BOINC Teams,

I come to you with a request for help from the Gridcoin community. I am posting this on a select number of project forums because I would like to reach the most number of teams without spamming across all the projects. If you find this inappropriate, please delete the post and accept my apologies.

For the past year or so, a core group of Gridcoin developers has been working to implement the updates required to remove the Gridcoin team requirement. They are now ready to begin the actual roll-out of the removal, but would first like help testing the functionality and scaling capabilities of the mechanism; They would like the mechanism tested by more people than the dev team and current testers can provide.

There are two planned phases of testing before the team requirement is removed completely. The first phase tests the update on the Gridcoin testnet. The second phase tests the update on the Gridcoin mainnet.

Once the team requirement is completely removed any person contributing processing power to a BOINC project on the Gridcoin whitelist will have the option to earn GRC without leaving their current team.

Phase 1 - Testnet; Functionality

Phase 1 of testing intends to confirm the functionality of the team requirement removal update.

The Gridcoin testnet is a blockchain used to test new features and updates. The cryptocurrency minted by this blockchain has no real-world value. The goal of the testnet is to catch bugs before an update is released onto the mainnet where real-world transaction and currency distribution takes place.

Anyone that wants to help test the team requirement removal on testnet is welcome.

We are specifically looking for people on teams other than the Gridcoin team.

Anyone that wants to help will be joined by several Gridcoin developers who have left the Gridcoin team specifically to test this update. They will walk you through the setup process for testnet. You will be asked to keep your wallet running for a few weeks while the developers monitor the network for any errors or bugs. If a problem comes up you might be asked to download a hotfix or to change a setting. The process for anyone interested in helping with phase 1 testing is fairly straightforward:

- Join the Gridcoin slack server
https://join.slack.com/t/teamgridcoin/shared_invite/enQtMjk2NTI4MzAwMzg0LTUzMmY0YjdiNzYxYzQ0MDc3MGE1NjQ3Nzg2NWMzZTUzMjAwZjdhMWI1YWUzMDE4YzQyZjVjMjMzOTc1M2RmMmM

- Join the #testnet channel in the slack server

- Tag or PM Barton26 (testnet coordinator), or mention in the chat that you are there to help with testing the team requirement removal

Follow instructions given to you. These instructions will include how to:

- Download and setup the testnet wallet
- Register a testnet beacon (the way the blockchain monitors computation contributions)
- Receive testnet GRC (Monopoly money used for testing updates)
- Build magnitude (crunch whitelisted BOINC projects)
- Stake a block on testnet (leave the wallet running)

Phase 1 testing is expected to take 4-6 weeks, though as I’m sure everyone knows, the actual testing schedule depends on the results of the testing.

Phase 2 - Mainnet; Scaling

Phase 2 testing intends to confirm the scaling capabilities of the team requirement removal update.

The Gridcoin mainnet is the main Gridcoin blockchain. The GRC produced by mainnet is controlled entirely by an open-source protocol-based economic system. It can be exchanged for other currencies or used to purchase goods and services.

For phase 2 testing we are looking for 20 teams that would like to volunteer to enable their crunchers to receive GRC for their computation contributions. GRC rewards will be enabled for these teams in four batches of five teams. This will let us slowly test the scaling capabilities of the update.

After all 20 teams are enabled and if everything is running smoothly the team requirement will be completely removed. Once the team requirement is removed, any person contributing computation to a whitelisted BOINC project, regardless of their team, will have the option to earn GRC for their work.

We are using a phased roll-out out of an abundance of caution with regards to testing the team requirement removal. Remember: every cruncher will have access to GRC rewards at the end of this process, regardless of their team. We do not recommend switching teams if your team does not want to be involved in phase 2 testing. The benefit for doing so will be negligible.

To be one of the teams that helps with phase 2 testing of the Gridcoin team requirement removal:

- Discuss it among your team
- Have your team leader contact myself or Jim (Gridcoin core developer and very long standing BOINCer -- https://www.boincstats.com/stats/-1/user/detail/13042401404/overview)

You can reach us via:

Slack
https://join.slack.com/t/teamgridcoin/shared_invite/enQtMjk2NTI4MzAwMzg0LTUzMmY0YjdiNzYxYzQ0MDc3MGE1NjQ3Nzg2NWMzZTUzMjAwZjdhMWI1YWUzMDE4YzQyZjVjMjMzOTc1M2RmMmM

Discord
https://discord.gg/jf9XX4a

Email
jringo@gridcoin.world
james.owens@gridcoin.us

From there, you will be shown how to:

- Setup the Gridcoin wallet
- Register a beacon (the way the blockchain monitors computation contributions)
- Receive GRC or join the pool
- Build magnitude (crunch whitelisted BOINC projects)
- Stake a block (leave the wallet running)

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Thank you in advance to anyone that wants to help!

Feel free to ask any questions you might have.