Stellar activated Protocol 20, launching its Soroban smart contracts platform in a phased rollout. The upgrade enables Ethereum-style programmability on the payments network, with 160+ projects already building on testnet preparing for mainnet deployment.
Stellar Development Foundation confirmed Protocol 20 activation after validator approval, marking the official launch of Soroban smart contracts on mainnet. The rollout is phased, with validators gradually increasing transaction limits to full capacity. Over 160 builders and projects currently on testnet will begin deploying to mainnet as limits increase. The network will be stress-tested before dApps launch publicly. The upgrade adds programmability comparable to Ethereum, representing a major evolution for Stellar since its 2014 launch as a Ripple fork. The deployment was delayed from January 30 due to a bug discovered in Stellar Core v20.1.0.