Users Can Now Use XRP with Smart Contracts as Beta Testing for FAssets Begin

The Flare Network has begun private beta testing for its FAssets project, in a move to allow market participants use assets such as XRP, BTC and DOGE with smart contracts.

The FAssets project is an initiative with which the Flare Network team seeks to enable the use of smart contracts for cryptocurrencies that do not have native support for them on their respective networks. The project will allow users to mint these tokens on Flare, and use them with smart contracts.

The private beta testing for the FAssets project opened on the Coston testnet yesterday, according to an announcement from the Flare team. They revealed that the first trials will accommodate all the important elements of the project and essential user scenarios.

To enable the use of smart contracts with non-smart contract assets such as XRP or BTC, the Flare team revealed that they would give users an opportunity to mint the tokens as FAssets. These FAssets, domiciled on the Flare network, can then be leveraged for smart contract functionalities such as dApp use and staking.

In addition, market participants can also move these FAssets from Flare to other networks by using the native bridge from the Flare network, which allows the network to connect to other smart contract blockchains. Users can also leverage other Flare-native bridges.

Project Development Stages

The first stage of the project is the deployment of the project’s code on the Coston test network for beta trials. This stage is complete. The second stage, currently in progress, involves the private beta testing of the project by Flare Labs alone. The Flare team will assume all the necessary roles.

For the third stage, dubbed beta phase 2, the Flare team will give other affiliated parties the opportunity to join the beta trials. These affiliated parties could be builders on the Flare network or data providers for the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO).

Beta phase 3 will follow, allowing all parties to test user scenarios in a controlled environment. Following this stage, the beta phase 4 will then allow for testing user scenarios in an open and competitive environment. This phase is for evaluating the resilience and dependability of the project.

Beta phase 5 will welcome feedback and observations from the private testers after the trials. These observations would expose any need for more updates. They expect the entire private beta to end in Q1 2024. Following the implementation of the updates, the team will open the beta phase to the public. 

FAssets Minting Process

For the minting of FAssets, the team has created certain roles for different entities. These roles include the minter or the user, the agent who carries out the minting and redemption of the FAssets, the liquidator for establishing balanced collateral, and the challenger for exposing unauthorized mints.

The process involves the minter finding an agent to pay a fee for them to secure a collateral. After this, the minter will then transfer the underlying asset, this could be XRP, to the agent. A State Connector will verify this transfer, and then the agent will mint an FAsset for the underlying token.