Stellar is preparing for a significant network upgrade known as Adapter (Protocol 28), which targets both faster consensus and more robust smart contract capabilities. The Stellar Development Foundation, the organization responsible for maintaining the Stellar network, outlined the planned improvements and a detailed rollout schedule for the coming weeks.
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AAPLKey changes in the Adapter upgrade
Adapter consists of three core protocol changes designed to optimize the network. Two of these changes, CAP-85 and CAP-86, are focused on simplifying the process for developers building on Soroban, Stellar’s smart contract platform. With these enhancements, developers can upgrade and scale smart contracts more efficiently, reduce the number of separate contracts they need to deploy, and execute upgrades in a safer, atomic fashion.
Additionally, contracts will be able to evolve their data structures during migrations without disrupting functionality. These features aim to minimize disruptions and manage changing requirements during real-world project development.
The third protocol improvement, CAP-83, targets the network’s consensus process. By enhancing the way validators maintain consensus even when transaction data is slow to propagate, this change helps Stellar handle increased network activity and scale effectively.
Mini dictionary: Soroban — Soroban is Stellar’s native smart contracts platform, designed to enable more complex decentralized applications on the network. It allows developers to write flexible and scalable smart contracts using modern programming languages.
With atomic upgrades enabled by CAP-85, developers who deploy fleets of contracts sharing the same code can streamline updates, applying changes to the entire fleet at once rather than updating each contract individually.
Upgrade timeline and implementation
The rollout of Adapter begins with the stable release of Adapter’s core components on August 13. Between August 13 and August 21, supporting infrastructure and SDK updates will be published, ensuring ecosystem compatibility.
A testnet vote on August 27 at 17:00 UTC will determine if the upgraded protocol is enabled in the test environment. If testnet activation proceeds smoothly, Adapter’s mainnet vote is scheduled for September 16 at 17:00 UTC, potentially bringing the enhancements to live network operations.
| Event | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Core release | August 13 | Stable core components released |
| Infrastructure & SDK updates | August 13–21 | Supporting tools and libraries published |
| Testnet vote | August 27, 17:00 UTC | Potential testnet activation |
| Mainnet vote | September 16, 17:00 UTC | Potential mainnet activation |
Operators managing typical SDK-based integrations are advised to update their software before August 27 for testnet deployments and by September 16 ahead of mainnet activation. Notably, Protocol 28 introduces sparse map host functions, allowing contracts to better manage missing or additional fields during migration or upgrade scenarios.
Recent protocol changes are structured to make Stellar more capable and developer-friendly for building financial applications, while maintaining the fast transaction speeds and low operational costs that distinguish the network.
Stellar’s strategy for future growth
By implementing Adapter, Stellar aims to position its network as an attractive choice for builders seeking scalable and secure smart contract functionality. The combination of easier contract management and improved network consensus performance addresses key scalability challenges many blockchains face.
The Stellar Development Foundation continues to emphasize its commitment to both reliable network operations and creating a flexible development environment. Adapter is expected to strengthen Stellar’s place in decentralized finance and broader blockchain adoption.
