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1. Yes, this has been solved. The new model is that you have Messages with certain types of payloads. So for example you have a Transaction Message, which has transactions as payload and you have an Indexation Message, which has an index and data as payload. Indexation Messages are data only. In this model Transaction Messages are not allowed to be 0 valued anymore, but that's not the actual dust protection. Dust protection currently comes from the fact you are not allowed to send transactions to an address with less then 1 Mi (this value may change in the future).

2. When i get your question right, you are asking for the coordicide network? Already now you can run your own node and test the network which runs without a coordinator. The "Coordicide-Network" handles all of this with a set of modules and functionalities that work together to ensure consensus is achieved. Up to now, few functionalities are missing. In a few weeks - my personal guess: it will happen end of may - for the first time all modules are complete and you can try the new network on your own.  The testnet will have gradual incentivized participation and a bounty system. The goal of this network is to test for any bugs or issues that need to be fixed before the final release of the mainnet. Again: My my personal guess is, we can see a final release-canidate end of year.