Decimal Blockchain Update: Transition to EVM

Tomorrow, August 1, the Decimal blockchain will turn 4 years old. And on this symbolic day, there will be a major update related to the transition to Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This update is an important step in the evolution of the Decimalchain project and is aimed at improving its functionality and performance.

Why is migration necessary?

The Decimal blockchain was originally built on COSMOS principles. Later, an EVM module was added to expand its capabilities. With the prospective scaling and development of the Ethereum blockchain, it was decided to transfer 90-95% of Decimal blockchain functionality to EVM, leaving some part in COSMOS. All interactions with the blockchain will go through the EVM, but the functionality related to validators will remain on the COSMOS module, interacting with the EVM through smart contracts.

Preparing for renewal

In the time leading up to the upgrade, which is about 9 months, the blockchain team has done a lot of work to build the necessary infrastructure:

  1. Developed smart contracts to interact with the EVM for each Decimal service.
  2. Added sub graphs to reduce the load from the parser.
  3. SDKs for interacting with blockchain have been created.
  4. Developed sync service for seamless migration.

A successful migration will require about 1 billion DEL, which will be allocated from the development team’s hold-asset funds.

Migration progress

The migration process will include the following steps:

  1. On Thursday, August 1, a specific «X» block will be selected to be the starting point for the update.
  2. In block «X», the allocation of reserves and disabling of COSMOS functions will take place.
  3. The «Y» block will then be selected, which will signify that the blockchain has been updated. The blockchain will pause during this time. This will take about 30 minutes.
  4. For blockchain migration, smart contracts are pre-configured and Sync service is enabled to move all data to the updated blockchain.
  5. When the «Y» block occurs, the sync service will terminate and users will access the new functionality via EVM.

Important changes

  1. The concept of «custom coins» is disappearing. Now they are «secured» and «unsecured» tokens.
  2. NFT is transitioning to DRC-721 and DRC-1155 standards.
  3. Private NFTs are disappearing.
  4. Tokens are getting the option to use IPFS instead of Gravatar.
  5. Adds the ability to add pictures for unsecured tokens.
  6. Advanced mode and comments will temporarily not work.
  7. Multisend will be temporarily unavailable.

Innovations in delegation

With the accepted initiative from CEO Decimal, a new feature of sending a steak to hold has been added. Users will have an opportunity not only to delegate a steak to the validator, but also to send it for a certain period of time. Those steaks sent for a year or more will receive an additional reward. It is calculated by the ratio of issued coins, to delegated coins. If the number of coins in the reward exceeds the number of coins available for distribution among the delegated coins, the remaining coins will be distributed in equal proportional shares among those who have delegated steaks for a year or more.

It will also be possible to move steaks between validators without debonding, but the steak can only be revoked after the hold time has expired. All users will be given the opportunity to send already debonded steaks to hold or leave them as they are.

The anbonding (partitioning) function is changed from 30 days to 15 days.

Rewards in each block will be accrued according to a new scheme:
They will also gradually increase, but at a slower rate. By doing so, the DEL coin will become less inflationary and its mining period will increase. This will lead to a gradual decrease in the APR of steaking to 41% (This percentage is common for the whole project. The staking yield of a particular validator may vary) during the first year and then gradually decrease to 13.5% over the next 7 years. The gradual reduction of the project APR will start from tomorrow. Along with the migration, the COSMOS module will be updated, which will disable many features and update the logic of calculating rewards for each new mined block (1 initiative).

Based on the current blockchain logic, the block that will start the new era is 21848001

Mobile app update

Decimal Wallet mobile app will be updated some time after the blockchain migration to EVM. Decimal team needs some time to set up new interaction methods via Dart SDK. After the migration, all wallet operations will be available through console.decimalchain.com.

This day will be a milestone in the history of the Decimal blockchain. We are preparing for new achievements together with you!

Regards, Decimal team