IoTeX (@iotex_io): IoTeX v2.5.0 (Zanzibar Hardfork) is officially out! 🌐

IoTeX v2.5.0 (Zanzibar Hardfork) is officially out! 🌐 MainNet activation: Block 53,533,081 (est. Oct 19, 02:00 UTC). This is a massive protocol upgrade that moves staking rewards fully on-chain, tightens EVM precision, and lays the security groundwork for our next phase of scalability. Here is how it impacts the network: 🗳️ 1. Fully Decentralized Staking Rewards (IIP-59) - The Tech: Voter rewards are now natively computed and distributed by the protocol itself at era boundaries (24 epochs). - The Impact: Zero reliance on off-chain services (like Hermes). Staking yields are now 100% trustless and automated. We’ve designed this for a seamless transition—most Hermes-vault delegates with complete reward portions will be migrated automatically at the fork block. ⚡️ 2. EVM Precision & Gas Savings - The Tech: Corrected GetCommittedState for absent prestates and fixed SELFDESTRUCT transfer-log amounts. - The Impact: Strict compliance with EIP-2200 dynamic gas rules. For developers and users, this prevents massive gas overcharging on certain in-place writes (saving 2,800 gas per hit). For indexers and wallets, token balance histories reconstructed from tx logs are now perfectly accurate. 🛡️ 3. Proactive Security (BLS PoP) - The Tech: BLS proof-of-possession is now enforced on candidate register/update operations. - The Impact: This completely closes the rogue-key forgery window today, safely paving the runway for IIP-52 signature aggregation (massive network scalability) tomorrow. (Note: Providing a BLS key is now optional until IIP-52 is live). 🖥️ 4. Zero-Friction Upgrades for Node Operators - The Tech: The hardfork heights and new contract addresses are baked directly into the binary. - The Impact: No genesis replacements. No config changes. Just a pure, clean binary roll. 👉 docker pull iotex/iotex-core:v2.5.0 and restart. Dive into the full technical details here: https://github.com/iotexproject/iotex-bootstrap/blob/master/changelog/v2.5.0-release-note.md