @zetablockchain and join the conversation on Discord and Telegram. Reach out to [email protected] if you’re building on top of ZetaChain.

Any projects mentioned are 3rd party, not ZetaChain.