Tezos Ushers In New Era Of Protocol Innovation With Tenderbake Upgrade

After being voted in by the Tezos community, the ninth upgrade to the system, nicknamed “Ithaca 2,” has been enabled. Tezos is one of the first and longest-running Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Ithaca 2 replaces the current consensus algorithm (Emmy*) with Tenderbake, a game-changing improvement that ushers in a new era of Tezos protocol innovation. Lower block times are enabled via the new Tenderbake consensus process, resulting in speedier transactions and smoother-running Tezos applications.

The Ithaca 2 update is a first for blockchains and open-source decentralized software, and it highlights the efficiency of the Tezos governance system, which was designed to allow for significant architectural modifications. Ithaca 2 prepares the Tezos protocol for ambitious scalability ambitions like WebAssembly and EVM compatibility with pre-checking, a lightweight validation approach for the mempool that will boost overall throughput, in addition to Tenderbake. Finally, the Ithaca 2 upgrade will lower the cost of becoming a network validator (“baker”) by 25%, from 8,000 to 6,000 tez, enhancing Tezos’ decentralized character.

Tezos’ innovative governance system, is built to adapt, enabling it can incorporate cutting-edge advancements from throughout the blockchain industry via its proven self-amendment mechanism. In the Edo upgrade, for example, shielded transactions from the Zcash Sapling protocol were included, and in the newest Ithaca 2 upgrade, the consensus method Tenderbake, based on Tendermint from the Cosmos protocol, was added. In March 2022, Tezos ecosystem developers announced plans for optimistic rollups based on Arbitrum, a popular Ethereum roll-up technology, and zk-rollups based on top industry research. Tezos continues to provide best-in-class core technology as well as leading features in privacy, scalability, and security with these monthly improvements.

Tezos’ user activity has exploded in the last year, with monthly smart contract calls jumping from 100,000 in January 2021 to over 6.2 million in January 2022. With notable technical integrations by prominent sports franchises and worldwide brands like Red Bull Racing, Manchester United, The Gap, Kia, and others, Tezos’ adoption and momentum continue to expand. Industry leaders are demonstrating their faith in Tezos as the energy-efficient, low-cost blockchain of choice for the Web3 revolution by building on it.

Thousands of builders and producers contribute to the Tezos ecosystem, which includes projects in arts and culture, financial services, and more. Users, developers, brands, venture capital companies, strategic collaborators, and others have invested resources to build and grow Tezos in new ways during the past year, resulting in a surge in adoption.