New Alpha Release: 2MB blocks

Today, we deployed a new alpha release of the Zcash reference implementation, v0.11.2.z6, to the testnet. The new release includes the following changes [1]:

1. The block size limit has been increased to 2MB. (#765) We’re tracking the worst-case verification costs in some new performance measurements and in #1077 in
   order to mitigate potential DoS attacks.
2. Equihash nonces are now randomized to avoid duplicate effort by miners. (#1060)
3. Equihash solving runs are now slightly more efficient. See #1049 and the change in performance measurements on our tracker.

Unlike previous alpha releases, we have not reset the testnet in order to give our mining slow start more time to run. Therefore, the block size limit change has been introduced as a (naive) hardfork.

To follow our progress, watch the github project and join the forum. To get an email announcement when BitzecSprout is ready, put your email address in here.