15x Bandwidth, Better Rollup Governance: Ushuaia is Live!

Tezos’ Ushuaia Upgrade Goes Live, Unlocking Greater Bandwidth for Data-Intensive Applications

6 minute read

Ushuaia

On June 30th, 2026 at 00:31:52 UTC, the Tezos blockchain successfully activated the Ushuaia protocol upgrade on Mainnet at block 13,857,889.

Ushuaia is Tezos’ 21st protocol upgrade – proposed, adopted, and seamlessly activated through on-chain governance by network stakeholders, with no fork or disruption to the network.

Developed by Nomadic Labs, Trilitech, and Functori, Ushuaia advances Tezos’ scalability and lays the groundwork for a greatly improved staking experience as well as post-quantum security.

The changes now live on Mainnet are:

Another three features have not been activated on Mainnet, but are available for community testing ahead of possible activation in a later upgrade.

For more information, see the Ushuaia proposal’s announcement post. A complete list of changes can be found in Ushuaia’s changelog.

DAL bandwidth increased to 10 MB/s #

Applications on Tezos can now move 15x more data through the Data Availability Layer, as bandwidth has been increased to 10 MB/s, from previously 0.66 MB/s.

Users of Etherlink (Tezos EVM) can now push hundreds of thousands of transactions per second without data publication becoming a bottleneck, making Tezos perfectly suited for games, high-frequency DeFi, and other data-hungry applications that push the boundaries of blockchains.

The increase comes from a combination of software optimizations and updated protocol parameters. Security is unchanged: the same attestation thresholds, rewards, and redundancy factors apply.

For any baker representing less than ~2% of the total stake, hardware and bandwidth requirements remain unchanged. Larger bakers should check the updated recommendations to verify that their infrastructure is suited for continued DAL participation.

Dynamic DAL attestation lag #

New DAL data is now confirmed by Layer 1 in 12–18 seconds, down from about 66 seconds. Anything relying on those confirmations, such as fast withdrawals on Etherlink (Tezos EVM), can happen noticeably faster.

Previously, a fixed delay was set conservatively to ensure full network propagation of new DAL data before confirmation by Layer 1. This delay is also called the attestation lag.

Ushuaia makes the delay dynamic. Bakers attest as soon as they see the data, and the data is marked available once 66% of attesting power confirms it. This drops the lag from 11 blocks to 2-3 blocks under normal network conditions.

Security and reward rules are untouched.

Rollup-aligned PVM upgrades #

Improvements to network-wide rollup infrastructure can now be activated through Etherlink (Tezos EVM, and potentially, in the future, Tezos X) governance instead of depending on a full Layer 1 governance cycle.

The Smart Rollup technology behind Etherlink includes a proof-generating virtual machine (PVM) that makes computation verifiable on Layer 1. It’s essential for security that the PVM reflects upgrades to Smart Rollups like Etherlink as they happen.

Up until now PVM upgrades have been coupled with Layer 1 governance. Activating PVM features through Etherlink governance aligns infrastructure upgrades better with rollup development.

Tezos bakers remain in control of the on-chain approval process.

Other features (for testnet evaluation) #

The Ushuaia protocol code includes further features that have not been activated on Mainnet. These are available for community testing ahead of possible later activation.

Enshrined liquid staking lets users deposit XTZ into a protocol-recognized contract and receive sTEZ, an FA2.1 token that increases in value relative to XTZ, as staking rewards accrue.

Unlike other liquid staking options, this mechanism doesn’t rely on centralized third-parties, but is managed by the Tezos protocol. The stake is automatically distributed across participating Tezos bakers, but carries no governance voting power. The feature is still being developed in cooperation with the broader community, with Mainnet activation targeted for Protocol V. We invite you to give it a try on testnet, tell us your thoughts on Discord or Tezos Agora, and help us refine the parameters.

Quantum-resistant user keys are an early move towards quantum readiness, before any real threat materializes. Ushuaia adds the post-quantum signature scheme ML-DSA-44 through a new account type, tz5, kept on testnet for now so wallets, custodians, and tooling can adapt before real adoption. Existing accounts are untouched, and the design lays groundwork for later key rotation. Being available on testnet, we would be happy to receive feedback on Discord or Tezos Agora about how the tz5 operations and UX work for you.

WASM PVM V6 paves the way for a new, faster storage backend that has been built to further scale Etherlink and, consequently, Tezos X throughput. Ushuaia adds the WASM PVM version needed to preserve verifiability after migration. It is also a prerequisite for moving from WASM to RISC-V later. This feature can now be enabled through Etherlink’s kernel governance when needed.

Onward, thanks to the ecosystem #

With 10MB/s DAL bandwidth enabled, Ushuaia marks another forkless step along the Tezos X roadmap. At the same time, the groundwork is now laid for more flexibility for stakers and for post-quantum security.

As always, the smooth activation was possible due to careful testing and timely action by bakers and ecosystem teams. If you have questions or feedback, we can be reached in the Tezos Blockchain Discord.

Welcome to Ushuaia!