On Friday, Neo founder Erik Zhang tweeted on his official account that developers have made an upgrade to the Neo Virtual Machine (NeoVM).
#NeoVM has made significant progress this year. With stack isolation, it is now available for deployment outside the NEO network. With the expansion of NeoContact, we are one step closer to the vision of becoming the most developer-friendly public chain.https://t.co/ZSxTy2A6y7
— Erik Zhang (@neoerikzhang) December 28, 2018
Some background
Neo is often compared with Ethereum, the former being called ‘the Chinese version’ of Vitalik Buterin’s creation.
The first version of the NeoVM was launched at the very start of 2018, when Erik Zhang made a presentation of it at the NEO DevCon. Then the VM got an upgrade from version 2.2.1 to 2.3.1 in the summer. In November, it was followed by the release of NeoVM 2.3.3. Starting from that version, Neo developers can work on the blockchain while actually being outside the network itself.
In the latest version, the developers added the stack isolation feature, which now enables working with single smart contracts and their stack areas, without putting other areas of the blockchain at risk. Besides, now smart contracts within the Neo network have gotten more stable and provide more security while operating.
New instructions on operation added
Once stack isolation was added, the team said they needed to come up with new instructions for users to operate stacks on the network and smart contracts on it. To put it briefly, they are: CALL_I, CALL_E, CALL_ED, CALL_ET, CALL_EDT.
Details will be announced at the upcoming NEO DevCon that is to take place on February 16-17, 2019.
The current Neo market situation
Over the past 24 hours, Neo has lost nearly 7 percent of its value, now trading at $7.13. Its market cap at the time of writing totals $463 436 673, which lets the coin hold position 18 on the top-20 coins list.
Alex Dovbnya
