Big upgrades are landing 🚀 We're rolling out a new subnet template built around three pillars: Connectivity. Scalability. Security. This is about making decentralized AI networks actually work at scale. 🔗 Connectivity Random Walk peer discovery Nodes now passively explore the network by querying random keys in the Kademlia DHT. Why this matters: • Continuous peer discovery • Fresh routing tables so nodes always know which peers are reachable and how to find them • No central coordination • Stronger long-term connectivity Connection maintenance Each node actively maintains connections with up to 64 peers, ensuring sufficient overlap and resilience across the subnet. ⚡️ Scalability & Efficiency The old model leaned heavily on DHT records as a global database. That doesn't scale. When every peer queries everything, everyone pays the cost. Enter GossipSub. We've implemented GossipSub, a peer-to-peer pubsub protocol that forms a stable mesh for real-time message propagation. What changes: • Messages are shared once, then gossiped • No constant record fetching • Lower latency • Dramatically reduced load This is how blockchains efficiently broadcast transactions, now applied to subnets. 🔐 Security In addition to proof-of-stake, we've incorporated Noise into the networking stack. Noise establishes encrypted, authenticated peer-to-peer channels with forward secrecy via cryptographic handshakes. Forward secrecy (or Perfect Forward Secrecy) ensures that even if a node's long-term private keys are compromised in the future, past session data remains secure. Secure by default. High performance. No trade-offs. This is the future of AI. P2P. Trustless. Decentralized.

TESTNET HOSKINSON IS LIVE We named it Testnet Hoskinson as an ode to one of the original visionaries of blockchain, Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles). This is a major step forward for the Hypertensor network. Help us battle-test: - The core blockchain engine - Subnet template framework scalability You can participate by running a subnet validator node: docs.hypertensor.org/subnet-… As we focus on testing the decentralized subnet templates' scalability, which is a framework for building decentralized intelligence, no GPU is required — CPU-only machines are fully supported.

There are two major challenges when it comes to subnetworks: 1. How do we verify decentralization? 2. How do we verify subnet validators are actually running? Every subnet in Hypertensor is built using our standard Subnet Template, which comes with a Kademlia-based Distributed Hash Table (Kad-DHT). This is the same technology blockchains use to store and retrieve data without relying on a central server. It organizes nodes and data into a peer-to-peer network using a routing table that maps node IDs to nearby nodes based on key similarity. At a high level, each subnet functions like a specialized blockchain, but purpose-built for AI workloads that require far more compute than a traditional chain could handle. 🔍 Why This Matters Because every subnet uses this standardized DHT-based architecture, we can: ✅ Verify that a subnet is truly decentralized ✅ Verify that each validator is running a live server within the subnet And this is where Overwatch Nodes come in. ⚙️ What Are Overwatch Nodes? Overwatch Nodes are a class of trusted network observers that anyone can run, provided they meet certain requirements like maintaining a high trust score, uptime, running validator nodes, etc. Their mission: ensure the network's transparency, integrity, and decentralization. Here's how they work: 1. Subnet Verification Overwatch Nodes connect to a subnet's bootnode or bootnodes and map its peer structure. They verify that the subnet follows basic subnet requirements, such as the Proof-of-Stake mechanism, signature authentication, and maintains a decentralized topology. 2. Validator Verification (Ping-Pong Protocol) Once connected, the Overwatch Node contacts every validator using its on-chain identity and peer ID. It sends a PING request, and expects a PONG response: a cryptographically signed proof confirming that validator's active presence in the DHT. This simple but powerful process ensures that every validator in a subnet can be verified without centralized control. 🧠 The Vision The goal of Overwatch Nodes is to evolve Hypertensor into a fully autonomous, self-regulating network. They are the "eyes" of the protocol, ensuring subnets remain healthy, decentralized, and secure. 🚀 Future Concepts In the future, Overwatch Nodes will be upgraded with autonomous agents capable of traversing subnets, simulating real users and nodes, and benchmarking performance based on each subnet's AI use case. This turns the Overwatch layer into a living intelligence layer, constantly analyzing and improving the health of the ecosystem.