This week’s update focuses on implementing a groundbreaking change to the Solar blockchain, introducing a new block producer (BP) identity system based on usernames. This shift marks a significant architectural milestone in how BP identities are managed and initialized across both execution and consensus layers.
Previously, BP identities relied on EVM-style address keys, leading to challenges during genesis initialization. This process resulted in a circular dependency between the network’s startup and the BP data required for activation. The consequence was inconsistent validator states, phantom state references, and potential corruption during post-genesis synchronization.
To overcome this, we introduced a novel username-based system similar to our current blockchain’s structure. Each BP now has a username as its immutable primary identifier, decoupling BP identity from consensus participation through External NodeIDs. This shift allows for streamlined data flow and state management by bridging the execution and consensus layers using snapshot-based BP data flow instead of preallocated state.
The result is a more efficient system that eliminates the complexities introduced by addressing-based keys. The new system delivers a standardized and predictable representation of BP information across both EVM-compatible modules and the Avalanche consensus layer.
This change is a major step towards stabilizing validator lifecycle management, ensuring a clean and deterministic genesis process. A unified framework for state snapshots and validator synchronization is now operational, known as ValidatorDB bridge. We are looking forward to this new era of the Solar blockchain.