Tezos Delphi Upgrade Drops Contract Fees to Tap DeFi Market

Delphi is the fourth Tezos upgrade in the span of two years, and one which has specifically targeted the DeFi sector with a large reduction in smart contract fees. Theoretically, this should encourage developers to build upon the proof-of-stake blockchain, selecting it over its pricier rivals. Improvements to the blockchain’s Michelson interpreter code will reduce gas fees by 75% to enable more complex smart contracts to be used in advanced on-chain applications. Just like Ethereum, Tezos uses gas to pay for transactions and network operations. However, unlike on Ethereum, it is not used to pay fees on Tezos directly. Gas serves as a limiter to prevent apps from consuming too much computing power on the network.

Welcome to Delphi! 🏛️ #Tezos upgraded at block 1,212,417. pic.twitter.com/XjnQmAefjN

— Tezos (@tezos) November 12, 2020

Tezos Chasing DeFi

According to the announcement, Delphi also lowers storage costs by a factor of four, from 1 XTZ to 0.25 XTZ per kilobyte. Taking a dig at its competitor, the post stated that this demonstrates the value of Tezos’ adaptability;

“As other public blockchains, such as Ethereum, lack formal mechanisms to routinely coordinate protocol upgrades and implement functionality improvements at scale.”

Delphi’s developers added that the upgrade is crucial to enable novel applications on the blockchain that target areas like DeFi, collectibles, and gaming. Co-founder of LGO Group and founder of Bender Labs, Hugo Renaudin, stated that the regular schedule and cadence of upgrades is especially appealing, adding;

“When you combine upgrade regularity with the reduced gas costs that this particular upgrade brings, Tezos is ripe for DeFi development.”

One of the original architects of Tezos, Arthur Breitman, stated that this is what Tezos was built to do; “amend, evolve, and grow.”

Token Price Reaction

There has been little reaction from Tezos token prices which have been mostly trading sideways for the past two months. XTZ, which is ranked 19th in the market cap charts, is currently trading at $2.10, up marginally from the same time last week.

XTZ made its 2020 and all-time high in mid-August when it briefly topped $4.50. Today, it is down 53% from those levels.