Skip to content
Back to Blog
Ecosystem Updates

New Rootstock Upgrade: Increased decentralization, lower gas fees and faster transactions

Read Time: 1 mins
New Rootstock Upgrade:  Increased decentralization, lower gas fees and faster transactions

The Rootstock community is always working behind the scenes to try and make things even better and this month has been a busy one. A major upgrade combined with the increase of Rootstock’s hash rate to 80% and a new transaction protocol have ushered in big improvements for both users and builders…

Let’s get into it 👇

Rootstock activates Lovell 7.0.0 upgrade, which will boost SECURITY and DECENTRALIZATION

The Lovell upgrade has gone live on mainnet, which brings major benefits when it comes to security and decentralization. How does it do this? In three ways:

  • It strengthens the PowPeg, Rootstock’s native bridge and the most secure Bitcoin bridge, ensuring that changes are verified before taking effect, and guaranteeing that locked funds remain safe and accessible.
  • It also lays the groundwork for increasing the number of PowPeg members (pegnatories) from 9 to 60, making Rootstock one of the most decentralized Bitcoin sidechains.
  • In addition, the Lovell 7.0.0 upgrade improves Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, making it even easier to build on Bitcoin.

Not bad, right? 🔒

Gas FEES are going to be 60% LOWER

Thanks to the Bitcoin miners who merge-mine Rootstock, the minimum gas price per transaction has been significantly reduced. In fact, fees are now 60% lower.

What does this mean for the Rootstock community? Users will of course enjoy lower costs to interact with dApps and smart contracts, whilst builders will benefit from reduced expenses in deploying and maintaining smart contracts. Overall, these lower fees will help encourage greater innovation and usage, strengthening Roostock as the go-to place for building on Bitcoin. 🥳

Transactions are going to be EVEN FASTER

In addition, the FASTER protocol, which is coming soon, will enable faster blocks and higher transaction throughput, reducing transaction confirmation times from 30 seconds to just 5.

These updates support Rootstock’s mission to become a more scalable, decentralized, and cost-efficient Bitcoin-based smart contract platform. Since its inception in 2017, the Rootstock network has never stopped evolving.

Join the Rootstock Discord channel here and let us know about your experience!

To get more details on the Lovell 7.0.0 update, click here: RSKIP 435 Network Upgrade: Lovell

Recommended articles

Golden Sats Challenge: User Guide to the New Campaign on Rootstock

Golden Sats Challenge: User Guide to the New Campaign on Rootstock

5 Lil Pudgies up for grabs and a $500k+ of incentives to earn! The Rootstock community is excited to introduce the new campaign: The Golden Sats Challenge, and this is your chance to win a Lil Pudgy while earning some decent APR at the same time.  Complete onchain tasks such as bridging through Stargate and […]

User Guides
Rootstock x Avalon: Unlocking Bitcoin-Backed Lending for Institutions & Users

Rootstock x Avalon: Unlocking Bitcoin-Backed Lending for Institutions & Users

New lending markets on Rootstock give Bitcoin holders more ways to put BTC to work, without leaving the Bitcoin ecosystem. Why this matters Bitcoin holders want safe, onchain ways to access credit, manage treasury, and earn yield. With Avalon Labs now live on Rootstock, you can borrow against BTC-aligned collateral while staying anchored to the […]

Ecosystem Updates
Introducing Reed 8.0.0: What You Need To Know About Rootstock’s Upcoming Network Upgrade

Introducing Reed 8.0.0: What You Need To Know About Rootstock’s Upcoming Network Upgrade

The Rootstock community has approved a set of consensus changes to be included in the upcoming Reed network upgrade. Reed will activate on Rootstock Mainnet on block 8,052,200. This is a mandatory upgrade; users who adhere to these changes must update their nodes to the latest version. The latest version of the RSKj client is […]

Ecosystem Updates