Blockchain core development for an EVM layer 1

Taking a leaderless consensus from testnet to mainnet

Most chains give one node the right to propose each block, and whoever orders the transactions can profit from that order. The client's protocol removes the single proposer. The active validator set builds each block jointly, so no one node controls transaction ordering. Each contribution stays threshold-encrypted until a quorum commits, and on-chain randomness shuffles the final order. Frontrunning stops being a policy question: no validator sees a decrypted transaction it has not already committed to include.

The consensus model had already been chosen when the partnership began. The open question was how to make it work reliably in production. That work centred on the Rust consensus engine, which Aetsoft developed jointly with the client’s core team.

One outcome was dynamic block timing. Under load, the network produces blocks within seconds. During quiet periods, it records only an occasional heartbeat block instead of filling the chain with empty ones.

The consensus had to survive real validator conditions

Aetsoft engineers worked on the key generation and connectivity logic across the node and contract layers. This logic governs what happens when the validator set changes between epochs.

Each epoch, a newly elected validator set must jointly generate a fresh threshold encryption key on-chain before its term begins. A validator that misses its slot is removed, penalised, and replaced. The textbook algorithm assumes stable connections. Real validators run on home servers, and home connections drop. So nodes report each other's connectivity, and the protocol can end an epoch early when too many of them go quiet. An on-chain reliability score feeds each validator's election odds. Calibrating its penalties took longer than writing the happy path, and it usually does. A failed key ceremony now costs a validator election odds, and the epoch cycle keeps turning without anyone stepping in.

Electing validators on-chain and migrating the legacy network

Validator selection happens entirely on-chain. Candidates and delegators stake through capped pools, preventing any one pool from gaining excessive influence. A new validator set is elected each epoch from the wider candidate pool, while changes to protocol parameters require a token-holder vote. After launch, control over these decisions passed to the DAO.

Moving holder balances is delicate work. The joint team built the snapshot tooling, the claiming contracts, and the claiming dApp that carried those balances into the new network. No new coins were minted at launch. An open beta ran with community validators. An independent security firm audited the staking, DAO, and claiming contracts, and the findings were fixed and re-checked before the mainnet went live.