Mainnet Beta Program

TACo Mainnet launched November 2023. The information below is for the invite-only beta program, which commenced shortly after Mainnet deployment. We advise getting familiar with the Testnet version (Tapir) before requesting access to Mainnet TACo.

In order to use TACo in production – i.e. the decentralized version of TACo – adopting developers must be furnished with their own DKG public key. This key will be used to encrypt their application's users' data. It is generated by a unique cohort of Threshold nodes via a DKG Ritual, and the same set of nodes will collectively manage access to the users' data. The public key – along with authority over the cohort – will be controlled by the adopting developer until they decide to devolve power to a DAO, multisig or any kind of contract. In TACo's genesis era, initiating a DKG ritual requires some manual steps:

(1) Ask to join the TACo beta program. You may make this request in the Threshold Discord #taco channel.

The NuCypher team – core contributors to the Threshold Network and developers of TACo – currently gate-keeps access to the TACO beta program. This is due to constraints on the team's bandwidth, and also complex long-term gas costs of replacing members of cohorts. This means that not all requests to join the beta program will be granted immediately, but the number of external developers provisioned with a DKG public key (and cohort) will increase steadily over time.

(2) Provide the Polygon wallet address they wish to designate as Cohort Authority for a unique DKG ritual and cohort of nodes. (3) Complete the payment into a proxy contract, which will escrow the funds until the DKG Ritual is complete, at which point the payment will be transferred to the Threshold Treasury Guild. During the beta program, this proxy contract will act as an intermediary 'Sponsor' of the Cohort. However, as the Cohort Authority, the designated Polygon address will have complete control over the DKG public key, the cohort parameters, and power over the Sponsor role going forward. See the Fee Model page for more on these roles, the price points, and the top-up requirements.

(4) Follow the set-up instructions detailed in the Integration Guide.