The countdown to the activation of smart contracts on the Stellar network has started again.
The developers of the Stellar Foundation announced recently that the network validators set February 20th as the new scheduled date for the vote on the update of Protocol 20, which will activate smart contracts on the mainnet.
As reported by this media, the vote for the implementation of this new update was planned for January 30. However, it was postponed by the developers, after a security flaw was discovered that could affect the applications that are part of the Stellar ecosystem.
The detected flaw was rated as “low risk” by the developers. However, the validators of the chain voted to postpone the update, in order to ensure the security and stability of the Stellar ecosystem in general.
The Protocol 20 upgrade is the most significant upgrade to be implemented on the network so far in the decade it has been operational. As mentioned, this upgrade will enable smart contracts on the mainnet, making Stellar a more complete, efficient, and usable blockchain network.
A new vote for the new version of Stellar
In the statement shared by Stellar developers, they highlighted that the first step for the new vote of the protocol validators is to “prepare the new version” of the update, this in reference to the need to correct the error they detected in it last week.
The developers have assured that a new, corrected version of Protocol 20 is already on the way and could be available as early as today, February 2.
However, the voting by network validators for the implementation of Protocol 20 on the Stellar mainnet will not take place until February 20, in order to give developers enough time to implement the new version of the update on the testnet, as well as to perform a reset.
“Anyone running Stellar infrastructure will have until February 20 to install the new version, as validators, if they so choose, will build their software to vote for Protocol 20 on that date,” the blockchain network’s developers said.
Soroban, the Stellar network’s smart contract programming language, has been in development for over two years, so the crypto community is eager for smart contracts to arrive on the mainnet. However, the developers stressed the importance of getting things right and welcomed the involvement of the crypto community, who have provided valuable feedback during this long process.
Continue reading: Stellar will not upgrade to Protocol 20 on the scheduled date
