Brad Kristensen on Scaling Test Network’s crucial role as ‘fourth permanent network’

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The CoinGeek Conference in London saw voices from across the bitcoin community descend on the U.K. capital to learn, discuss and share knowledge on Bitcoin and development on the BSV blockchain.

Amongst topics under discussion was the Bitcoin Scaling Test Network (STN), the fourth permanent network on Bitcoin SV designed to enable applications to be put through their paces before being launched on the mainnet.

Speaking with CoinGeek’s Hannah Jackson, Brad Kristensen of the Bitcoin SV Scaling Test Network explained how the network would help developers trial their applications before exposing them to public use.

He described STN as the “fourth permanent network” available to Bitcoin node implementations. According to Kristensen, the point of the STN is to test what’s coming, and to test large scale applications in a demo environment before they roll out to mainnet users.

Due to the scale potential of BSV, applications need to be demonstrably capable of handling thousands, tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of transactions in throughput. Unlike BTC, where only low single-digit transaction capacities can be handled, microtransactions at scale demand more rigorous testing, capacity Kristensen says only the BSV STN can deliver.

Kristensen said the STN will play an increasingly important role in allowing developers to battle-harden their systems, ahead of mass usage on the mainnet. With testing capacity of up to potentially millions of transactions per second, running apps on the STN is a test of survival for apps, before they are rolled out to the mainnet.

Kristensen described the STN as “open, public and real world”, where transactions can be simulated with no monetary value attached, to give as realistic as possible a synthesis of real-world usage.

Open to any developers building for BSV, it is hoped the STN will help apps prepare for the challenges of mass scale usage at the transaction volumes necessary for mainstream utility. With a commitment to push the capacity of the software as far as possible, Kristensen said STN was on the frontline of advanced BSV.

With the Genesis upgrade now implemented, he said the focus would return to scaling the BSV blockchain.