NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Horizen, a layer 0 public blockchain network that enables the zero-knowledge network of blockchains, has announced the launch of Horizen EON (Ethereum Open Network), its first public proof-of-stake and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible smart contracting sidechain, on permanent public testnet Gobi. Alongside the testnet launch of EON, Horizen has partnered with Immunefi on a bug bounty program offering up to $75,000 in bounties for reporting vulnerabilities to strengthen the security and integrity of the EON platform.
The addition of EON, the first of many smart contracting sidechains on Horizen, provides more opportunities for efficient development and usage of a wide range of decentralized applications (dapps) and services than ever before.
Horizen EON is designed to bring EVM compatibility to the Horizen ecosystem, providing solidity developers with the ability to deploy custom logic to the blockchain, enabling continuous innovation at scale without changing the protocol. The smart contracts – coupled with the unbounded and custom blockchain nature of Horizen and its intra-ecosystem secure bridging protocol – offer a sidechain network that is fully permissionless, interoperable and customizable.
"We're excited to invite the Ethereum developer community to explore the vast possibilities that EON brings to the Horizen ecosystem," said Rob Viglione, Co-founder of Horizen and CEO of Horizen Labs. "With the final testnet phase, we aim to integrate the existing Ethereum DeFi infrastructure with our interconnected network to receive valuable feedback from both our longstanding and new users. This will help us refine our offerings and create a seamless and user-friendly experience for all."
The bug bounty program on Gobi Testnet is the first of several other security and developer incentive programs, including a developer grant program and hackathons, to be launched on Horizen EON. The launch of EON and the accompanying these developer programs open the doors of the Horizen ecosystem to the broader web3 developer community, inviting them to explore the vast possibilities that Horizen offers.
"Immunefi is excited to collaborate with Horizen in launching their bug bounty program. This partnership showcases our shared commitment to security and excellence, empowering us to build a robust and trusted blockchain ecosystem together,” said Mitchell Amador, CEO of Immunefi.
"I’m proud of our team’s hard work building out the tech behind our public EVM," said Zain Cheng, CTO of Horizen Labs. "Our focus is on optimizing the advantages of smart contracts within the Horizen ecosystem by providing a smooth development process and user experience through a suite of tools and a range of integrations on EON. In addition to our team's efforts, we rely on the wider community to ensure the security of our platform. Therefore, we invite developers to participate in our Gobi bug bounty program to help us improve EON's security."
Early participants and integrators have already started building on the EON ecosystem, which is supported by a network of products, integrations and developer tools such as Thirdweb, Remix, Truffle, Hardhat, MetaMask, Blockscout, Multichain, Covalent and more. EON has been run on an invite-only testnet and temporary public testnet prior to the launch of Gobi testnet, which is the second-to-last beta stage before the EON mainnet activation later this year.
For more information, visit the Horizen EON website.
About Horizen
Horizen is a layer 0 public blockchain that enables the zero-knowledge network of blockchains powered by the largest node system and a massively scalable cross-chain protocol, Zendoo. Horizen is EVM-compatible and offers tools for developers to custom-build private or public blockchains and dapps with a level of flexibility unmatched by others. By building on Horizen, developers have the freedom to fully customize their blockchains including consensus, speed, privacy and crypto-economies. Blockchains built on Horizen produce massive throughput without compromising decentralization. Please visit https://horizen.io for more information.
