A much-anticipated upgrade to add smart contract functionality to the Stellar blockchain has been delayed beyond its initial target of January 30. The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has requested that the upgrade be withdrawn after a bug was discovered that could have caused problems with fee increase transactions.
TLDR
- A bug has been discovered in Stellar Core software that may affect smart contract applications after upgrading to Protocol 20.
- The Stellar Development Foundation now plans to postpone and “disarm” validators from voting on the upgrade on January 30th.
- Other validators can choose to upgrade once quorum is reached, but at least six major validators are now also planning to postpone the upgrade.
- Bug fixes are expected within two weeks, after which the foundation plans to adjust a new upgrade date.
- This response highlights Stellar’s shared governance and decision to prioritize security over decentralization.
This bug occurs within the Soroban smart contract platform enabled as part of Protocol 20. Specifically, refunds for smart contract transactions are incorrectly sent to the source account of the internal transaction rather than the external fee bump account.
After discovering the bug on January 25, SDF initially deemed the risk low given Soroban’s gradual rollout plan. However, extensive feedback from node validators, developers, wallet providers, and other Stellar contributors has led to a reevaluation.
On January 27, SDF announced plans to “disarm” its own validators, preventing them from voting to run the upgrade. At least five other major validator nodes are planning to do the same and will likely postpone their upgrades except for an unlikely quorum of validators.
Although they found a bug and found it to be of little risk, they decided to postpone Soroban until it was fixed, reflecting the community’s concerns. because…
“We are not one ecosystem.”
Perhaps something trustworthy is more valuable than something completely decentralized. ????
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Long live Stella!
— Stella Skull (@STELLARSKULL) January 27, 2024
This after-the-fact decision-making highlights Stellar’s emphasis on stability and security over pure decentralization. Rather than exercising a leadership position to drive change, SDF emphasized collaborating with stakeholders before proceeding.
The good news is that developers expect the issue to be resolved within two weeks. Afterwards, SDF plans to work with validators to set a new upgrade date. This process demonstrates an open channel of communication between technically skilled community members.
Although a setback, the delay ultimately provides confidence that Soroban, which has undergone intensive peer review, will perform well upon launch. Stellar contributors advocated investing additional time to strengthen the integrity of the upgrade before applying it to real-world conditions.
The situation also reaffirms the basic health of the ecosystem. A variety of node operators, wallets, traders, builders and infrastructure providers scrutinize network developments and provide critical insights into risks from their unique vantage points.
It would be prudent to quickly delay the launch of Stellar’s smart features. This maintains constructive momentum rather than rushing code to mainnet, which can cause headaches for users and applications.