IOTA launches ShimmerEVM test chain, approaching full DeFi ecosystem

IOTA, the non-profit organization driving the development of an open, feeless, and highly scalable distributed ledger technology (DLT) for Web3 applications and digital economies, announced today the launch of the ShimmerEVM test chain on the Shimmer testnet. 

With IOTA launching its incentivized staging network Shimmer last September this public testing period is the important next step in development ahead of the eagerly awaited ShimmerEVM launch. 

The extensive testing of the ShimmerEVM test chain with multiple validators and dozens of dApps contributing, will enhance the resilience, performance, and security of the planned ShimmerEVM smart contract chain. The launch of the test chain comes with various important updates to the consensus module, the node software and most importantly an extended EVM compatibility. It will expand the reach of the Shimmer protocol to a wider community of blockchain developers who build EVM-compatible smart contracts, and build the foundation for the bridgeless and seamless interoperable nature of ShimmerEVM.

The basis for this extended EVM compatibility is built by the so-called ‘Magic Smart Contracts”, which comes at a default on every IOTA smart contract chain. Magic smart contracts enable seamless and bridgeless native asset transfer between Shimmer L1 and EVM chains. This eliminates the need for custom bridges within the Shimmer ecosystem. Additionally, its sandbox contract enables unpredictable, post-consensus random functionality to the EVM, allowing safe randomness within EVM, making special oracle solutions obsolete. 

After extensive internal testing to ensure the security of the network, the ShimmerEVM test chain is now ready for its public testnet phase. Dozens of eagerly waiting IOTA community projects can now battle-test the EVM chain while behind the scenes, the IOTA team will continuously work on additional improvements to reflect the ongoing feedback the IOTA community will provide. 

“We want to ensure our interoperable and highly scalable Shimmer protocol is accessible to a wider community of blockchain developers which is only possible with additional EVM compatibility. In order to do this safely and securely, it took a lot of testing and validating internally, but like all our projects, we rely on our dedicated community to help us improve the ShimmerEVM chain and that’s why we have made our testnet public,” says Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chairman of the IOTA Foundation. “We are continually making new improvements so when the ‘real’ ShimmerEVM is ready to launch, it’s more polished. This testnet is an important step forward for the rollout of future ecosystem projects on both Shimmer and IOTA.” 

For more information, check out IOTA’s blog post here: https://blog.shimmer.network/shimmerevm-testnet-launch/