Las Vegas, Nevada - Ault Capital Group announced the public testnet availability of Ault Blockchain, its institutional-grade Layer 1 network aimed at trading, settlement, and other finance-oriented onchain infrastructure. This release is the protocol's first public distribution and grants access to developers, validator operators, and early contributors to test core features and validate operational assumptions.
Ault Blockchain is implemented on the Cosmos SDK while offering full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, allowing Ethereum-native smart contracts and associated tooling to run without modification. Network governance will be exercised through Ault DAO, which will manage protocol rules, economic parameters, and upgrade processes via onchain governance mechanisms.
The public testnet offers a working environment for assessing core network behavior, validator performance, and infrastructure design choices. Ault Capital Group described the testnet as an opportunity for community engagement and feedback from participants who can contribute to network stability and development.
Notably, Ault Blockchain is diverging from the common industry approach of launching with a public token sale. The project has stated that no public token sale will be offered. Instead, the native AULT token will be allocated through a protocol-controlled emissions schedule. That distribution will be linked to measurable forms of network participation, including contributions to consensus security and licensed infrastructure operations, rather than to speculative activity.
Milton "Todd" Ault III, founder and executive chairman of Ault Capital Group, said: "Ault Blockchain was built the opposite way most networks are built. We started with real financial use cases and then designed the blockchain to support them. Participation is based on defined roles and verifiable work, not speculation, with transparent economics that are meant to support long-term network health from day one."
The launch is supported by a set of infrastructure and development partners. B-Harvest is named as the primary development partner, contributing to protocol engineering and core network architecture. Xangle is responsible for development of the official explorers and relevant information hubs. QuickNode will provide RPC infrastructure to support network access and reliability. Protofire is supporting Safe-related tooling across EVM-compatible environments.
Ault Blockchain introduces a licensed participation model for infrastructure operators. Under this framework, Licensed Mining Nodes are authorized to perform specific off-chain services, starting with cryptographic randomness at the testnet launch. Concurrently, Proof-of-Stake validators and delegators are tasked with securing consensus and collecting transaction fees, operating under transparent economics governed by the DAO.
Following the testnet rollout, the core team plans to focus on a roadmap of fintech-oriented workloads. The team has identified potential launches including spot trading on decentralized exchanges, lending services, perpetuals trading, and other advanced workloads that are being explored and may be deployed over time as the network matures.
The public testnet launch comes after an initial protocol security audit and precedes additional validator onboarding and broader ecosystem testing. Ault Capital Group stated that the network will advance to mainnet only after meeting further testing milestones. At genesis, the plan is for the chain to launch with its core protocol modules, EVM compatibility, an initial validator set, and onchain governance in place.
Interested parties can find more information on the project website at https://Aultblockchain.com. The Ault Blockchain testnet scanner is available at https://ault-evm-testnet.explorer.xangle.io/home. For inquiries, the contact listed is Joseph Spaziano at [email protected].
About Ault Blockchain
Ault Blockchain is described as a finance-first, institutional-grade Layer 1 designed to support trading, settlement, and data-driven workloads. Built on the Cosmos SDK with full Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, the network aims to run unmodified Ethereum smart contracts while providing fast finality and native cross-chain interoperability. The protocol is governed onchain by Ault DAO and uses a licensed infrastructure framework to align network economics with verifiable participation instead of speculative token distribution. The project states that real-world financial and analytics applications will launch from day one, with the network optimized for onchain finance.
About Ault DAO
Ault DAO is the onchain governance body responsible for overseeing the protocol. The DAO was established as a Wyoming DAO LLC and will manage protocol parameters, validator participation, and network upgrades using onchain governance to enable transparent decision-making aligned with the network's long-term objectives.
About Ault Capital Group
Ault Capital Group is presented as a diversified investment and holding company focused on technology-driven businesses, digital assets, and financial infrastructure. Through its operating companies and strategic investments, Ault Capital Group supports platforms across blockchain, data infrastructure, and emerging technologies, with an emphasis on disciplined capital allocation and long-term value creation.
This public testnet release represents the first live environment where stakeholders can evaluate system behavior ahead of mainnet. The project is positioning itself around measurable participation and licensed infrastructure roles, and it has published documentation and a testnet scanner for hands-on verification by developers and operators.