Enigma is an off-blockchain network aiming to bring privacy and scalability to any blockchain, allowing for secure and decentralized data computation. Although Enigma isn’t a blockchain platform, Enigma can be used by any blockchain platform to crunch off-blockchain data on decentralized network nodes.
Enigma’s team has scheduled the launch of their testnet for Q2 2018, so the team has until June 30 to launch their testnet.
What Is a Testnet?
A testnet is an early version of a platform – like a blockchain before it’s ready to be fully launched to the public. A company will typically launch a testnet to make sure their platform is working as intended. It’s the last major step before a main network – or mainnet – launch.
A cryptocurrency company may release coins or tokens on their testnet. These tokens have no real value. They’re not the same as mainnet tokens, which will be launched when the full platform is available. Typically, the public is able to freely access the testnet. It’s a public launch of the platform with many of the features you can expect on the full version of the platform.
Earlier in March, the team at Enigma released their roadmap and outlined one ambition- to see cryptocurrency regain privacy. In their blog, they pointed out that “Blockchains without privacy are useless. Smart contracts without privacy are useless. If these technologies cannot work without privacy, then new privacy technologies are the truly useful innovations.”
Enigma (ENG), which seems to have a cult following, can be solved if you think about how the fact that Smart Contracts data are public limits their usability. And, also, if you are sympathetic to the idea of the scalability problem being solved in a simple, clever way. Enigma is a protocol, a second-layer solution to be added to other blockchains, not your usual blockchain platform.
In platforms like Ethereum, all information, like smart contracts and data related to dApps, although pseudonymously, are fully available for any node wanting to check them, and couldn’t possibly be another way, as they’re not centrally executed.
Now this pseudonymous aspect has always been considered mostly acceptable in simple cryptocurrency blockchains, but for smart contracts, where more significant information is shared, it becomes a greater hinder.
