Protocol 30 Votes: SDK Versions Listed For New Address Support

Stellar updated its Bell upgrade guide on October 23 to list the specific software versions required for wallets, exchanges, and infrastructure operators ahead of the Protocol 30 network votes. The revision provides concrete release references for teams preparing to handle changes to addresses and ledger data.

Software Requirements For New Addresses

The revised guide identifies the JavaScript SDK v17.3.0 as a key component for application support. Published on October 21, two days before the guide update, this SDK version supplies support for contract addresses beginning with the letter W. It includes tools to encode, decode, and validate these new addresses, along with transfer handling capabilities.

Under the Bell upgrade, a contract address can carry an additional customer identifier. This feature allows a single smart contract to receive funds for multiple customers while recording which customer a specific payment belongs to. The mechanism extends an arrangement already available for classic Stellar accounts to the smart contract environment.

Applications must recognize the new address format and associate the identifier with the correct customer. Installing a library capable of reading the new address does not automatically change existing validation or bookkeeping rules. Developers must update their code to handle the new data structure properly.

Ledger Changes And Vote Schedule

Protocol 30 also changes the ledger header format. The guide warns that decoders using older definitions will fail on the new ledger values. This requirement applies to indexers, explorers, and other services that read raw ledger data, making compatibility work necessary beyond businesses adopting the new address feature.

The upgrade includes support for ML-DSA signature verification inside smart contracts. This allows for custom accounts using post-quantum authorization, although ordinary network transaction signatures remain Ed25519. The change serves as a building block for developers rather than a complete network-wide cryptographic migration.

A separate change introduces millisecond ledger timestamps. This removes a technical barrier to faster ledger closing in future steps, though the Bell upgrade alone does not reduce the current ledger closing interval. Applications should avoid assuming that consecutive ledgers must have different whole-second timestamps.

Some tooling is still being finalized. The guide lists the Protocol 30 command-line release as pending and the Soroban Rust SDK as a release candidate. Testnet validators are scheduled to vote on November 3 at 17:00 UTC, followed by a mainnet vote on November 23 at 17:00 UTC. The upgrade takes effect only if validators approve it, and the foundation states that the vote dates can change.