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The Stellar Development Foundation Announces Deployment of Smart Contracts
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) recently announced the successful deployment of smart contracts on the network, a development they believe will revolutionize their tech stack. The SDF revealed that the Stellar (XLM) network validators had successfully implemented the “Protocol 20” upgrade, enabling the activation of smart contracts and initiating the phased rollout of their smart contract platform, Soroban.
Benefits of Smart Contracts on Stellar
The introduction of smart contracts on Stellar aims to enhance the developer experience, particularly for those utilizing the Rust and WebAssembly (WASM) programming languages. This move is expected to provide a more user-friendly environment for developers.
Soroban: The Smart Contract Platform
The smart contract platform, Soroban, was initially deployed to the Stellar testnet in October 2022 and incorporates scalability features such as predictable fees and independent resource pricing. This new smart contract ecosystem will empower the creation of decentralized applications (DApps), enabling developers to build innovative protocols and applications on the Stellar network.
Challenges and Initiatives
The deployment of smart contracts on the mainnet was delayed in January due to a bug found in Stellar Core. The SDF initiated a $100 million funding initiative to encourage developers to embrace the Soroban smart contract platform in October 2022. Despite these developments, Stellar’s native token XLM did not witness a significant price surge, and has struggled to keep pace with the broader crypto market rally, remaining 87% below its all-time high of $0.875 reached in January 2018.
The cryptocurrency, which is among the oldest and most established blockchain projects, was founded in 2014 by Jed McCaleb. Before Stellar, McCaleb founded Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox and was the co-creator of Ripple.
Ian is a cryptocurrency enthusiast blending humor with professionalism. With an engineering background and a storyteller's heart, he simplifies the blockchain world with sharp analysis and a touch of wit. At Cryptowire, he brings his unique perspective to make digital financial innovation accessible to all.
