Kicking Off the ICE Ecosystem: Official Website and Frost Testnet are now LIVE!

We are excited to announce that the official website for ICE & SNOW is now live. This website will serve as the informational hub for each project moving forward and provides a clear overview of the benefits of the ICE ecosystem for both users and developers.

For those looking to build on SNOW and eventually ICE, preliminary documentation is now available that will allow you to start building on the Frost testnet.

Frost Testnet Goes Live

An initial implementation of the ICE and SNOW networks is now available through Frost–a testnet where builders can explore an EVM-compatible extension network for ICON. While the initial testnet isn’t fully stable and lacks key features such as tokenomics or governance, it is the critical first step toward implementing our vision for SNOW and, eventually, ICE.

Developers interested in building on ICE/SNOW should refer to the documentation regarding deploying on the testnet. They can also collect ICZ tokens from the ICE Testnet Faucet channel on the ICON Project Discord using the following command:

!send $substrate\_wallet\_address
// Example
!send 5CiPPseXPECbkjWCa6MnjNokrgYjMqmKndv2rSnekmSK2DjL

Join a growing developer community by sharing your experience building on the Frost testnet in the ICE Dev Discussion channel set up for ICE/SNOW on the ICON Project Discord.

Open Source Development

In the spirit of transparency, we are opening our development process with the community from the very beginning. This means that our product will genuinely reflect the stage of development we are in as we build a blockchain that connects ICON to the substrate ecosystem via BTP. As we continue to improve upon the testnet, we welcome and encourage any feedback related to your testnet experience. Feel free to join a growing network of developers in the ICE Dev Discussion channel on the ICON Discord.

The initial implementation will lack full stability and may lead to inconsistent operations. While the testnet is a minimal implementation, a number of key features will be present:

• The initial testnet will be a PoA (Proof of Authority) network that leverages Frontier substrate with EVM-enabled runtime; this should be nearly compatible with Ethereum and will enable dApp developers to deploy and test their DApps with minimal effort.
• Reflecting the belief that the future is multichain, this network aims for compatibility with Ethereum mainnet configuration and Solidity contract standards. Accordingly, this initial Frost testnet and future iterations will maintain similar configurations and EIP standards where possible.
• Solidity developers will be able to use foundational Web3 tools; for example, our initial testing showed that Truffle, HardHat, and OpenZeppelin function as expected.
• Reflecting our long-term view on the importance of WebAssembly, the Frost testnet also includes support for Parity’s ink! for writing smart contracts.

Further iterations of the network will be released as subsequent testnets:

Phase 1: This is the standalone PoA Testnet that will involve view iterations to develop core runtime features. We expect frequent updates, network reboots, and features testing.

This phase will feature crude tokenomics and integration with the ICON BTP bridge and Ethereum bridge.

Phase 2: This will involve launching on the Rococo testnet to test ICE/SNOW parachain functionality.

In this phase, the testnet will transition to NPoS consensus and will include governance and staking features.

Towards the end of this phase, we will aim to support other assets such as KSM and ICX while also implementing more concrete tokenomics.

Phase 3: Preparing for SNOW and rolling out a crowd loan strategy.

Our Unique Proposition

ICE is an extension network of an existing layer 1 network: the ICON Blockchain. Compared to all other Polkadot parachains, which were built solely to become parachains, ICE is the first to strategically bid for a Polkadot parachain slot as an extension network of an already thriving ecosystem.

This uniquely positions ICE to bridge not only technology through BTP, but also a pre-existing, vibrant community. This means that developers building on ICE or SNOW automatically gain access to users from both the ICON and Polkadot ecosystems.

The SNOW network, which in itself will form an entry into the Kusama ecosystem, is a community-first project. No tokens are reserved for the team, meaning that all available tokens (ICZ) will be airdropped to eligible ICON holders upon the launch of SNOW network.