A significant enhancement for the PoS blockchain
Tezos, the self-upgradable proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain, has recently introduced a new upgrade called “Tezos X” as part of its roadmap to enhance usability and utility while maintaining the general semantics of the platform. This upgrade represents a significant evolution of the original Tezos blockchain, aiming to create an integrated blockchain ecosystem with improved performance, composability, and interoperability.
Tezos is a smart contracts blockchain platform that was launched in 2017 following a successful initial coin offering (ICO) that raised $232 million. Although it didn’t reach the anticipated heights upon its launch, the project has remained actively developed.
The vision behind Tezos X is to transition from a monolithic blockchain, where every node replicates everything, to a fully modular design that offers an integrated experience. This “modu-lithic” ecosystem ensures high decentralization by utilizing specialized modules that facilitate efficient interactions among different user groups.
Tezos X introduces a design where accounts, applications, and transaction history migrate to the “canonical rollup,” allowing the layer-1 chain to focus solely on consensus and settlement. By freeing up layer 1 resources, the network can operate faster without relying on powerful hardware for security. This approach not only enhances on-chain performance but also improves Tezos’ composability and interoperability.
The development of Tezos X began in early 2022 with a focus on scaling the platform through Smart Rollups. This scaling technology enables optimized and dedicated second-layer execution of transactions, while the layer-1 guarantees consensus and settlement. By offloading the processing of transactions and computations, the layer-1 becomes significantly faster with lower latency. This lighter load also ensures that network security can be maintained with low-spec hardware, promoting decentralization.
Another crucial aspect of this upgrade is the dedicated Data-Availability layer, which enables the Tezos mainnet to handle large amounts of data from rollup users in a fully decentralized manner.
Tezos X envisions a single canonical rollup capable of handling all network activity. The rollout of Tezos X is expected to continue throughout 2026, following the proposed roadmap outlined in the Tezos blog.
