Litecoin Launches MimbleWimble Testnet for Enhanced Privacy and Scalability 

Litecoin (LTC) has announced the launch of the MimbleWimble (MW) testnet as part of plans towards creating a more private and scalable network, according to a blog post on October 5, 2020.

Litecoin (LTC) Reaches Significant Milestone 

At a time when more and more financial authorities are pointing their searchlights on privacy-centric altcoins such as monero (XMR) and others, Litecoin has reached a significant milestone in its journey towards better privacy and scalability. 

As stated in a blog post by the team, the MimbleWimble testnet is now live, however, there are only a few nodes connected so far. As such, the development team is hoping more miners will connect to the network soon.

“Testnet is here. So far, there are only a few nodes connected and mining, and there haven’t been enough blocks to activate MimbleWimble yet (we’re using BIP9-style activation1). As more peers connect and start to mine, I’m hoping we can get the chain moving fast enough to activate in a day or so, but time will tell,” declared the team.

For those who are unaware, MimbleWimble is a different implementation of the proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain that supports enhanced privacy and network scalability. In MimbleWimble, the exact details of transactions in each block are not displayed, instead, blocks appear as a single large transaction.

What’s Next for Litecoin MimbleWimble 

With the WimbleMimble Extension Block (MWEB) now live in testnet, David Burkett, the Litecoin MimbleWimble lead developer has stated categorically that the focus will now be on making it easier for non-technical users of litecoin to start testing the new privacy feature. 

To make that a reality, Burkett says he plans to add more documentation, improve the automated builds and build out wallet support. After that, the team plans to solidify the code and test it for possible loopholes or stability weaknesses.

Burkett added;

“I’ll be taking some time this month to harden the code and start validating any remaining consensus rules we missed. Once I’m certain everything is working as designed, I’ll start looking for ways to break the testnet, to make sure we find and resolve any security or stability weaknesses.”

At press time, litecoin (LTC) remains the 10th-largest cryptocurrency in the world. The price of LTC sits at $45.91, with a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, as seen on CoinMarketCap.