6.2.2020
Meet Argon and Earn Testnet Bounties
Welcome back to the weekly update of the anticipated Stacks 2.0 upgrade, including Proof of Transfer (PoX). This is a special edition of these updates as today, we’re excited to transition the Stacks 2.0 Testnet into Phase 2, codename Argon.
Thank you to everyone that’s been kicking the tires during the Neon phase over the past few weeks and helping to improve the network. We’re excited to keep moving toward a successful mainnet launch and for the improvements Argon offers.
So what’s new in Argon? (view the forum post for more detail)
Developer preview of the new Stacks 2.0 Explorer
Built with everything Stacks 2.0 in mind, this new explorer has several nifty Clarity specific features, including full source-code display with syntax-highlighting, inspecting post-conditions and more. → More detail
Better Clarity support in stacks-transactions-js
Most notably, the ability to broadcast transactions, upload contracts, call contract functions, specify post-conditions, and more! This will enable Javascript/Typescript applications (like web-based, Nodejs, etc.) to interact with Clarity smart contracts on Stacks 2.0.
Several stability and performance improvements
Stacks nodes can now tolerate forks of the underlying Bitcoin burnchain. This is crucial for the Stacks blockchain to be able to survive hard-forks and re-orgs of the underlying burnchain, and a requirement before we start integrating with the Bitcoin public testnet in a future phase.
Smart contract support in Blockstack Connect
Developers writing Clarity smart contracts can now empower their app users to sign transactions, bringing those contracts to life with real-world use cases. Give transaction signing a spin using the Blockstack Testnet Demo app.
Testnet Bounty Program
Last but not least, the testnet bounty program is now live! Earn rewards for identifying bugs or creating tools and resources. Bounties start at $100 USD (paid in BTC) and go up to $2,500 at present. We expect more to be added over time and there’s even an option to design your own bounty. Learn more in this forum post or view all bounties here.
Check out this forum post for a detailed breakdown of these updates.