Stellar launched Soroban, a smart contract platform integrated into Protocol 20, addressing key blockchain challenges like transaction speed, security vulnerabilities, state bloat, and high costs while leveraging Stellar's extensive payment rail network for real-world DeFi applications.
Stellar has launched Soroban, a next-generation smart contract platform integrated into Protocol 20 in May 2024, designed to overcome fundamental blockchain limitations. Built with WASM and Rust, Soroban reduces computational overhead, prevents re-entry attacks by default, and implements state expiration to manage data efficiently. The platform offers transaction costs averaging $0.00000392, significantly cheaper than competitors, while leveraging Stellar's Proof of Agreement consensus mechanism. Soroban capitalizes on Stellar's extensive network of cash on/off ramps, second only to Bitcoin, enabling developers to build real-world DeFi applications connected to traditional financial infrastructure and accessible to users in underbanked regions.