Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) Everlight announced the launch of its public node onboarding and transaction testing phase to expand Bitcoin payment infrastructure without altering the base protocol.
The announcement was made in San Francisco on 26 January 2026 as the project reached a new development milestone.
The new phase allows qualified participants to deploy Everlight nodes and process real transaction flows in a controlled testing environment.
Participants will contribute to network validation ahead of wider ecosystem integrations planned for later in 2026.
The testing phase focuses on measuring system reliability, transaction predictability, and node performance under real-world conditions.
Bitcoin Everlight operates as a lightweight transaction layer that runs alongside Bitcoin rather than replacing or modifying it.
The network is designed to enable faster and lower-friction payments while preserving Bitcoin’s existing security and consensus rules.
Everlight maintains a separation between high-frequency transaction activity and Bitcoin’s settlement layer.