Stellar (XLM) Teases its Most Important Upgrade, See What Will Change

Despite the impressive showing of Stellar (XLM) thus far this year, it has unveiled unraveled more surprises as the year winds down. In one of its recent updates, Stellar said its Protocol 20 upgrade is set to commence on Dec. 11, and barring any changes, will span until Dec. 19 ahead of the Jan. 20 ultimate public network readiness upgrade.

Protocol 20 upgrade was teased last year, but its commencement as unveiled underscores how much engineering work has been done thus far. The Stellar Protocol 20 upgrade will introduce 12 new Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) which, when combined, will usher in the smart contract functionalities it has teased for so long.

Smart contract functionalities are game-changers, considering the current evolution of blockchain systems. With these capabilities, Stellar can welcome a unique deviation that will see decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) innovations thrive on its platform.

Per its schedule, the Dec. 11 upgrade date will come with Stellar Core, Horizon and Soroban RPC prereleases/Stellar SDK releases. There are targeted milestones for each of the update dates and, ultimately, the public network will be ready for its final upgrade by January.

Complementing Stellar’s advancement year to date

This incoming upgrade schedule is not Stellar’s first rodeo for the Protocol 20 enhancement. As reported by U.Today, the upgrade was implemented on the testnet on Sept. 20, a move that is its most sophisticated as of that time.

Stellar is rebranding in very strategic ways, and while it is advancing its payment capabilities with big partnerships, the smart contract pivot will ultimately help it compete in the industry against some of its biggest peers.

The protocol’s moves might eventually help boost the price of XLM, which is up by only 47% year to date (YTD) as against the 83% printed by XRP.