Introducing Whisk, Stellar Protocol 23

Over the past decade, 22 versions of the Stellar protocol have been implemented in major Stellar Core releases, voted on (and accepted) by Stellar validators, and applied to upgrade Stellar Mainnet. Each protocol version is designed to improve performance and introduce new features, but it can be hard to keep track of what's changing and why. As the protocol continues to evolve, we believe it should be easier for validators and developers to understand the benefits of each protocol upgrade. That’s why we’ve decided to name protocol versions, starting with Protocol 23.

Now, before you roll your eyes, let’s break down why we’d name proposed protocol versions. We looked around at blockchains and other software projects and were inspired by how easy it is to talk about Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade, or Android 16 Baklava, or MacOS 15 Sequoia. Names stick. They make milestones easier to remember, and give the community a shared way to talk about progress.

Stellar is designed to be a network - a tool - for building everyday financial applications and services, so we settled on a naming convention theme of everyday tools. The best tools are the ones you rely on to turn tedious tasks into simple ones, and messy work into reliable results.

Given that we’re starting with Protocol 23, it’s only right to start with the 23rd letter of the alphabet: W. That quickly got us to Whisk. Despite its simplicity, a whisk is deceptively versatile: it emulsifies oil and water together to create stable blends, adds speed to process, and builds strength and texture to mixtures that would otherwise fall flat. Fitting choice for a protocol name!

As new protocols are presented to validators for votes, we’ll continue to name them in alphabetical order. Next up is X. Once we get to Z we’ll simply move on to A. We believe names will help us differentiate between protocols, better make the case for new protocol features, and drive awareness for new protocols across the ecosystem. We’ll refer publicly to the protocol as Stellar Whisk Protocol (23), or Whisk for short.

Enough about the name, let’s talk about why Whisk is particularly impactful for builders on the network. Starting tomorrow, September 3rd at 10:00 am PST | 1700 UTC, if validators accept Whisk and it goes live, these changes will immediately affect network performance and developer experience. Make sure you’ve upgraded to the latest version of relevant Stellar SDKs before the mainnet vote to ensure your applications continue to run smoothly. If you don't, they will probably break.

You may have already read about the changes introduced in Whisk, but here’s the tl;dr: there are two major improvements that make development on Stellar more intuitive and efficient, while simultaneously enhancing the network's ability to handle increased transaction volumes with lower latency.

We’ve all seen what happens when a network is hit with a lot of traffic: contention for limited space leads to longer lines and higher fees, and that makes it harder and more expensive to get your transaction processed. Prior to Whisk, Stellar Core processed transactions sequentially: it listened for transactions, and then bundled, validated, and applied them to the ledger in strict linear sequence using a single processing thread, even though modern hardware has multiple processing threads available.

With Whisk's introduction of parallel transaction processing, Stellar Core can do more at once: it can validate one set of transactions while gathering the next, which significantly reduces the time between transaction cycles.

As a result, Whisk increases Stellar Core’s ability to handle higher transaction volumes while maintaining low fees and fast confirmation times. It's a meaningful step towards future-proofing the network by providing:

• Higher throughput: More transactions can be processed per second
• Reduced latency: Individual transactions confirm faster
• Lower fees: More efficient processing reduces operational costs
• Better scalability: The network can handle growing demand more effectively

Beyond these two larger improvements, Whisk includes several other important changes:

More Fee Reductions: Multiple optimizations work together to reduce transaction fees, including improved WebAssembly caching and more efficient memory usage for read operations.

State Archival Foundational work: While not fully implementing state archival, Whisk includes preparatory work that moves the network closer to this important scalability feature.

Configurable Network Parameters: Validators gain more flexibility to optimize block timing and reduce latency through configurable SCP timing parameters. This sets up the possibility to speed up ledger close times.