Tezos has achieved a significant milestone with the successful activation of its Tallinn protocol upgrade, marking the 20th enhancement to the blockchain since its inception. This upgrade was made possible through a decentralized on-chain governance process that actively involved bakers and community members, showcasing Tezos’ commitment to community participation.
Developed collaboratively by Nomadic Labs, Trilitech, and Functori, the Tallinn upgrade brings several notable improvements to the network. One of the key features is the reduction of layer 1 block times to six seconds, which greatly enhances transaction speed and finality. Furthermore, the upgrade also fortifies network security by expanding the participation of validators through the implementation of universal validator attestations using BLS signatures.
Yann Régis-Gianas, Head of Engineering at Nomadic Labs, emphasized the significance of this upgrade. “Adapting to market demand 20 times over 7 years without network disruptions, and in a fully decentralized way, is undeniable proof of Tezos’ reliability and future-proof design,” he stated. This assertion underlines the resilience and adaptability of the Tezos blockchain in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
The Tallinn upgrade also introduces a new Address Indexing Registry, which has the potential to dramatically lower storage costs for developers—reducing requirements by up to 100 times. This improvement is expected to greatly benefit enterprise applications, NFT platforms, and large ledgers that utilize Michelson, Tezos’ scripting language. “Based on inputs from Tezos builders, our development team is excited to be able to offer such drastic improvements for enterprise-scale apps, large NFT ledgers, and other setups storing many addresses,” Régis-Gianas added.
In addition to enhancing scalability and decentralization, the Tallinn upgrade strengthens Tezos’ position as a robust settlement layer for Etherlink, its EVM-compatible layer 2 solution. This integration allows Etherlink to benefit from layer 1 finality within just two blocks, or 12 seconds, further enhancing its efficiency.
Overall, the Tallinn upgrade not only marks a significant technical advancement for the Tezos blockchain but also serves as a testament to the effectiveness of its decentralized governance model and its ongoing commitment to community engagement and innovation.

