Testnet beta release v1.19.0 is live, introducing protocol version 22. This is a prerelease—don’t expect mainnet compatibility yet.

Protocol Changes

• Congestion Limit Overshoot (#10640)

  • Shared-object congestion tracker now supports overshoot of 100 across all networks.
  • Gas price feedback mechanism updated to allow overshoot globally.
  • Separate gas price feedback mechanism enabled for transactions using randomness.

• Move-Based Account Authentication (#10698)

  • Testnet supports Move-based authentication, limited to transaction.sender.
  • Other authentication methods aren’t implemented yet.

• Fast Commit Syncer (#10703)

  • Faster recovery mechanism enabled in testnet for syncing large commit gaps.

Node Updates

• Deprecated Table Removal Flag (#10494)

  • remove_deprecated_tables config flag removed. If you’re still using it, update your configs.

• Gas Price Prediction Algorithm (#10485)

  • OGD is now the default algorithm for gas price prediction during dry runs.

Context

Protocol version 22 builds on the changes introduced in v1.18.1 for mainnet (protocol v21). The congestion limit overshoot mechanism, previously testnet-only, is now applied globally. Move-based authentication is still experimental and limited to testnet environments.

Fast Commit Syncer is worth testing if you’ve struggled with recovery speed during large commit gaps. It’s designed to improve sync rates significantly, though it’s only active in testnet for now.

What’s Next

If you’re running validators or full nodes on testnet, update to v1.19.0-beta and test the new features. For mainnet users, stick with v1.18.1 until protocol v22 is finalized and rolled out. Full details are in the release notes.

That’s it for this round of updates. Test it, break it, report bugs.

Sources: v1.19.0-beta, v1.19.0-alpha, v1.18.1