Protocol upgrade decouples consensus from execution to solve scaling bottlenecks
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NEAR announced an upgrade to its next-generation protocol, SPICE, which is expected to reduce block time to 200 milliseconds.
According to Foresight News , the NEAR blog reports that its core development team, Near One, has announced a major upgrade to SPICE (Separation of Consensus and Execution), a key step towards the Nightshade 3.0 sharding architecture and the biggest change to the NEAR protocol since stateless verification in 2024. SPICE decouples consensus and execution, allowing validators to reach consensus only on transaction order and block hashes without waiting for state calculations to complete, thus reducing block time from the current 600 milliseconds to 200 milliseconds, approaching the physical limit. This solution also supports more complex, long-cycle transactions spanning multiple blocks and improves parallel processing capabilities through inter-shard synchronization. Near One recently announced two upgrades scheduled for release later this month: dynamic resharding to improve network scalability, and the first quantum signature scheme providing post-quantum security for accounts. Near One stated that the simpler block structure, combined with the already implemented sharded smart contracts, will enhance network security and lay the foundation for further formal verification and reduced contract auditing costs. SPICE is currently under development, and the team plans to implement it in the coming months.
Canton Network mainnet launches "Logical Synchronizer Upgrade," protocol upgrade enables automatic and seamless switching.
Foresight News , Canton Network announced that with the release of Canton 3.5, Logical Synchronizer Upgrades (LSUs) are now live on the mainnet. This mechanism allows the new version of the synchronizer infrastructure to run in parallel with the existing network, automatically transitioning during network switching in just seconds to minutes without requiring data migration or reload, ensuring applications continue to run normally. In terms of specific procedures, the synchronizer operator will deploy a new generation of synchronizer nodes before the upgrade and run them in parallel with the old version; validators will install the new version of the software during the upgrade window. The new software supports both the old and new protocol versions to ensure that message processing is not interrupted before and after the switch; then the on-chain governance will propose an upgrade schedule, the logical synchronizer will send a switch signal to the validators, and the validators will automatically complete the switch and verify consistency after detecting the new generation synchronizer. The application will continue to run under the same logical synchronizer identity; the old version of the infrastructure will be phased out after 30 days. Canton Network stated that it has completed four protocol version upgrades since its mainnet launch in 2024. The LSU mechanism aims to reduce the operational burden on super validators and validators, making protocol upgrades and maintenance routine operations and minimizing the impact on application developers and end-users. This mechanism will pave the way for several new features planned for the next 6 to 12 months, including token standard upgrades, BFT consensus upgrades and scaling, decentralized party management and verification services, and asset discovery capabilities.
Category Labs launches Cadence, a new consensus protocol designed to alleviate the MEV problem at the protocol level.
Foresight News reports that Category Labs (formerly Monad Labs) has announced the launch of Cadence, a new consensus protocol that employs a Multiple Concurrent Proposer (MCP) mechanism. This mechanism supports multiple block proposers participating concurrently in consensus, achieving extremely short block intervals without sacrificing latency. Test data shows that, based on a simulated network of 200 global nodes, the average final confirmation time is 219 milliseconds, and the average speculative confirmation time is 167 milliseconds. The team stated that, combined with the cryptographic memory pool design BTX, Cadence represents a significant step towards solving the MEV problem at the protocol layer.
NEAR Protocol introduces Confidential Intents, enabling developers to integrate confidential execution capabilities.
PANews reported on July 8th that NEAR Protocol announced the launch of Confidential Intents, opening up NEAR's confidential execution infrastructure to all developers. Developers and dApps can provide users with confidential transaction functionality through the NEAR Intents 1Click Swap API. NEAR stated that Confidential Intents uses encryption rather than proof generation, requiring no client-side proof and not increasing wallet complexity; each user's data is individually encrypted rather than pooled obfuscation. Integration only requires adding one parameter, without rebuilding. Over $1.5 billion in ZEC has already been settled through NEAR Intents, and within weeks of its launch, 42% of transaction volume used confidential mode, with daily confidential TVL exceeding $30 million.
Michael Saylor: Strong consensus is Bitcoin's immune system; protocol changes require overwhelming consensus.
According to Mars Finance, Michael Saylor stated in an article on the X platform that strong consensus is Bitcoin's immune system. Transaction fees price block space, nodes set policies, miners build blocks, and holders allocate capital. Protocol changes must achieve overwhelming consensus, therefore bad ideas will fail before becoming disruptive or harmful protocol changes.
Aztec has completed the development of the v5 protocol upgrade code and is preparing to enter the governance proposal stage.
According to Foresight News , privacy-focused L2 blockchain Aztec has completed the development of its v5 protocol upgrade code and is preparing to enter the governance proposal stage. This upgrade is described as the largest since the launch of Alpha Network, covering multiple core areas including block construction, proof performance, penalty mechanisms, privacy protection, and node APIs, integrating 13 AZIPs. The upgrade deployment process is the same as v4: anyone can deploy a new contract. After the sequencer issues a support signal, token holders will vote on the support, and the upgrade will officially take effect after a delay. Node operators can deploy v5 nodes in advance and keep them in standby mode; they will automatically activate after the upgrade is executed.