Stellar's Protocol 21 upgrade, scheduled for a validator vote on June 18, 2024, introduces five Core Advancement Proposals including passkey signing support via secp256r1 verification, improved state archival functions, and three cost optimization CAPs for Soroban smart contracts.
Protocol 21 represents a significant upgrade to the Stellar network following Soroban's Mainnet launch in February 2024. The upgrade introduces five CAPs: CAP-0051 enables secp256r1 verification for passkey signing in smart contracts, positioning Soroban ahead of Ethereum in Web3 authentication; CAP-0053, authored by community member tdep, adds separate host functions to extend TTL for contract instances and code independently; CAP-0054 refines VM instantiation cost models to charge fees closer to actual costs; CAP-0055 reduces linking to only explicitly imported host functions; and CAP-0056 implements intra-transaction module caching to eliminate redundant parsing. The Testnet upgrade is scheduled for May 14, 2024, with the Mainnet validator vote on June 18, 2024. These improvements collectively enhance network efficiency, reduce transaction costs, and demonstrate the importance of community contributions to Stellar's evolution.
