Testnet

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Definition(s) from the Web

1. The testnet is an alternative Bitcoin block chain, to be used for testing. Testnet coins are separate and distinct from actual bitcoins, and are never supposed to have any value. This allows application developers or bitcoin testers to experiment, without having to use real bitcoins or worrying about breaking the main bitcoin chain. Run bitcoin-qt or bitcoind with the -testnet flag to use the testnet (or put testnet=1 in the bitcoin.conf file). There have been three generations of testnet. Testnet2 was just the first testnet reset with a different genesis block, because people were starting to trade testnet coins for real money. Testnet3 is the current test network. It was introduced with the 0.7 release, introduced a third genesis block, a new rule to avoid the “difficulty was too high, is now too low, and transactions take too long to verify” problem, and contains blocks with edge-case transactions designed to test implementation compatibility. On the December 21 of 2015 SegNet was deployed, to test the Wuille’s Segregated Witness proposal. Source
2. Test net is a special test chain of transaction blocks. It is used by developers of cryptocurrencies to check the work of the future digital currency. All problems and errors are detected and corrected during the tests. Testnet allows developers to test the operation of the created digital currency. Moreover, it is suitable for testing any information in the blockchain network system. But in the case of cryptocurrency, this is especially important. Creating any record when testing a currency in a real network can be very expensive, which would have a negative impact on the development and improvement of the blockchain cryptocurrency at the initial stages of development. Source
3. In blockchain technology, a testnet is an instance of a blockchain powered by the same or a newer version of the underlying software, to be used for testing and experimentation without risk to real funds or the main chain. Testnet coins are separate and distinct from the official (mainnet) coins, don’t have value, and can be obtained freely from faucets. Testnets can be reset at any time. Source

See Also

Mainnet