• The Stellar network has been preparing to support smart contracts through the Soroban platform that has been in development for the past two years with an initial funding of $100 million.
• Anyone who runs Stellar-associated software has been informed to update the respective versions before January 30, 2024, when the public network will be upgraded to enable it to support DeFi protocols.

Stellar Lumens (XLM), a peer-to-peer decentralized network backed by a strong online community and the Stellar Development Foundation, has grown into a mature ecosystem since its inception in 2014. The Stellar network through its distributed ledger technology has been making cross-border payments cheaper, faster, and more secure for both retail and institutional investors.

As a result, the Stellar network has grown to compete with the Ripple-backed XRPL (XRP), which has significantly reduced their future growth prospects. In a bid to reimagine a brighter future, the Stellar network forged a new plan to adopt smart contracts, which is a huge opportunity to attract more decentralized financial (DeFi) developers and more institutional funds.

Stellar Network and the Soroban Smart Contract Platform

Earlier last year, the Stellar network announced a $100 million fund as part of the Soroban adoption fund, whereby more than 100 DeFi projects are ready to launch after the mainnet upgrade during the first quarter of 2024.

As a result, the Stellar network has informed all who run any of the company’s software including the SDKs, Stellar Core, and Horizon to ensure they have upgraded in the coming two weeks.

Moreover, the Protocol 20 upgrade entails that December 11 will involve pre-releases of all the respective software in preparation for the testnet upgrade and reset on December 18. On December 19, a stable release of the Stellar Core, Horizon, and Soroban will be scheduled as the final preparation for the January 30, 2024, public network upgrade.

“Before the January 30, 2024 readiness date, plan to install up-to-date versions of any Stellar-related software you use. If you fail to do so, your Stellar integration will be incompatible with Protocol 20, and it will likely break if and when an upgrade occurs,” the Stellar network noted.

Notably, Protocol 20 implements 12 new Core Advancement Proposals (CAPs) that, combined, introduce the changes to the Stellar protocol and Stellar Core required to enable Soroban smart contracts. In the near future, the Stellar network will be in a position to support its automated market makers (AMM) like Uniswap on the Ethereum network and PancakeSwap on the Binance Smart Chain.

XLM Price Action 

Amid the ongoing altcoin breakout, Stellar XLM price has been revving up to surpass this year’s high of around 19 cents. According to our latest market data, XLM price has gained about 8 percent in the past two weeks to trade at $0.126

From the daily time frame, it is evident that the altcoin has been forming an inverted head and shoulder (H&S) pattern that is often followed by a quick upsurge. Using the auto Fib extension on the weekly time frame, XLM price is likely to hit 24 cents in the coming weeks if the crypto bullish outlook holds.

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