By Evan Shapiro, Mina Foundation CEO and Board Member
This September marks six months since Mina’s mainnet launch, and since going live we’ve seen better-than-expected progress in the development of the protocol with network bandwidth expanded to handle 3x the number of accounts, infrastructure improvements being made, and easy zkApps¹ programmability on mainnet targeted for release in the next several months.
As a result, the pre-mainnet estimation for a hard fork² at the six month marker is not currently required, as the network is stable and not projected to need any updates until easy zkApps programmability is enabled on mainnet near the end of the year. This next hard fork is projected for near the end of the year, which would be around 9 months from launch.
The supercharged block reward rate of Mina was initially planned to follow a step wise schedule, with the first change occurring 6 months after the mainnet launch with the first hard fork. While a hard fork at month 6 is no longer necessary, as Mina’s inflation rate is implemented via fixed block rewards, the effective inflation rate naturally goes down over time. This natural decrease in yield is expected to keep supercharged rewards close to the level that had been previously disclosed between months 6 and 9, without a hard fork.
See the chart below for a detailed overview of estimated supercharged reward yield from mainnet launch to month 9 of mainnet being live.
As we get closer to the estimated date for the hard fork, we will share more updates and information in advance. Thank you for being part of the community, we’re very excited to work together in building Mina and we encourage you to sign up for the Mina newsletter to stay up to date.
Definitions:
* zkApps¹: Mina’s zk-SNARK enabled smart contracts
* hard fork²: A backwards-incompatible update to the Mina network.
* Supercharged rewards³: The staking rewards given to tokens that are part of the circulating supply as an extra incentive to stake during the first several months of mainnet.
Disclaimer: Information provided herein includes estimates as of the date of publication and their accuracy is not guaranteed. Mina Foundation does not make any representation that any data provided herein will remain unchanged in the future. Statements may be forward-looking and are not intended as guarantees of future performance.
About Mina Protocol
Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, powered by participants. Rather than apply brute computing force, Mina uses advanced cryptography and recursive zk-SNARKs to design an entire blockchain that is about 22kb, the size of a couple of tweets. It is the first layer-1 to enable efficient implementation and easy programmability of zero knowledge smart contracts (zkApps). With its unique privacy features and ability to connect to any website, Mina is building a private gateway between the real world and crypto—and the secure, democratic future we all deserve.
