Even with Stellar’s (XLM) strong performance so far this year, more surprises are being revealed as the year comes to an end. In a recent update, Stellar stated that, barring unforeseen circumstances, its Protocol 20 upgrade will start on December 11 and run through December 19 in order to be ready for the final public network readiness upgrade on January 20.
Although the Protocol 20 update was hinted at last year, its official unveiling highlights the extent of the engineering effort that has been done thus far. The integration of the twelve new Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) included in the Stellar Protocol 20 update will bring about the long-awaited smart contract features.
Features of smart contracts are revolutionary, especially in light of how blockchain systems are currently developing. With these features, Stellar may welcome a singular divergence in which non-fungible token (NFT) and decentralised finance (DeFi) developments flourish on its platform.
As planned, the prereleases of the Stellar SDK and prereleases of Stellar Core, Horizon, and Soroban RPC will occur on December 11. Every update date has specific goals and targets, and by January, the public network will be prepared for the last upgrade.
Complementing Stellar’s advancement year to date
This upcoming update timetable for the Protocol 20 improvement is not new for Stellar. The update, which is the most advanced at the moment, was put into test on the testnet on September 20, as reported by U.Today.
Stellar is strategically rebranding itself, and even while it is expanding its payment capabilities through major collaborations, its move to a smart contract will eventually let it to take on some of its largest competitors in the market.
The protocol’s actions may eventually contribute to an increase in XLM’s price, which has increased by just 47% year to date (YTD) compared to XRP’s 83% rise.
