SVM Testnet Update: 104K Blocks Reached, Proposal 2 Near Unanimous, and Oracle Client Diagnostics
Hi everyone,
Following up on our recent communications regarding the upcoming v0.0.4 security upgrade, I want to provide a transparent status update on the current health, metrics, and ongoing diagnostics of the Steem Virtual Machine (SVM) testnet.
Network Health and Current Metrics
The SVM testnet continues to operate with strong baseline performance. The network is consistently producing blocks and processing transactions as expected.
Current Testnet Statistics:
- Total Blocks Produced: 104,340+
- Total Transactions: 3,690
- Average Block Time: ~5.3 seconds
- Active Validators: 11
Reaching over 104,000 blocks is a significant milestone for the testnet, proving the underlying consensus mechanism and block production pipeline remain robust.
Validator Status and Oracle Client Investigation
While the network remains fundamentally healthy, we have observed intermittent jailing events affecting a few validators over the recent period. I want to be fully transparent about this: I am actively investigating a bug within the oracle client software.
Because the v0.0.3 architecture introduced a unified accountability system, validators are continuously scored on their participation in background tasks, specifically the commit-reveal price feed and bridge attestations. If the oracle client experiences a slight desynchronization, a signing delay, or an edge-case failure in its loop, the on-chain keeper registers this as missed duties, which can trigger the slashing mechanism and result in temporary jailing.
Identifying and patching this edge case in the oracle client is a top priority. Ensuring that honest validators are not inadvertently penalized for client-side timing or state issues is critical before we finalize the v0.0.4 upgrade and move closer to mainnet readiness. I am currently reviewing the oracle logs and client state management to isolate the root cause.
Governance Update: Proposal 2
I am pleased to report that Proposal 2 (the coordinated v0.0.4 security upgrade) has achieved 100% "Yes" votes from the active validator set.
The proposal is on track to pass tomorrow. This unanimous support demonstrates the community's and the validators' shared commitment to prioritizing network security, hardening the withdrawal-payout logic, and applying the critical upstream Cosmos EVM and cosmos-sdk patches.
Once the proposal passes and the voting period concludes, we will finalize the target block height for the coordinated upgrade and provide the final countdown instructions to all node operators.
Next Steps
- Oracle Client Patch: Continue debugging and resolving the intermittent jailing issue to ensure 100% validator uptime stability.
- Proposal 2 Execution: Monitor the passage of the governance proposal tomorrow and prepare the final upgrade coordination details.
- v0.0.4 Preparation: Validators should continue to follow the staging instructions provided in the previous technical deep-dive to ensure their environments are ready for the automated cosmovisor swap.
Testnet Disclaimer
Important Reminder: The Steem Virtual Machine (SVM) is strictly in its testnet phase. All bonded STEEM, transactions executed, and tokens generated are purely for testing the consensus and EVM execution layers. There is no real-world monetary value attached to this chain or its assets.
Thank you to all validators for your patience, transparency, and continued dedication to securing the SVM network. Your participation and feedback are what make this iterative development process successful.
If you value proactive engineering, transparent development, and rigorous security standards for the STEEM ecosystem, please consider supporting my witness: blaze.apps