IOST Launches Upgraded Second Version of Blockchain Testnet

By offering support for JavaScript, an updated virtual machine, high TPS, and a clean code base, the enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure aims to foster widespread adoption within the developer community.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 1, 2018) — IOST, an enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure, today officially launched the second release of its testnet to the public. Building upon its first release, which achieved one of the highest transaction per second speeds in the blockchain industry, Testnet v1.0 ‘Everest’ includes significant upgrades, including support for the world’s most popular programming language, JavaScript — setting a precedent for mass adoption among developers.

Backed by $40 million from world-class investors, including Sequoia China and Matrix, and led by a team of repeat founders, IOST launched its Testnet v0.5 ‘Everest’ in June 2018. The company is laying the foundation for an ultra-high TPS network, and its mission is to be the underlying architecture for the future of online service providers globally.

In the past, there has been a barrier to dApp development because few developers have the time or inclination to learn Ethereum’s Solidity language. At IOST, we want to foster mass adoption of blockchain technology— which means making the transition to dApp development easy for as many developers as possible. Unlike on Ethereum, EOS, or NEO, with Everest v1.0, developers can interact with blockchain infrastructure in the world’s most popular programming language: JavaScript. — Terry Wang, CTO of IOST

The Everest Test Network is deployed in a real-world environment and runs on multiple nodes deployed in Tokyo, London, Singapore, Mumbai, Frankfurt, Seoul, and Montreal.

In addition to the features already in Everest v0.5, Everest v1.0 includes:

Support for smart contract programming with JavaScript — the world’s most popular programming language

First blockchain to support smart contact Domain Name System (DNS) and Flexible Access Control on upgrade/removal of contracts

First blockchain to support Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC) in storage layer, enabling high performance storage with MVCC cache

Redesigned Virtual Machine that resolves many design issues in EVM and EOS — performance benchmarked 10x faster than EOS and 200x faster than Ethereum

“Everest v1.0 will serve as the foundation of IOST’s mainnet,” said Terry Wang. “The blockchain industry is still young. Many projects don’t have the experience to meet their timelines effectively, which is why so many of them are delaying their roadmaps. We are proud to deliver more features and functionality sooner than planned. We have even shifted our roadmap forward by six months — and are now planning to release our Mainnet in Q1 2019. Everest v1.0 is a major upgrade that we are extremely excited to release to our community. Now we will get straight back to work improving every aspect of the IOST blockchain leading up to the launch of our mainnet.”

IOST has been aggressively expanding its ecosystem over the last three months and recently launched two separate organizations with strong institutional backing to develop the IOST ecosystem:

Bluehill: a blockchain incubator and accelerator that recently raised $50 million. Bluehill provides crucial backing for IOST industry partnerships and projects built within the IOST ecosystem.

Theseus is an IOST-incubated R&D team dedicated to pushing the envelope in blockchain technology and paving the way for the IOST developer community.

The original IOST announcement can be found here.

Related: What is IOST?