Stellar (XLM) blockchain network has successfully upgraded to Protocol 17 on June 1, 2021, at 1500 UTC after validators voted in favour of the upgrade.

Stellar Network Has Been Upgraded to Protocol 17

On June 1, Stellar (XLM) officially announced that its public network has been upgraded to Protocol 17 immediately after the validators voted in favour.

Following the upgrade, a new Asset Clawback feature has been activated into the system that advances Stellar to comply with securities regulatory requirements in major jurisdictions.

“Protocol 17 introduces a new feature Asset Clawback that is designed to allow businesses issuing regulated financial instruments such as money market funds, bonds, and equities to comply with regulatory requirements by demonstrating the ability to revoke assets in certain situations.” reads the announcement release.

Issuers will now be able to tokenize funds, bonds, and equities, ETFs, stocks in a legal and compliant way while having access to regulated financial services into the Stellar (XLM) ecosystem.

The fee hike, claimable balances, and sponsored reserves are included in the latest protocol modifications to create user-friendly interactions.

Furthermore, asset clawback can permit issuers to reclaim assets that had been obtained earlier via illegal means. The new feature also allows the recovery of lost property due to the lack of key custody or theft while assisting issuers in replying to regulatory actions.

Asset Clawback Cannot be Enabled on Stellar’s Native Token

Interestingly, the addition of the new feature is not going to have an effect on current property, accounts, and balances. Additionally, issuers can also specify that an asset is clawback-enabled at the level of issuance.

Stellar Development Foundation updates the Stellar Protocol a few times a year to provide unique and up-to-date capabilities to fulfill the demands of users. This helps in the installation of the latest variants of Stellar Core, Horizon, and the Stellar SDKs for anyone working with the Stellar Protocol.

Notably, asset clawback cannot be enabled on Stellar’s native token XLM as the crypto asset does not require a trust line, nor does it have an issuing account.