Aleo announces biggest upgrade since mainnet

This week, Provable and the Aleo Network Foundation announced the release of snark OS 4.0.0, which marks the biggest upgrade since mainnet launch. These strategic updates advance key Aleo roadmap milestones and represent our ongoing commitment to build a truly private, scalable blockchain network suitable for building private stablecoins, defi applications, and more. 

Read on to learn more about what this upgrade means for the network.

Upgrades the record model to power institutional adoption

Aleo uses a variation of the UTXO model called the record model, which makes private transactions possible. This new release contains two key upgrades that increases the privacy and upgradability of the network. 

First, records now include encrypted sender information that only the recipient can decrypt using their view key. This means recipients can see the sender's address while maintaining privacy from everyone else on the network. This feature is especially useful for financial institutions that need to verify transaction sources for compliance purposes while still supporting private transfers.

Additionally, this upgrade implements a new versioning system so the network can adapt to evolving regulatory requirements and compliance standards. This framework enables dapps built on Aleo to seamlessly incorporate new features and meet changing regulatory requirements.

Launches community-approved changes to prover staking requirements

The team also implemented ARC-0046, which requires provers to stake a minimum of 100,000 $ALEO for each solution they submit per epoch. This initial requirement increases quarterly over two years, ultimately reaching 2.5 million credits per solution by month 24.

The staking requirement serves multiple purposes: it prevents malicious actors from flooding the network with invalid solutions, ensures provers have economic alignment with network health, and strengthens the network’s overall security.

Provers will earn additional staking rewards on their locked tokens while continuing to receive puzzle rewards for successful solutions. The gradual implementation timeline allows current participants to accumulate sufficient stake while new institutional players can plan their entry strategy accordingly. You can find a more technical review of recent ecosystem steps towards adoption in the associated Provable blog.

Speeds up transaction confirmations 

This week's upgrade also includes a new feature that enables faster transaction confirmation times across the network. When nodes receive or create new blocks, they immediately send ping messages to speed up the process, creating a smoother user experience by providing 500% faster confirmations. This is especially valuable for merchants who need quick payment verification - it helps the Aleo network feel as responsive as traditional digital payment systems.

These upgrades represent significant progress toward Aleo's vision of a truly private, scalable blockchain network ready to support enterprise-grade applications that protect user data. For more detailed technical information, visit Provable's blog post about this upgrade. To learn more about the network’s upcoming network developments and long-term technical goals, explore the Aleo roadmap.