Introducing Karak V2: Keystone Testnet

Karak pioneered the concept of universal security, allowing for protocols and networks to decentralize on any chain with any asset. Today, we are accelerating this vision by announcing Phase 1 of Karak V2, Keystone Testnet, unlocking significant utility, rewards, and innovation for everyone.

Karak V1 Private Access launched in April and it was an instant success. Since launch, Karak has seen tremendous growth across the board:

• $1B+ in restaked security cap reached in 6 weeks
• 155,000+ unique users onboarded
• 45+ asset integrations including stablecoins, liquid staking tokens, liquid restaking tokens, and even governance tokens
• 5+ chain integrations including Ethereum Mainnet, Arbitrum, and more
• 10+ Distributed Secure Services building on Karak with several dozen more on the way
• 20+ Distributed Secure Service consumers and applications building on Karak with more on the way
• 40+ Operators onboarded and successfully running the Karak example DSS with several dozen more on the way

From day one our mission remains the same: to create a universal security layer that enables protocols and networks to easily decentralize on any chain and with any asset. To that end, we are happy to introduce the first testnet phase of Karak Keystone, the next evolution of the Karak Protocol. The Keystone upgrade introduces everything needed to build a fully functioning shared security ecosystem including slashing, which is essential in restaking.

Karak Keystone introduces the simplest, most flexible, and most scalable restaking protocol to date. Our design utilizes only four deployed contracts: Core, Vault, SlashingHandler, and DSS. The purpose of each contract is simple. The Vault contract manages deposits, and withdrawals, and obeys slashing requests. The SlashingHandler contract simply defines how a specific asset should be slashed, whether it should be burned, sent to the zero address, or something custom. DSS contracts are written by external teams and contain a task to be performed by operators and slashing conditions to punish those operators for failing to perform the task. Finally, the Core contract governs the other contracts, adjudicates slashing requests, and makes it easy to add new assets and vaults.

Today, users can restake a wide variety of assets such as stablecoins, liquid staking tokens, liquid restaking tokens, and even governance tokens to secure and decentralize a wide range of Distributed Secure Services (DSS), allowing users to unlock utility and earn additional rewards on assets they hold.

Now with the Keystone Testnet, developers can start building and deploying their Distributed Secure Services (DSS) and custom liquid restaking strategy vaults. Our modular, lightweight DSS template makes it easy for anyone to start building their first DSS. Operators can also begin participating by registering as operators with the testnet contracts, running the sample DSS, and configuring their testnet validators to use the native restaking module. More details can be found here.

Since day one, security has always been the keystone to developing Karak. While building the protocol, we solicited advice from our security partners to ensure Keystone Testnet is secure and fair for everyone. Karak Keystone’s core contracts have already been individually audited twice. Keystone’s native restaking contracts have also been individually audited twice. Currently, both core and native restaking are under another audit on Code4Arena, which can be found here. We’ve also partnered with Hypernative to create a robust security monitoring suite for Karak Keystone.

About Karak

Karak is the universal, verifiable cloud platform that makes it easy to provide universal security with any asset on any network, and unlocks a new design space for developers to seamlessly and securely create innovative distributed networks. Karak is designed to be inherently flexible, extensible, and scalable, making it the only platform for any distributed service to be secured with any asset on any network.

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