Zero knowledge technology has recently become very popular recently in the crypto industry. Many users are now gravitating towards zero knowledge projects due to the significant advantages they have to offer. Many pre-existing platforms are also adopting zero knowledge rollups to improve their product further. One such new project is the Taiko platform. This new protocol is not only innovative and advanced but it could also prove to be very helpful in growing the industry. They have recently launched their second testnet which has a lot of potential in it. In this article, we will be covering the Taiko Testnet and how you can utilise it to your benefit by interacting with the testnet.

Also Read: Best ZK projects to look out for in 2023

Taiko Alpha 2 network testnet

What is Taiko?

Taiko is a scaling solution based on zero knowledge rollups and has been created keeping in mind the Ethereum network. Despite being a relatively new platform, Taiko has very quickly risen to popularity amongst the masses, especially due to the recognition it got from the founder of Ethereum Vutalik Butern. He has referred to the platform in several public posts and has also been keeping up with the platform’s growth.

Learn more about: What are Rollups in crypto? How rollups act as a facilitator to achieve greatness?

The Taiko platform is backed by a team of very talented individuals. They have a huge background of experience in the research and development of ZK-EVM in 2021. Due to this dedication and efficiency, they have managed to create a robust platform that has the power to improve the Ethereum blockchain significantly. Daniel wang, who was formally the founder and CEO of Loopring (An EVM DEX platform which was also created and scaled by zero-knowledge proof technology) is responsible for co-founding Taiko Labs. He also brought on Brecht Devos as the other co-founder in July 2022. Devos was the previous Chief Architect at Loopring and took the responsibly of managing and overseeing the project’s zero-knowledge research and development team

Taiko offers maximum compatibility with the network and as a result, developers get to work with a seamless user experience. Their code is completely open source and can be accessed on the GitHub platform. This source code is absolutely free to use and modify with the permissive license. One of the best parts of Taiko is that it has both fully decentralized and entirely permissionless nodes, proposers, and provers. Any and everyone has the ability to interact with and use the platform.

Taiko Alpha 2 Testent Launch

Last year in December 2022, we saw the launch of the Alpha-1 Testnet. This particular testnet basically has two networks: Taiko A1, which is a completely decentralized Ethereum-equivalent ZK-Rollup, and then the Ethereum A1, which essentially works as the L1 network.

Now, Taika has also launched their Alpha-2 Testnet and made it live on the platform. This testnet has a Faucet that you can use to request sample ERC20 tokens for use on the testnet. Additionally, there is also a Bridge to transfer assets between the L2 and L1 testnets, a status page that aids you in keeping a track of the network and the different statistics, several block explorers that help you view assets as well as activities on the testnets and finally a swap app that is also a Uniswap V2 fork. By following the given steps you can interact with the testnet very easily and efficiently. This will not just help you benefit from the various products of the testnet but could also get you a step closer to a potential airdrop.

Step 1: Setting up your wallet

  1. If you don’t already have a meta mask wallet download it by clicking on the given link and setting up an account: https://metamask.io/download/ 
  2. Next, visit the Chainlist website by clicking on this link
  3. On the top right corner select connect wallet and choose the wallet you would wish to link
  4. Approve all the pop ups and signature requests so that your wallet gets connected
  5. In the search bar type Sepolia, and then click on Add Chain. Approve the pop up notifications form your wallet
  6. Now In the search bar type Taiko, and then click on Add Chain. Approve the pop up notifications from your wallet in order to add this chain also to your wallet

Step 2: Requesting Test ETH funds

There are three faucets from which you can request funds for the entire process. According to the official docs, these are the top three recommendations

  1. The first recommendation: https://sepolia-faucet.pk910.de
  2. The second recommendation: https://faucet-sepolia.rockx.com
  3. The third recommendation: https://sepoliafaucet.com

For the purpose of this guide, we will see how to use the first recommendation in the following steps

  1. Click on the link provided
  2. Enter your ETH address or ENS name
  3. Click on Start Mining

Step 3: Requesting Test HORSE funds

  1. Visit the official Taiko website using this link: https://taiko.xyz/
  2. Click on the bridge option from the top most menu bar
  3. Under the amount, section choose the HORSE token
  4. Below this click on the Faucet option. Remember that you must have a small amount of ETH in your Sepolia wallet to send the transaction.

Step 4: Requesting Test BLL funds

  1. Visit the official Taiko website using this link: https://taiko.xyz/
  2. Click on the bridge option from the top most menu bar
  3. Under the amount, section choose the BLL token
  4. Below this click on the Faucet option. Remember that you must have a small amount of ETH in your Sepolia wallet to send the transaction.

Step 5: Transfer some tokens using the Bridge

  1. Visit the official Taiko website using this link: https://taiko.xyz/
  2. Click on the bridge option from the top most menu bar
  3. Under the amount, section choose the BLL token and enter the number of tokens you wish to transfer
  4. Click on Approve and authorize all the pop ups from your wallet
  5. Select the lowermost Bridge option
  6. Repeat these steps several times with the other two tokens as well (ETH and HORSE)

Step 6: Swap tokens

Please note that you can swap tokens only when your bridge transactions are successfully completed

  1. Visit the official Taiko website using this link https://taiko.xyz/
  2. Click on the Swap option from the top most menu bar
  3. On the top right corner select connect wallet and choose the wallet you would wish to link
  4. Approve all the pop ups and signature requests so that your wallet gets connected
  5. Enter your preferred tokens and their amounts in the From and To areas.
  6. Click on Swap

Step 7: Add Liquidity in the Pool

  1. Visit the official Taiko website using this link https://taiko.xyz/ 
  2. Click on the Swap option from the top most menu bar
  3. On the top right corner select connect wallet and choose the wallet you would wish to link
  4. Approve all the pop ups and signature requests so that your wallet gets connected
  5. Select the Pool option and here you can click on “Add Liquidity”
  6. Select the tokens you wish to add to the liquidity pool and specify the desired quantity.
  7.  Press the “Approve” button, followed by the “Supply” button, and then verify the transaction in your wallet to complete the process.

Step 8: Leave a Feedback on their Discord Server

  1. Visit the official Taiko website using this link https://taiko.xyz/ 
  2. Click on the Discord option at the top right corner. You can directly go to their discord via this link too: https://discord.com/invite/taikoxyz
  3. Click on Accept Invite 
  4. In the “rules” channel click on “complete” next to the message that says “you must complete a few steps before you can talk”
  5. Read the terms and conditions and click on submit 
  6. Go to the “verification” channel and get verified 
  7. Navigate to the channel labelled as “#testnet-feedback”.
  8. Next, kindly input your wallet address, which you employed for the app testing, into the chat and elaborate on your overall experience with the platform.

Step 9: Deploying a Smart Contract

  1. Visit the official Contracts Wizard – OpenZeppelin Docs website using this link https://docs.openzeppelin.com/contracts/4.x/wizard 
  2. Choose the “ERC20” option and define the name and symbol of the token as per your liking.
  3. Provide the desired supply amount and click on the “Open in Remix” button to proceed.
  4. To compile your contract, simply select the “Compile Contract” option.
  5. After compiling, Navigate to “deploy & run transactions” section, select “Injected Provider Metamask” and then press the “deploy” button to proceed.
  6. Now Navigate to your smart contract and choose the “transfer” option.
  7. There Paste the address of your MetaMask wallet and enter the desired quantity to generate. 
  8. Next, Click on “initiate transaction” and verify to proceed
  9. After that just select your contract address and simply copy it
  10. Now Visit the official Taiko website using this link: https://taiko.xyz/
  11. Click on the bridge option from the top most menu bar
  12. Choose the “Add custom” option and paste the contract address you had copied 

There are several more projects that have come up and you can interact with their testnet to get some gains. You can learn more about them from our articles on Crypto Bulls Club.