We’ve deployed the latest Rusk release candidate to the DuskDS (Nocturne) testnet., marking another major milestone toward the launch of DuskEVM testnet.
This upgrade turns DuskDS into both a settlement layer and a data availability (DA) layer, and introduces EIP‑4844‑style blob transactions on a non‑EVM chain, a major step toward modular, programmable finance and the upcoming DuskEVM public testnet.
Why is this important?
- DuskDS as DA + Settlement: Builders can now settle and publish data on the same network, simplifying architectures, reducing moving parts, and bringing DA costs and finality under one roof.
- 4844‑style Blobs: Affordable, high‑throughput data lanes purpose‑built for large payloads (think rollups, app‑chains, zk proofs, and analytics data).
- Outcomes for builders: Lower data costs, cleaner separation of concerns, easier rollup/app‑chain designs, and a faster path to production for modular finance primitives.
What’s new
Developer Experience
- Native DA support on DuskDS: nodes can commit, store, and serve data reliably for external consumers (rollups, app‑chains, data indexers).
- Fresh new endpoints: New GraphQL/HTTP surfaces for finalized events, contract metadata, and node stats, plus improved pagination in the archive node to make indexing faster.
- Data‑driver interface: A new data‑driver makes it far easier for non‑Rust clients and third‑party services to integrate with DuskDS. This reduces time‑to‑integration for explorers, indexers, rollups, and off‑chain agents.
Performance & Stability
- Archive nodes: New SQLite indexes, separate read/write pools, and better error handling mean smoother, faster archives
- Consensus & mempool: Quicker block production and more efficient mempool behavior.
- Recovery hardening: Better resilience against state‑recovery edge cases.
Activation Time
Activation: Wednesday, 12 November at 9 AM UTC
If you’re running a node on Nocturne, make sure to upgrade before activation:
Upgrade your node | DOCUMENTATION
Next Steps
As part of this rollout, we’re resetting Devnet and redeploying DuskEVM on top of it. This lets us finalize testing with the new Rusk released before opening the public DuskEVM testnet.
Once stability is confirmed on testnet, we move ahead with the public testnet launch.
Links: