Dropil Chain Testnet

Are you ready for Dropil Chain?! We definitely are and we could not be more excited to unveil the details of Dropil Chain and to officially launch the public testnet. Brace yourself, there is a lot to discuss in this announcement, so let’s jump right in!

Everything we have been working on for Dropil Chain has been made open source on Github. Click here to visit our Github and see all the work being done on Dropil Chain. This announcement cannot possibly cover all the details of Dropil Chain. We have a dedicated documentation website where an abundance of information can be found. A list of available resources are listed at the end of this article.

Overview

Dropil Chain is a decentralized Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain with high scalability and versatility. We have utilized the highly reputable Cosmos-SDK to build Dropil Chain to be at its highest potential. Upgrading to a dedicated blockchain offers immense advantages over the traditional ERC-20 based Dropil token. With the new technology, transaction speeds are lowered, transaction throughput is increased, fees are reduced to a nearly negligible amount and are paid in the native Dropil coin instead of Ethereum, staking is introduced, governance proposals and voting become possible, custom code implementation and tokenized assets are possible, and much more.

Reduced Supply

One of the key takeaways for the movement from ERC-20 to Dropil Chain is the reduced total supply. Dropil has officially decided to lower the total supply of Drops from 30 Billion to 300 Million, a reduction of 100 to 1, or 100x. Reducing the total supply has been one of the most difficult decisions we have made, but we are very excited to put it into action with the release of Dropil Chain.

The Dropil Chain testnet has already been set up with the new supply to prepare for the mainnet launch. When the Dropil Chain mainnet launches, users will be able to convert their ERC-20 based Dropil tokens to the new Dropil Chain based Dropil coin at a ratio of 100 ERC-20 tokens to 1 Dropil Chain coin. For example, a user with 1 Million ERC-20 Drops will exchange for 10,000 Dropil Chain Drops. Conversion will be available directly inside the Dropil portal and Bitmart has also already agreed to assist with the conversion and the reduced supply factor along with a wipe of the order book to allow for the economy of Dropil to correct itself based on the new supply.

More information on the reduced supply and how to exchange ERC-20 Drops for Dropil Chain Drops will be available as we get closer to the launch of the Dropil Chain mainnet.

Proof-of-Stake

Dropil Chain utilizes a decentralized Proof-of-Stake algorithm and validator consensus to generate new blocks and commit transactions to the chain. Validators and delegators are the driving force in decentralizing the Dropil Chain network. Validators earn from transaction fees, from staking rewards through their own self-delegated Drops, and from a commission of their choosing on any user that delegates to them; typical validator commission rates range between 4-15%. Similarly, delegators earn from staking rewards through delegating Drops to a validator; however, the validator they delegate to charges a small percent commission on the Drops earned as rewards.

Validators

Validators propose new blocks and all active validators must come to a consensus to produce the block. Validators each have voting power which is composed of self-delegated Drops and delegated Drops by other Drop holders. As soon as two-thirds of all validator’s voting power agree on a proposed block, it is valid. Anyone can become a validator, but only the top 100 validators with the most voting power participate in consensus. The total number of validators will increase slowly over time or may be changed through a governance proposal (discussed later in this article).

More information on validators can be found in the dedicated Validator Documentation article on the Dropil Chain Docs.

Delegators

Any Drop holder can become a delegator and contribute to the decentralization of the network by delegating their Drops to a validator, or multiple validators, of their choosing. Dropil holders will have the option to stake / delegate their Drops using their own private keys to a validator using any wallet that supports Dropil Chain and has the ability to delegate.

Dropil has created a dedicated, easy to use wallet called Zeli for Dropil Chain that makes it extremely easy for users to create Dropil wallets, view active validators, delegate Drops, undelegate Drops, and participate in governance / voting, all while owning your own private keys. Users may obtain testnet Drops by using the faucet built into the wallet. Zeli has multi-network capabilities and currently supports Dropil Chain and Cosmos. We will add more Cosmos based chains as we form partnerships. Dropil never gains access to any user’s private keys and the Zeli is open source on Github.

Dropil users that hold their Drops inside their Dropil portal wallet will enjoy the easiest available method of staking their Drops. All Drops that are held inside a user’s portal wallet are automatically staked and earn rewards equal to the amount that would be earned when delegating to a validator. Staking through the Dropil portal wallet offers huge advantages such as foregoing the 21-day lock period on withdrawals which are typically imposed when undelegating Drops from a validator as well as the ability to spend Drops freely within the Dropil & Zuhex ecosystem without worrying about the lock period.

More information on delegators can be found in the dedicated Delegator Documentation article on the Dropil Chain Docs.

Inflation

As a reward for delegating Drops to contribute to the decentralization of the network, delegators are rewarded with additional Drops produced by the inflation model. Every produced block mints a small amount of Drops and they are distributed proportionally to all staked users based on their stake compared to the total staked amount.

The yearly inflation rate is calculated to target two-thirds bonded stake. If the total bonded stake in the network is less than two-thirds of the total Drop supply, yearly inflation increases until it reaches the 20% maximum. If the total bonded stake is more than two-thirds of the Drop supply, inflation decreases until it reaches the 10% minimum. The 10-20% range of inflation is subject to change if voters decide through governance.

The total inflation per year is based on the total supply and NOT the total staked amount. The inflation amount is only distributed to users with an active stake meaning the percent earnings from staking for an individual user may be much higher than the target yearly inflation percent. More information on this can be found in the Dropil Chain Docs Proof-of-Stake Section. We have also created a simple Dropil Chain Staking Calculator that allows you to change some factors and see the resulting rewards.

Governance Proposals & Voting

Dropil Chain is implementing governance proposals and voting. This is a system that allows users of Dropil Chain to create proposals and allows all delegators to vote in a decentralized manner. An example of this, as mentioned earlier, would be a governance proposal to increase the maximum number of active validators. Someone could propose that the maximum number of validators be increased to 150 instead of 100 and all delegators would have the option to vote yes, no, veto, or abstain from voting. Proposers must put a deposit down for the proposal to be valid and receive it back as long as the proposal is not vetoed. The veto option is in place to prevent spam or irrelevant proposals. This is only a brief introduction to the potential of governance proposals, more information will be available in our documentation soon.

Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC)

An exciting feature that the team at Cosmos is working on is Inter-Blockchain Communication. IBC would enable the ability for blockchains utilizing Cosmos technology to communicate with each other. This is extremely beneficial and important to the advancement of blockchain technology. With IBC in place, Dropil holders would be able to hold and transfer currencies from any Cosmos based blockchain including Cosmos Atoms. The same goes for Atom holders or any other Cosmos based blockchain holders for being able to hold Drops. We look forward to implementing IBC technology into Dropil Chain as soon as it’s available.

Dropil Chain Resources

We have been working hard to build as many resources as possible for Dropil Chain. We’ve implemented a full website, in-depth documentation, a public API to query the blockchain with accompanying API documentation, a Dropil Chain explorer, and a Dropil Chain wallet called Zeli. Below you will find links to all the available resources.

Thanks for Reading!

This announcement was only able to cover so much. We highly encourage all readers to do more research into Dropil Chain by utilizing the provided resources above or asking questions in the Dropil Telegram community chat. We can’t wait for everyone to get involved in the Dropil Chain testnet. Stay tuned for more information and the official mainnet launch in the future.

The Dropil Chain testnet is officially live and all listed resources are available for you to get started with the testnet.