For the past two years, SDF and other community members have been working to incorporate smart contract functionality into the Stellar network. For Stellar, this is a big step forward. The goal of this integration is to offer a plethora of additional options and capabilities while maintaining complete compatibility with current network features.
Recently, a significant achievement was made in this endeavour. Working with the maintainers of many well-known Stellar Software Development Kits (SDKs), the SDF has produced a software suite that addresses every facet of Protocol 20. The Stellar network will support Soroban smart contracts thanks to this eagerly awaited release.
The network’s validators have scheduled a vote for January 30 to decide whether or not to upgrade the Mainnet to Protocol 20, in order to facilitate this transition. This gives the Stellar ecosystem plenty of time to update its software in preparation for the change.
The most notable upgrade to Stellar is anticipated to be Protocol 20. It has been decided by the community to build the network gradually in order to preserve stability, security, and performance. Validators plan to implement a staged approach following the vote on January 30. This method monitors the functionality of smart contracts and gradually raises the capacity of Soroban transactions.
By January 30, Stellar will switch from Protocol 19 to Protocol 20 if validators decide to update. After over two years of intense technical work involving hundreds of thousands of lines of code and over 150 projects on the Testnet, the rewards of that labour may now be seen with the release of this update. This update signals the start of a new age for Stellar smart contracts with an all-in-one tech stack built for efficiency and scalability.
The switch to Protocol 20 will take time, though. In actuality, the validators have gradually increased the number of Soroban transactions on Mainnet by taking a step-by-step method. dApps developed on the Soroban platform won’t be able to function until later on since Soroban transactions will initially be extremely restricted.
We may also thoroughly assess the impact of smart contract features on network stability, security, and performance through a phased, methodical rollout. The Soroban transaction ledger limits will gradually increase with each phase until they reach a capacity that is appropriate for developers and consumers alike. Only smart contract functionality can be implemented with the aforementioned phased constraints. These limits have no bearing on existing applications and have no connection to ongoing activities.
The Stellar network smart contract launch is a big step, and the SDF will see it through to the end in the safest manner possible. In addition to ensuring that all network users can rely on the features and functionalities, the staged rollout expedites and improves the efficiency and transparency of the deployment process. This approach is comparable to the staggered rollout methodology that is employed during the release phase experience at different preview levels.
