Veteran blockchain network Tezos (XTZ) shared the details of its newly activated upgrade, Rio. The 18th update of Tezos (XTZ) introduces a better user experience, more flexible staking and enhanced validator selection rules.
Tezos (XTZ) activates its Rio upgrade: What changes？
Rio, Tezos (XTZ) 18th blockchain upgrade, has activated successfully. Rio introduces a number of changes designed to make staking on Tezos more flexible and marks an important step in the adoption of the Data Availability Layer (DAL) - a critical component for boosting L2 scalability.
Rio, the 18th Tezos protocol upgrade, is live! ????
⚡️ More flexible staking with 1-day cycles
???? New rewards model supporting DAL participation for higher Layer 2 scalability
???? Enhanced network resilience with stricter baker inactivity rules
— Tezos (@tezos) May 1, 2025
Activated on mainnet with the Paris protocol upgrade in 2024, the Tezos DAL is designed to significantly increase the amount of transaction data that can be published on-chain — by up to 4,000x — while also reducing costs for rollups like Etherlink.
Seamlessly integrated into the Tezos protocol, the DAL‘s security and integrity are guaranteed by Tezos bakers, and Rio adjusts Tezos’ rewards model to support and incentivize this.
Commenting on the upgrade, Yann Régis-Gianas, Head of Engineering at Nomadic Labs, highlighted the paramount importance of this release for the upcoming phase of Tezos' (XTZ) development:
This upgrade reaffirms the Tezos ecosystem's commitment to achieving unmatched L2 scalability. Economic activity on L2 platforms like Etherlink is growing rapidly, and with the Rio upgrade, the Tezos protocol is perfectly positioned to support and amplify this growth.
Today, users of Web3 services expect to smoothly move funds from staking to dApps and back again, and the reduction of network cycle length from around three days to just one day following the Rio upgrade facilitates exactly this — making it faster and easier than ever for users to explore staking and other network activities.
New validator inactivity thresholds for more robust blockchain
Protocol developers will work toward further reducing wait times for unstaking in future protocol upgrade proposals, without compromising the security of the network.
Lastly, to ensure smooth L1 network operation, the Rio upgrade introduces stricter baker inactivity thresholds. Unresponsive bakers are now marked as inactive after two days, losing their consensus rights until they rejoin.
This change reinforces overall network resilience while reducing the risk of slowdowns — key qualities for any high-performance blockchain. It also affirms the Tezos communitys commitment to running the most efficient and reliable blockchain in the industry.