Stellar (XLM) Testnet Upgraded To Protocol 21, Will It Impact Price?

The Stellar Testnet protocol just got

upgraded to Protocol 21 as one of

the most important steps in the

blockchain's smart contract evolution.

According to the update it shared on its

official X account, with this testnet upgrade, Stellar is now well-positioned to actualize the rest of the milestones in its roadmap.

Stellar Protocol 21 Upgrade: Next Steps To Watch.

Stellar was developed as a predominantly payment engine and after garnering a significant market share, it is choosing to pivot. The most renowned layer-1 blockchain protocols have full smart contract functionality and Stellar hopes to join the train through Protocol 21.

The grand proposal to adopt the smart contract capability gained approved by the network's validators in February. This backing was vital as part of the roadmap to ushering in Protocol 21 update will involve the entire community. Following this Testnet update, Stellar has unveiled the next major timeline to watch its its updated roadmap. These dates include May 30, June 11 and June 18 respectively.

On May 30, the blockchain said it will implement the Stable releases of Stellar Core, Horizon and RPC. The Stellar Core slated for May 30 remain the second candidate developed to support Protocol 21. On June 11, the protocol will implement a Testnet reset to guarantee all the changes and additions works optimally.

Should the plans work out, the blockchain will make the grand transition with intense upsides for XLM. As the native asset of the Stellar network, XLM will play a central role in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) set to emerge. Potentially, the price impact might turn out to be resounding in the long term.

While this is a major boost, at the time of writing, XLM is changing hands for $0.103, down by 1.33% in 24 hours.