Oxford 2 was activated at block height #5.070.849 on the Tezos mainnet.
The latest update to the Tezos blockchain, Oxford 2, brought with it new improvements that will help make the Tezos mainnet more secure, private, and efficient.
Oxford 2 is the fifteenth (15th) update to be deployed on the blockchain since its launch.
The developers at Nomadic Labs, together with the teams at Marigold, TriliTech, Oxhead Alpha, Tarides, DaiLambda and Functori, worked together on the development of this new update, which seeks to integrate significant improvements to the PoS chain, including: private smart rollups, a new improvement that will optimize the functionality of smart rollups on the network, to allow blockchain developers to choose between permissioned or permissionless implementations on the chain.
The new Tezos update is designed primarily to simplify the deployment of rollups, expanding the possibilities for developers and users of this blockchain ecosystem.
New improvements in Oxford 2
The Oxford 2 update, which is a result of changes outlined by infrastructure and application developers in its predecessor Oxford, is intended to optimize staking on the network, address several security-related issues, and simplify the implementation and deployment of rollups.
Blockchain developers they presented Oxford 2 in early December 2023, after its predecessor Oxford failed to get the majority of votes for approval. The developers explained that they made major changes to the update proposal, removing the activation of the feature Adaptive Emission and the new staking mechanism that had been proposed, which sought to extend staking to delegators, so that they would become stakers in the blockchain network.
Instead, Oxford 2 focuses on improving the staking user experience for bakers, promoting the continued development of Smart Rollups, and optimizing other features of the Tezos protocol, such as Timelocks. This latest feature has been re-enabled in the main protocol, after fixing the related security issues that led to its deactivation in the previous version of the protocol. The feature was externally audited by Inference AG Timelocks redesigned to ensure your safety.
Oxford 2 also includes penalties for behavior that may threaten the security of the blockchain, although these have been adjusted since the initial proposal in Oxford.
Tezos, one of the most innovative blockchain projects
The Tezos blockchain is establishing itself as one of the great leaders of the crypto industry. Its innovation and constant development have been strengthening the blockchain infrastructure and, in general, driving Web3 innovation.
With the new update that has been launched, Tezos will not only improve the experience of developers and stakers on the network, but also prepares for the launch of Etherlink, a new Layer 2 solution that will be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), allowing its ecosystem builders to deploy smart contracts and applications based on Ethereum, as well as use the crypto industry’s flagship smart contract programming language, Solidity.
One of the advantages that Etherlink will offer over other existing L2 solutions is protection against MEV (Medium Extractable Value) attacks, which have become a growing concern for more and more blockchain merchants.
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