Initial Proposal: Cronos v1.1 Titan Network Upgrade

[lezzokafka]

Authors and Credit

Cronos Team and Community

Status

DRAFT

Proposal

Dear community members,
We are pleased to announce the scheduled v1.1 Titan upgrade for the Cronos mainnet. Cronos Mainnet version 1.1 introduces major node and RPC performance improvements. It also lays the foundation for upcoming user-facing features that leverage the best of Cosmos and Ethereum.

The tentative upgrade block height is set to 13184000, which is expected around
7 AM GMT on the 26th of March 2024 (3 PM HKT/SGT).

This proposes a breaking network upgrade for the Cronos Chain cronosmainnet_25-1. This implies that validators and full nodes must upgrade their cronosd binary from the current version v1.0.* to the latest v1.1 binary at block height 13184000, the block countdown timer can be found here.

What is this upgrade about?

The Cronos Titan upgrade focuses on two major goals:

1. Node and RPC performance improvement.

Every user knows how important it is for their experience that the blockchain network stays snappy, responsive and in sync during periods of high transaction activity. It is often during times of high traffic that DeFi traders find the best opportunities, and they want to make sure that their transactions are processed reliably and that transaction confirmations are available quickly, whether it is from the block explorer or directly from a JSON-RPC endpoint.

Titan delivers major performance improvements:

• MemIAVL - A performance boost for syncing in Cronos, offering speedy synchronisation with key benefits: local snapshot storage, dramatic snapshot time reduction (16 hours to 5 minutes), optimized block execution (over 10 times faster), and quick snapshot exports (8 minutes instead of 11 hours).
• RPC performance - Notably improved for complex requests for contract tracing, with a 78% reduction in response time.
• These improvements come in addition to the availability of VersionDB (which was already released with version 1.0.4) - Reduces database size by 63% by eliminating the IAVL tree, improving query performance.

2. Lay the foundation for upcoming user-facing features that leverage the best of Cosmos and Ethereum.

Cronos is committed to the Cosmos SDK ecosystem, which remains one of the most vibrant places in crypto today. Users expect an ever increasing level of interoperability between Cosmos SDK chains, and Titan enables Cronos to stay up to date with Cosmos innovations.

When it comes to the EVM layer of Cronos, it also aims to leverage the best of what Ethereum has to offer, such as account abstraction.

Titan enhances interoperability with the Cosmos SDK ecosystem and prepares future user-facing use cases such as Interchain Accounts and Account Abstraction:

• Introduction of CRC21 - Enhances cross-chain interactions, allowing native Cronos token transfers, including VVS, to IBC-enabled Cosmos-SDK chains.
• Pre-Compiled and ICA in Cosmos - Enables smart contracts to access Cosmos features, bridging chain ecosystems. Interchain Accounts (ICA) standardises interchain transactions, making cross-chain communication more efficient.
• Account Abstraction (experimental stage) - Allows smart contracts to act as user accounts, broadening the range of DApps use cases and facilitating complex actions on Cronos.

The technical details of version 1.1 can be found in this blog post.

Testing

The proposed upgrades and changes have been tested on both internal testnets and the Cronos testnet (currently at v.1.1.0-rc5) to ensure the achievement of expected outcomes.

Action required

• Node host must apply the new v1.1 binary at the upgrade height; otherwise, it will stop operating;
• DO NOT upgrade your node before the upgrade block height, as it is incompatible before the upgrade height.

Conclusion

The Cronos mainnet Titan upgrade brings significant improvements aimed at fine-tuning performance, boosting synchronization speed, and bolstering the overall robustness of the Cronos network. This upgrade is a significant step forward and shows Cronos' commitment to making a top-notch blockchain experience even better.

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References:

https://blog.cronos.org/p/announcing-the-cronos-titan-upgrade