Sui has announced the launch of the Permanent Testnet to stand true to its commitment to being decentralized, permissionless, and running for a long time. It is different from Testnet Wave 1 and Testnet Wave 2, as the Permanent Testnet will continue running even after the Mainnet has been launched.
Permanent Testnet has a validator set consisting of 93 validators and 2 Mysten Labs. Its validator locations are distributed across the globe, in contrast to Devnet, which is exclusively centered in the US-East. Permanently accessible to the public, it will accept 1 SUI per request.
While the epoch duration for both networks is 24 hours, the reference gas price for Devnet is 1 MIST, while it begins at 1,000 MIST for Permanent Testnet. The reference gas price is then adjusted based on the number of validators participating in the survey during each epoch.
There is a difference between Devnet and Permanent Testnet in terms of storage gas price as well. Devnet looks at the mark of 1 MIST in comparison to 76 MIST for Permanent Testnet.
Data will not be wiped with every update on Permanent Testnet. If any update aims to wipe out the data, then the same will be conveyed in advance. Data durability for Devnet is fairly poor since the data is wiped out with every update to the software.
A major update comes in Core Network and Developer Experience.
The upgraded validator access makes it evident why Permanent Testnet is permissionless. Candidates who fulfill the basic stake requirements can join the network, and active validators can leave the network at epoch boundaries.
Node operators can leverage a checkpoint that enables them to bring a full node instead of waiting for it to sync. Updates related to addressee and signature see IDs being increased to 32 bytes from 20 bytes. The aim is to prevent collisions.
Blake2b has been set as the default hash function for Sui. Earlier, it was SHA3, and the update comes in light of Blake2b being more performant. Signatures will now apply to hash digests. They were earlier applicable to serialized BCS data. A transition to hash digest boosts the compatibility of Sui with hardware wallets.
The team has said that Permanent Testnet is a milestone and an early version of Sui DevX 1.0.
Sui DevX 1.0 is a point where the primitives and semantics of core developers are combined for the following purposes:
- Culmination of feedback through the journey of Sui
- Elements that will redefine the ergonomics and efficiency of developers
- Enable an ecosystem that is not fragmented but decentralized
Primitives for the same include programmable transaction blocks, sponsored transitions, the object display standard, the kiosk standard, the RPC revamp, zero-knowledge proof, two granularity of timestamps, and the move package upgrade.
The update to Permanent Testnet aligns with Sui’s aspirations to be the best developer platform.
