Spica 1.8 Protocol Upgrade

Description

Enable cost-effective, enhanced relayed transactions; introduce dynamic NFTs; integrate new crypto opcodes; streamline storage management; and more!

Background

The Spica v1.8.0 release marks a significant milestone for the MultiversX network, introducing long-awaited updates that open new avenues for NFT enthusiasts and gaming development. This release also includes new opcodes that enhance onboarding scenarios, providing advanced tools for developers and allowing for the usage of passkeys. Additionally, the third iteration of relayed transactions will significantly lower costs for relayers, making it easier to onboard new users without requiring them to hold any tokens or EGLD.

Release Contents

1. Relayed v3: The Relayed v3 feature introduces a more cost-effective and efficient version of relayed transactions, supporting multiple inner transactions that are full transactions themselves. This enhancement will deprecate the earlier versions (Relayed v1 and v2) once v3 is fully adopted.

2. ESDT Improvements: These improvements enhance the ESDT functionality, enabling dynamic NFTs and introducing new roles and configuration options.

3. Crypto API, New Opcodes: This implementation introduces new opcodes for developers and new crypto VM endpoints (VerifySecp256r1, VerifyBLSSignatureShare, VerifyBLSMultiSig).

4. EGLD in MultiESDTTransfer: It allows for native EGLD to be sent within MultiESDTTransfer transactions.

Testing and Testnets

The Spica 1.8.0 release has undergone extensive testing, including end-to-end, integration and differential tests. The public testnet has been upgraded in July 2024 for validators and builders to participate in the pre-release upgrade test. Anybody can still test the software here: https://testnet-explorer.multiversx.com

Read more about Spica 1.8.0 Software Upgrade content: https://agora.multiversx.com/t/interim-release-rc-v1-7-18/458

Read more about ESDT Improvements: https://agora.multiversx.com/t/esdt-improvement-proposal-dynamic-resources-mip-5/172

Read more about account abstractions and passkeys: https://agora.multiversx.com/t/accountabstraction-for-simple-mobileapps-mip-22/437

Frequently Asked Questions

What advantages does relayed transactions bring compared to the other 2 versions?

Relayed transactions v3 feature comes with a change on the entire transaction structure, adding a new optional field InnerTransactions, which is a collection of inner transactions. That being said, relayed transactions v3 allow the user to send multiple inner transactions on the same relayed transaction which will be executed as normal transactions, without the gas consuming data field of the old relayed transactions versions.

What happens to legacy NFTs after ESDT improvements go live?

For users, there will be no visible changes. However, on the technical side, all NFTs will be transferred from the system account to the user account in order to facilitate faster system state access. NFTs minted before the upgrade to Spica will remain legacy and cannot be converted to dynamic NFTs. New NFTs created post-upgrade will be dynamic by default

What is governance?

Governance democratizes decision-making, enabling interest alignment for all parties participating by allowing them to have a say in the future directions of the protocol.

Who can vote?

Random snapshots of staked EGLD have been taken between 26.07 and 05.08. All users holding at least 1 staked EGLD at the time of the snapshot are eligible to vote.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The more staked EGLD you have during the snapshots period, the higher your voting power will be.

How many days will the vote last?

The voting procedure for this proposal will span over 10 epochs from the 08.08 to the 18.08.

How will the votes be cast?

Here are the 4 available voting options:

• Yes - You agree that the MultiversX Protocol should be updated with this release.
• No - You disagree that the MultiversX Protocol should be updated with this release.
• Veto - A ‘NoWithVeto’ vote indicates a proposal either (1) is deemed to be spam, i.e., irrelevant to MultiversX Protocol, (2) disproportionately infringes on minority interests, or (3) violates or encourages violation of the rules of engagement as currently set out by MultiversX governance. If the number of ‘NoWithVeto’ votes is greater than a third of total votes, the proposal is rejected.
• Abstain - will register your voting power as NEUTRAL to the switch - but even if it may seem unimportant, these votes actually help the proposal and thus put the power in the hands of the people who vote and care about the network. So we encourage users that don’t have a strong opinion to still vote, so that the decision for the proposal is made based on the governance votes rather than users who don’t bother.

How can the proposal pass?

In order for a proposal to pass it needs a simple majority, or otherwise said, more than 50% of votes should be YES votes.

Can I use my liquid staked EGLD in the upcoming governance vote?

Yes, liquid staked EGLD can be used to vote. The only requirement is that the liquid staked tokens must have been held in the wallet and not in other contract addresses at the time of the snapshot.