ION has released news regarding their upcoming major update that will require a hard fork of the network. It is called ION 4.0 and it will bring new tokens and spending of xION v2. Make sure to update on 16th September 2019 at block 1,320,000 so you remain on the correct chain.
Day of the Fork
As we mentioned, the fork is scheduled to be carried out on 16th September 2019 around roughly midnight UTC. Around that time all masternodes that are still running on the old wallet will not be compatible with the new chain after the fork. Thus, they will not generate any rewards and the best move is to update beforehand. We would recommend backing up your masternode.conf and wallet.dat files before updating your core wallet.
New Core Wallet, New Daemon and New Tokens
This update is a major one for the ION network. The dubbed ION 4.0 release will bring a new daemon and a new Qt wallet. These changes are necessary in order to facilitate the new and improved xION v2 privacy protocol, making the locked xION currency spendable again. The update will also bring new ATP tokens to the network that will make ION the first cryptocurrency network with a cross-asset reward system that is working. It will also become the first cryptocurrency from the Bitcoin Family that will allow direct ownership and transfer without mediation.
What Are the ATP Tokens?
These tokens are developed by ION, dubbed Atomic Token Protocol, or ATP. The new protocol features great security, scalability and efficiency. We will be able to cover more about these tokens and how to mint them when we get near the launch date. The developers will release more info along the way. For now, lets look at what information about them is already out.
- User-friendly – the tokens will be easy to create, send and receive. This will require an update of the GUI version of the wallet, as only the CLI one on the testnet has these features.
- Full Transparency – Dark Matter (XDM) testnet tokens will be verifiable at any time by the user. Also, the testnet blockchain is available to be edited in order to prove to the community just how safe and future proof it is.
- Better level of control and security as ION tokens will give users complete control over their tokens. Private keys for addresses that hold XDM and ATOM tokens will be exportable to be imported in another wallet.
What Will the Future Hold for ION?
It seems that ION has their hands full with the large updates that they will be rolling in. As far as we are aware, Ionomy will be releasing plenty of news surround the tokens, XDM airdrops, ION code releases and more. The ATP will facilitate the distribution of fees to ION masternodes and ATOM tokens. This will create a lot of new creative uses for the ecosystem as well as allowing almost anyone to be able to create their own token on the blockchain, due to its genius simplicity.