The Stellar public network successfully upgraded to Protocol 18 on November 3, 2021, adding native support for automated market makers (AMMs) and liquidity pools. The upgrade required validator consensus and includes breaking changes to operations, assets, and trade precision.
On November 3, 2021, the Stellar network completed its upgrade to Protocol 18, introducing native automated market maker (AMM) functionality and liquidity pools to the blockchain. The Stellar Development Foundation published comprehensive documentation and upgrade guides to help developers and integrators prepare for the changes. Protocol 18 includes breaking changes such as new liquidity pool operations, a new asset type, and modifications to trade precision. The upgrade required coordination across the Stellar ecosystem, including validator consensus and community feedback. Developers using older versions of Stellar Core, Horizon, and SDKs needed to update to compatible versions. The network upgrade process demonstrates Stellar's decentralized governance model, where validators vote to adopt new protocol versions.
