The Protocol 21 update, which might completely alter the Stellar network’s ecology, is about to happen.
The update follows Soroban’s (Stellar’s smart contract platform) successful mainnet launch and validator vote on February 20, 2024.
Nearly three months later, the Stellar network is getting ready for a new protocol vote. The decision to update the network to Protocol 21—which, if granted, will enable five new Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) on Stellar’s Mainnet—will be put to a vote by Stellar public network validators on June 18, 2024.
https://x.com/StellarOrg/status/1787900572580163959
These five CAPs provide a number of innovative new features, such as improved state archives, support for passkey signature, and lower fees for smart contract transactions.
These include the ability to verify Stellar’s smart contracts using secp256r1 through the exported host interface (CAP-0051), often known as smart contract host capability.
By accepting this CAP, developers will be allowed to design contracts that use passkeys rather than passphrases or signing keys to sign smart contract transactions. This will enable secp256r1 verification.
With separate Soroban smart contract host functions, CAP-0053 permits the expansion of the time to live (TTL) for contract instances and contract code.
To maintain the low cost of Soroban transactions, the other three CAPs employ various strategies.
CAP-0054 is one of them: the Soroban revised VM instantiation cost model improves the virtual machine (VM) instantiation cost model.
CAP-0055: By connecting to fewer host functions during virtual machine (VM) initialization, soroban simplified linking lowers overall expenses.
CAP-0056: By caching parsed Wasm modules within Soroban transactions, Soroban intra-transaction module caching lowers overall costs.
The Mainnet vote is set for June 18, 2024, and the Testnet upgrade to Protocol 21 for May 14, 2024.
Anticipation is growing both inside and outside of the Stellar community as the update approaches. The impending update marks a turning point in Stellar’s history and may pave the way for even bigger successes in the months and years to follow. It has the ability to bring in a new era of innovation and growth.
