Earlier this month we announced our plans to migrate to AO - the supercomputer built on top of Arweave. This migration is now complete and marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the AR.IO Network, bringing enhanced scalability, efficiency, and decentralization to the forefront.

We took this migration opportunity to look at the AR.IO Protocol and integrate community feedback we’ve received over the last 6 months.

Let’s take a look at some of the changes that moving to AO has on the AR.IO Testnet:

AR.IO Testnet Contract on AO

• The new AR.IO Testnet Process and Token ID on AO is agYcCFJtrMG6cqMuZfskIkFTGvUPddICmtQSBIoPdiA.

• The migration process included porting over the Gateway Address Registry as well as existing ArNS names and ANTs.

• The GAR state and ArNS registry were based on the SmartWeave snapshot taken at blockheight 1,449,000 (June 20th, ~9pm UTC).

• Migrated ANT states were taken more recently and are as current as possible.

• It is recommended that any team or project that has integrated AR.IO, ArNS, and any other services should switch over the AR.IO SDK which is now AO compatible.

The Arweave Name System (ArNS)

• The ArNS App is still being fine tuned to run on AO and remains locked to new writes and updates. We will update everyone when it can be used again.

• All names were successfully migrated but some problematic ANTs (mostly those registered with Permapages) could not have their txID pointer settings carried over. In these few cases, the names are set to point to a placeholder ID. We recommend everyone double check their ArNS names are functioning as intended and make any necessary updates when ArNS.app is functional again.

Test IO Tokens

• Test IO (tIO) tokens have moved over to AO as well and can be viewed here.

• Existing tIO balances were reset:

  • Users previously holding any tIO now have a balance of 750 tIO.

  • Delegated stakers receive an additional 750 tIO tokens.

  • Gateway operators receive an additional 1,000 tIO on top of the above.

Observation and Incentive Protocol

• The AR.IO Protocol balance has been reset and is now 50,000,000 test IO tokens in accordance with the white paper.

• There is a new daily epoch duration versus the 1 block-week currently indicated in the white paper. During testing, it was realized that this shorter cycle provides for a quicker feedback cycle and more opportunities for a larger pool of observers to be selected.

• To supplement the time change, the protocol rewards emissions rate will be reduced from 0.25% to 0.05%.

Gateway Operators

• All active gateways and settings were migrated over to AO and are joined to the AR.IO Testnet on AO

• Gateway stakes which have been reset to the minimum 50,000 tIO in accordance with the White Paper [link].

• Gateway weight adjustments (used for observer selection) are as followed:

  • Tenure stats are unchanged from the SmartWeave contract and carried over from the Snapshot.

  • The Gateway Reward and Observer Reward stats have been reset to 1.

  • All existing delegated stakers have been removed and associated stakes reset to 0.

• Gateway operators will need to update to the latest node software (Release 14) before the first epoch begins Tuesday July 2nd at 0:00 UTC. This should give node runners time to upgrade their nodes and observers.

Other notes

• There is no faucet for testnet tokens for new node operators and ArNS testing remains CLOSED. This will be reassessed after the initial migration period has stabilized.

• The current version of the white paper needs to be updated to reflect the move to AO and other protocol modifications mentioned above.

AO is a significant upgrade from SmartWeave in terms of efficiency and capabilities. The AR.IO Network, ArNS, and and we’re excited to discover the unlocks it has for our community and ecosystem. We’re always interested in your feedback so please share with us on Discord or X!