VeChain Foundation expressed:  We are excited to announce VeChainThor v1.6.0 is LIVE, meaning POA2.0 Phase 1 activation is set in motion! Testnet: Nov. 5, 8am GMT – block #10606800 Mainnet: Nov. 16, 8am GMT – block #10653500 But what is POA2.0 and why does it make VeChain the strongest public blockchain?

We are proud to say POA2.0 is the first protocol of its kind in the world! It combines the two main types of blockchain consensus mechanism (Byzantine Fault Tolerance & Nakamoto) to eliminate their weaknesses but benefit from their strengths! What this means in practice is.

SECURITY: POA2.0 upgrades the randomness process that selects the next block producer – blockchain manipulation becomes impossible. It introduces the ‘committee’ feature – 3 additional BPs are randomly selected to verify a block, further preventing any kind of manipulation.

FINALITY: POA2.0 will guarantee that data is ‘finalised’ immediately and ensures no accidental forks of the network can occur – sometimes, ‘branching’ can lead to a temporary disruption of a blockchain with a very small amount of data potentially being lost.

Why do these things matter? With interest in blockchain interest exploding alongside interest in VeChain’s products and services, we hear one common theme: enterprises and governments demand speed, scalability and security of both network and data, without compromise.

With our focus on Sustainable Development Goals, Carbon emissions reductions and other initiatives, it is imperative VechainThor provides a scalable and secure environment. With POA2.0, for the first time, a public blockchain can offer all these things without compromise.

As we look ahead to the near future and the imminent age of blockchain mass adoption, Vechain is incredibly proud to be the first public blockchain to answer the call of international organizations and offer the blockchain toolkit the real world demands.

We can’t wait to share our journey with you over the years ahead. There are great changes coming to the global economy – and digitization will be a key underpinning force. VeChain is ready to provide the backbone for industry 4.0 and beyond.

Clarification: ‘FINALITY’ is part of the future upgrades (VIP-200) and not part of this first phase.

Community response:  I thought POA 2.0 was supposed to go live at the end of the month.

It is live, but all Authority Nodes need some time to do the actual upgrade.

That was not what the vote and the earlier tweets said. It said VET POA 2.0 will be live at the end of the month after the community overwhelmingly voted for it. Now it is VET 1.6.

Thor version 1.6 (which is the software all Authority Nodes run) integrates the first part of the new consensus algorithm called poa2.

But it is not POA 2.0 as promised! The messages I received in TG, Discord and Twitter said POA 2.0 will go live at the end of the month. We can debate about the phases but it was supposed to be POA 2.0. Again nothing said POA 1.6 at any time until today.

Dude, chill. “POA 2.0” is a marketing label, while “Thor v1.6.0” is the software name and version in Github. For a while now they have been saying POA 2.0 will be released in phases and now I’m really hoping the last phase will be v1.9.0 just for you!