Ripple Rival Stellar’s Evolution: Adding Smart Contracts to Challenge Ethereum’s Dominance

The Stellar Lumens blockchain is adding support for smart contracts in a bid to challenge Ethereum’s dominance in the space.
This initiative will boost XLM adoption as the network attracts new users, developers, and a host of new applications.

The Stellar Lumens blockchain is going through an upgrade that will see it support smart contracts. Through the new Soroban project, the network will compete with Ethereum which has been the leader in the smart contract space. It will further enable the network which was primarily built as a payment blockchain to attract developers, users, and new applications.

After 9 years in which the project has been focused on building the ultimate blockchain platform, the Ripple rival is now looking to expand its horizon and create a bigger market for itself. Stellar has recently unveiled the Soroban project. The team behind it has defined it as a “developer-friendly, Rust-based smart contracts platform designed for scale and sensibility.”

The new upgrade which went live on a test network on Sept. 20 is expected to launch on the mainnet later this year. This could mark the greatest upgrade for the network since its launch back in 2014. As such, the team is optimistic that the upgrade will usher in a new era in its ambition for mass adoption. Tomer Weller, a vice president of product at Stellar Development Foundation who is overseeing Soroban, said in an interview;

We see decentralized finance as a big part of the future, and we want to enable that for the users of Stellar,

Smart contracts are a programming code built on blockchain that allow interaction with decentralized applications such as decentralized finance (DeFi), the Internet of Things, and other uses. In the space, Ethereum has been the dominant platform. However, some up-and-coming platforms such as Solana, Aptos, Sui, Algorand, and several other projects have entered the arena, some being defined as Ethereum killers.

Because of the competition and the continued dominance of Ethereum, some speculate that this remains a tough market, leading to uncertainty for Stellar’s ambitious goal. StableLab co-founder Doo Wan Nam is one of those who questions the new path, stating;

Even for existing chains with smart contracts, it has proven difficult to attract good projects, so it would be very surprising if they manage to seriously challenge Ethereum,

However, the reason there have been “Ethereum killers” is because the leading network has had its shortcomings. Generally, while it offers the greatest stability and security it has issues with scalability and speed. With Stellar, its technological advancements can only be compared to the likes of Solana. In a blog post, the team promises to bring scalability, sensibility, reliable access to financial rails, and a consistent developer experience.

The new upgrade which was initially announced in 2022 has stirred a lot of excitement in the community but has done little for its native token XLM despite the recent test network launch. At the time of press, XLM is exchanging for $0.102473 after a 1.5 percent drop in the last 24 hours as it wipes out most of its weekly gains. With the upcoming upgrade, investors are optimistic that the digital asset can return to its ATH of $0.875563 reached nearly 6 years ago.

Ripple Rival Stellar’s Evolution: Adding Smart Contracts to Challenge Ethereum’s Dominance

James M. Gathecha