Mina Developers Report That A Major Update Will Be Released Soon

Mina has announced a new major update that, according to the developers, will bring powerful zero-knowledge (ZK) smart contracts to its mainnet. The update, recommended and voted on by the Mina altcoin community, will enable developers to create safe, efficient and programmable zkApps, according to the developers.

ZK smart contracts are a new type of smart contract that uses ZK proofs to validate transactions without sharing login and logout information. The new update will bring a few key features to Mina’s protocol such as:

• Improved security and efficiency from Kimchi, a new proof system that is faster and more universal than its predecessor.
• Removal of Supercharged rewards – A temporary incentive to increase staking adoption in the early stages of the Mainnet.
• Easier zkApp programmability with o1js – Previously there was “SnarkyJS”, a TypeScript library for writing ZK smart contracts.

The update is currently undergoing testing and auditing in Testworld Mission 2.0, which is split into four parts. The first two sections, the zkApp End-to-End (E2E) Test and the External Security Audit have already been completed. The remaining two chapters, Protocol and Performance Test, and “Preparation for the Upcoming Upgrade” continue.