IOTA Foundation has announced the release of the Shimmer Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) test chain on its Shimmer testnet. The launch of Shimmer in September marked the start of an incentivized staging network designed to increase the overall utility of the IOTA network for developers and traders.
The ShimmerEVM introduction on the mainnet is the next step for the network, and the public testing period is a key step in the development process.
Foundation for Shimmer
Dominik Schiener, Chairman of the IOTA Foundation, noted that the team is always developing new changes so that when the “real” ShimmerEVM is ready to debut, it will be more polished. This testnet represents a significant step forward in the implementation of future ecosystem initiatives on both Shimmer and IOTA.
Testnets are blockchain networks that are used for testing. They simulate mainnet activity and help developers to troubleshoot any faults and observe network activity prior to broader distribution. An Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the environment in which all Ethereum accounts and smart contracts exist, acting as a virtual computer that developers may use to create decentralized applications (dapps).
EVMs, when deployed on other blockchains, can enable developers to create dapps and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in the same manner as they would on Ethereum. ShimmerEVM will be tested with numerous validators and thousands of dapps to improve the resilience, speed, and security of the ShimmerEVM smart contract chain.
The Shimmer network launch will include three major components: the launch of the Layer 1 network, the extension of a native asset framework, and the ability to create, mint, and transfer assets on the protocol. Developers have been working tirelessly to improve and polish the testnet ahead of the launch, and with the release of the ShimmerEVM test chain, they can now test the performance, resilience, and security of the network on a larger scale.
