On July 6, 2015, Bitcoin Magazine reported that the Factom Foundation had launched Release Candidate 1 (RC1), a crucial step for launching the Factom network. Over the ensuing 5 weeks, community developers and programmers have been testing and debugging the network in order to reach all the goals set out in Factom’s Milestone 1.

Today in a blog post, Factom has announced the launch of the Release Candidate 2 (RC2) version of the Factom Beta. Again, it is asking for developer input as it works toward its next milestone: Factom Genesis.

According to Factom’s post, RC2 includes the following:

Better Factom block syncing & downloading

Tested for high numbers of entries

Improved server to client messaging and error handling

Some limited code refactoring and reorganization

Once Milestone 1 is achieved, funding from the software sale will be released. At this point, holders of Factoids will be able to utilize their tokens on the network and to exchange them on Cryptsy and ShapeShift.

To celebrate the network’s progress, Factom will be hosting a launch party in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, September 1, featuring speeches from Peter Kirby and Paul Snow which will be broadcast to the community, along with a Q&A onZapchain.

Earlier this year, Tatiana Moroz caught up with Tiana Laurence, chief marketing officer at Factom, to learn more about the project.