Wen tests? Now! We are thrilled and proud to announce the Alpha release of our highly anticipated Web Wallet and DEX! After months of rigorous development and anticipation, we just a few weeks ago successfully performed the first web DEX swap, and we are now excited to share our progress with our community. This release will showcase how easy and effortless it can be to swap BTC for ETH, or any other token, within seconds and free of network fees, directly from your favourite browser. Keep in mind, Hydranet is still in testnet. Do not send any real funds to your testnet wallet as these will get lost immediately!

Starting with this Alpha phase, we will be granting access to a select group of 10 testers. We are keeping the number of participants low at this point, mainly because we are still in a testnet phase and we expect to encounter bugs. Therefore we need an approach that allows us to efficiently manage feedback to ensure that each reported bug or improvement is analysed and implemented appropriately. As such, we focus on quality over quantity!

Key Features in the Alpha Release

Hydranet runs on any device of your choice, simply open your favourite browser and login, whether it’s on desktop, mobile, or tablet. There is no need to download any client or external software and a single seed phrase will backup all your assets, Bitcoin and EVM tokens alike. Hydranet is first of its kind, running off-chain nodes directly in the browser. It grants you access to instant swaps and transactions, without network fees, while you retain full control over your assets, wherever you are!

The Alpha version of Hydranet introduces several core functionalities, some of which you may already have seen in the open access testnet wallet. The newest and most significant addition to the list is of course the swap function. All in all, Alpha testers will have access to:

• On-Chain Send/Receive: Securely send and receive assets on-chain.
• Off-Chain Send/Receive: Experience fast, low-cost transactions using off-chain networks — Lightning Network for Bitcoin and Lithium for Ethereum (and other EVMs).
• Channel Rental Manager: Increase your state channel inbound liquidity, allowing you to receive off-chain payments, by renting channel liquidity from the Hydranet hub.
• SimpleSwap UI: The trading interface akin to traditional DEXs for one-click swaps, although in the Hydranet Alpha release, users will need to set up their state channels manually. The automated management of state channels will be added in future updates as this release is all about stable off-chain swaps.

Alpha Phase Goals

We are making giganting steps with the Alpha release and these steps, and previous ones, need to be tested thoroughly! The primary objectives during the Hydranet Alpha phase are to stabilise the platform and refine its core components, with an extra focus on the swap functionality, of course. The key focus areas are therefore:

• Off-Chain Nodes: Improve the robustness of the off-chain nodes running inside of the browser application.
• Wallet Functionality: Enhance the usability and general reliability of the web wallet. We need anyone and everyone to be able to open and enter Hydranet on their browser without any hassle at any time.
• Swaps: Ensure seamless off-chain swaps between different assets and blockchains. The swap function is new to the Alpha release, meaning we need to find as many bugs, big or small, as possible to minimise any setbacks before we transition into the next phase.

Initial Assets and Trading Pairs

At this moment, Hydranet support the following tokens on testnet:

• BTC — Signet network
• ETH — Holesky network
• USDC — Holesky network

Other tokens may be added during the Alpha phase, but our testing does not depend on this. As such, the initial trading pairs for our Alpha testers to trade will be:

• BTC <> ETH
• ETH <> USDC
• BTC <> USDC

The Hydranet team will keep liquidity bots up and running at all times possible, meaning there will always be liquidity to trade into.

Be proud of this moment! The Alpha release is a crucial step toward delivering a secure, user-friendly, and innovative off-chain trading platform, with capabilities never seen in DeFi before. We are deeply grateful to our community and testers for their support and enthusiasm as we work together to shape the future of Hydranet.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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