January 31, 2024
By Anjali Kochhar
The widely awaited Stellar blockchain update to include Ethereum-style smart contracts is probably going to be postponed after a flaw was discovered, forcing the project’s developers and validators to reevaluate their original goal of January 30.
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), guardian of the blockchain ecosystem, unearthed a glitch in the Stellar Core v20.1.0 software on January 25, as per a preliminary blog post shared with CoinDesk on Saturday. This bug, once the upgrade is completed, has the potential to affect applications and services utilizing the new “Soroban” smart-contracts transactions.
SDF officials initially deemed a bug low-risk within their phased rollout plan but have now decided to take precautionary measures. The foundation plans to disarm its validators to prevent them from voting on the network upgrade scheduled for January 30, citing robust feedback from the developer community.
While some validators, including SDF, Satoshipay, Blockdaemon, Public Node, Lobstr, and Whalestack, opt to disarm, others still have the option to proceed with the “Protocol 20” upgrade. This decision follows thorough consideration and emphasizes the commitment to ensuring a smooth and secure transition within the network.
The representative stated that under the current arrangements, the upgrade won’t have a necessary quorum to be approved if fewer than five organizations vote in favor of it. In other words, it appears that the upgrade will be postponed.
A bug fix is anticipated within the next two weeks. In case of a delay in the upgrade, the foundation plans to collaborate and establish a future date for the vote.
As a fork of the Ripple protocol in 2014, Stellar is one of the first blockchains; it is currently undergoing an upgrade to include the programmability that Ethereum and its “smart contracts” are renowned for. Traders might be wondering if the project’s original XLM tokens would get more traction as a result of the makeover.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
