NEO 3.0 Testnet to be Released by End of March
- Version 3.0 of Neo was rebranded to N3 to highlight the difference between the new and legacy protocols.
- Following the release of the testnet, Neo will launch new grant opportunities and incentives.
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The company announced the third iteration of its Neo blockchain was nearing completion in a 17 March blog post. First announced in mid-2018, Neo 3.0 promised new architecture, native contracts, and a new and improved economic model.
Aside from new functionalities, the latest version of the protocol has also received new branding, with the company referring to it as N3, and explaining it was important to separate the newest version brand from the core Neo brand.
“This new brand architecture will enable us to market our major releases to developers, without interrupting the regular user’s relationship with Neo’s core identity.”
As N3 comes with a slew of features that aren’t compatible with the current 2.x version of Neo, it will launch on a new chain from a fresh Genesis block. This means that, for a certain period, two versions of the Neo blockchain will be running in parallel to enable migration.
The official Testnet of Neo N3 RC1 will be launched before the end of March, the company said. Following the launch of the testnet, Neo will roll out a new website, new grant opportunities, new hackathon events, and various other initiatives as it nears the release of the MainNet.
- The progress update details the development work done on Neo 3.0.
- The new NEO network will provide better scalability, lower fees, integrated oracles and user identity.
- A glimpse through reddit activity, online forum presence and blockchain-based social media left little doubt that Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are leading the way, with Ethereum holding strong at position #3.
- ERC20 tokens have little presence compared to full-fledged blockchains – BAT being an exception.