The Spica release

This Thursday (July 30, beginning around 12am midnight UTC), we're deploying an upgrade with several protocol improvements. The system will be down for up to a few hours while the upgrade is deployed. During this time, users may be unable to interact with the system, including using Mintr or Synthetix.Exchange, and transferring SNX or Synths.

Here's what is included in this release:

• SIP-35, SCCP-27: Ether collateral second trial — Now that the first Ether collateral trial is complete, we will be launching a second trial that incorporates the collateralisation ratio update from 150% to 125%. The second trial also adds the fix to the previously disclosed bug in the first trial. This has a range of benefits for the protocol, including diversified collateral and more Synths in the system. There will be a cap of 5000 ETH locked as collateral.
• SIP-44: Settlement Improvements — Minor modifications to the settlement process for exchange rates deployments.
• SIP-54: Limit Orders — This SIP adds limit order functionality to Synth exchanges.
• SIP-58: Emit individual Reclaim and Rebate events — In order to help users track fees claimed or rebated from individual transactions, this SIP means the protocol will emit events during settlement that match each individual exchange being settled with the amount reclaimed or rebated.
• SIP-65: Decentralized circuit breaker — This SIP introduces a safety measure by integrating a circuit breaker into each exchange. If the price of either Synth being exchanged has changed by more than a specific percentage the Synth will be suspended.
• SIP-68: Staking Rewards Enhancements — A number of minor improvements to the staking rewards contract.
• SIP-69: New Index Synths — This SIP incorporates community feedback to update the current index tokens s/iDeFi and s/iCEX to include more assets to create more relevant compositions reflecting each space.

This release is called ‘Spica,' which like all releases is named after a star (in order of visual magnitude). If you've got any comments or questions about the release, please come join the conversation in Discord.