Roadmap Update (1/17/23)
Our team has recently identified tasks and requirements in milestones that require additional effort, such as certain aspects of the indexer and advanced order implementation.
This blogpost provides an update on the anticipated delivery timeline for v4. Now that the team has done more work scoping out later milestones, we have a better understanding of when we can ship v4. We plan to launch our mainnet in H2 2023 and are pleased to share the following estimates for individual milestones:
M3 (Private Testnet) - end of March
M4 (Public Testnet) - end of July
M5 (Public Mainnet) - end of September
We will follow up with more concrete details and increased granularity when we finish Milestone 3. Meanwhile, happy trading!
Introduction
As part of providing periodic updates on our progress building out the dYdX v4 Blockchain, we are excited to announce the completion of our second of five milestones.
We now have two working internal blockchain networks running in perpetuity. One serves as a developer playground, and the other serves as a general testnet. Functionally, the blockchain allows for core trading functionality, with leverage, fees, oracle price updates, hourly funding rates, and liquidations.
We are now in the middle of working on Milestone 3, and will release another update after completion. This will include the launch of an external testnet with an initial small group of validators. The completion of Milestone 4 will include the launch of a public testnet, and Milestone 5 will include the launch of the mainnet blockchain.
A Recap of Milestone 2
The purpose of Milestone 2 was to complete all of the basic functionality needed to run the core product of the exchange. The main technical features of this milestone were:
Trading Fees
Liquidations
Oracle Price Updates
Static Funding Rates
Token Transfers
Indexing and API Service
We also created a more stable internal testnet with a larger number of validator nodes. This testnet remains internal to dYdX, but allows for robust testing by our developers.
We have also built out more robust developer tooling to maintain and test the network, including:
A tool to quickly reset all validators from genesis
A faucet to onboard new accounts
Mock trading-bots that add liquidity and load-test the nodes
What’s Next in Milestone 3?
This milestone is the completion of advanced features. The main features of this milestone are:
Advanced Order Types (e.g. Post-Only, Stop-Limit, and Reduce-Only)
Dynamic Funding Rates
Using the Latest Features of Cosmos-SDK to Propose and Validate Blocks
Key-Permissioning & Access Management
Web Trading Interface
Documentation for Validators
After we complete the technical implementation of the milestone, we plan to launch an external testnet with a limited number of validators of the testnet. As part of this effort, we plan to provide documentation for running full-nodes and validator-nodes.
If you are interested in participating as a validator in this testnet, please fill out this form.
What about Milestones 4 and 5?
Milestones 4 and 5 will be focused on non-core-product features such as governance, the process of adding or removing new trading pairs, and IBC connections to other chains.
Milestone 4 will see the launch of a fully-public testnet, and the completion of Milestone 5 will include the launch of mainnet.
Recent Events and Decentralized Finance
The events of the last few weeks have re-highlighted the importance of building open, transparent, and fair financial products. We are excited for dYdX v4 to further the dYdX vision of democratizing access to financial opportunity.
If helping to build the future of a decentralized exchange and open finance sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out what it’s like to work at dYdX and our Open Roles!
To ask additional questions, join the discussion on Discord, participate in the dYdX community, or follow our Twitter account. We’re extremely excited to continue building out the dYdX Chain and will continue to release updates for each future milestone.
