Zest Protocol testnet recap

We announced Zest Protocol testnet at Bitcoin Amsterdam in October. One week later, we hosted a testnet launch event with Bitcoin influencer Dan Held, Stacks founder Muneeb Ali, and Victor van Eijk from M11 Credit. Since then, a lot has happened.

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A lot of things went well during testnet. 557 addresses participated in adding testnet BTC to the testnet pools (Goldman Stacks and JP Merge). Countless UI bugs were crushed and improvements were made. Most importantly, we changed a large part of our node infrastructure to create a more reliable user experience when users send BTC to the app (a lot of work). Last week, the Stacks community voted Zest Protocol as the ‘Project to watch’ for 2023.

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There were some clear points for improvement too, mainly when it comes to the wallet experience. Because of the slow pace of Bitcoin innovation, there’s a great lack of Bitcoin desktop wallets with good UX. Luckily, both Hiro Wallet and Xverse wallet are coming to plug the gap. In absence of a good Bitcoin desktop wallet, Zest Protocol testnet users had to activate Electrum on testnet using a command line interface - not great. We’re working actively with the Hiro and Xverse wallet teams so that we can ensure a great wallet experience on Zest Protocol mainnet.

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The next phase of Zest Protocol development is closed alpha testing with a completely revamped user experience. Zest Protocol will launch with a limited group of borrowers and LPs and we will focus the next phase of testing exclusively on them. The closed alpha will feature the new wallet experience as well as the new zesty mainnet UI.

For Liquidity Providers

For Borrowers

If you consider yourself a good fit for Zest Protocol, drop us a line for early access here. We have a bit of backlog to work through so please bear with us while you wait.

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That’s it. We wish everyone a great Christmas and zesty 2023

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