The blockchain startup CasperLabs, creator of a fully decentralised and scalable next-generation blockchain that adopts the Proof of Stake protocol called CBC-Casper, has announced the release of Node 0.5.
This will make it possible to add new nodes to the network and to participate in the consensus mechanism by submitting an application for participation. This new release provides many features, all of which are necessary for Public DevNet, including the introduction of connections between validators and smart contracts.
All those who wish to participate in this consensus mechanism, CBC-Casper, can join the network (or leave it) without having to go through any complex procedure.
The CasperLabs blockchain supports smart contracts that are compiled in WASM (WebAssembly). The latter is not a programming language, but a web standard that defines a binary format and a corresponding text format for writing executable code on web pages.
WebAssembly aims to allow code to run almost as fast as it does with native machine code.
Medha Parlikar, CEO of CasperLabs, said:
“I am thrilled to announce the release of Node 0.5 which paves the way to our public DevNet release next week. Our incredible development team continues to make solid progress towards the public release of our network later this year”.
Key points of CasperLabs Node 0.5 include:
Sending Deployments: Transactions will be signed using the public key associated with the account executing the transaction.
Account and Purses: The CasperLabs blockchain uses accounts, which represent the location where the tokens are physically stored. Accounts are only created in combination with a token transfer request and are protected by an e25519 key system. They include numerous fields including thresholds, associated keys, and account activity. A restore feature will also be made available.
Validator Bonding and Unbonding: CBC-Casper allows all validators to enter and exit the network by sending a request in the form of a transaction. This is clearly a special request and not a simple transfer of tokens.
Transaction Finalisation: The CBC-Casper protocol is secure, with this term it is meant that there is a mathematical proof that transactions, once finalised by the algorithm, can not be tampered with. Once a transaction is submitted, it is possible to use the GraphQL interface to determine the level of finalisation of the transaction.
More information about technical details, code examples and links to development packages on GitHub are available in the official CasperLabs announcement.
