Stellar has updated its Bell upgrade guide with the software versions that wallets, exchanges and infrastructure operators need before November's network votes. The October 23 update adds concrete release references as teams prepare for changes to addresses and ledger data under Protocol 30.
New Address Support and Ledger Format Changes
The JavaScript SDK v17.3.0 release, published October 21, supplies support for contract addresses beginning with W and updated ledger definitions. The release includes tools to encode, decode and validate those addresses, plus transfer handling.
Under Bell, a contract address can carry an additional customer identifier. This allows one smart contract to receive funds for multiple customers while recording which customer a payment belongs to, extending an arrangement already available for classic Stellar accounts.
Protocol 30 also changes the ledger header format, requiring services that read raw ledger data—such as indexers and explorers—to update their decoders to remain compatible with the new format.
Additional Protocol 30 Features
Bell adds support for ML-DSA signature verification inside smart contracts, enabling custom accounts using post-quantum authorization. However, ordinary network transaction signatures remain Ed25519, and the change supplies a building block for developers rather than completing a network-wide cryptographic migration.
A separate change introduces millisecond ledger timestamps, which the Stellar Development Foundation says removes a technical barrier to faster ledger closing in future steps. Bell alone does not reduce the current ledger closing interval.
Timeline and Voting Schedule
Some tooling is still being finalized, with the Protocol 30 command-line release listed as pending and the Soroban Rust SDK as a release candidate. Testnet validators are scheduled to vote November 3, followed by a mainnet vote November 23, both at 17:00 UTC. The upgrade takes effect if validators approve.
