Block.One, a blockchain software development firm, released EOS.io 2.0, the software holding the EOS blockchain. In the release statement published on Twitter on Jan. 10, Block.One alleged that the update makes the blockchain “faster, simpler, and even more secure.”

The official blog post on new software demonstrates that it comprises a purpose-built WebAssembly (WASM) engine on which the EOS smart contracts work. WASM is an instruction format intended for deployment on the web and servers according to its official website.

This change is supposed to enhance the performance of smart contract performance, given that it is apparently up to 16 times faster than the engine employed in the previous version.

This update also adds WebAuthn support. WebAuthn is a web authentication standard based around public-key cryptography, according to the official website. The announcement illustrates how EOS developers could utilize this standard:

“With this release of WebAuthn support for EOSIO, developers can begin testing transaction signing with WebAuthn in their EOSIO applications.”

According to sources, presently, there is no particular date for confirmation of the update.

Block.One also claims to have significantly advanced the network code of the blockchain by attaching multithreading support to it. Multithreading is the capacity of a central processing unit to administer multiple threads of execution at the same time.

Multithreading support should enhance the performance in block propagation, transaction processing, Block and transaction packing, and unpacking and other processes as those are now all handled by a separate thread. The post reads:

“By isolating these processes, we have seen significant improvements in transaction processing and block processing performance on multi-producer EOSIO networks.”

Moreover, the update is released alongside a dedicated integrated development environment (IDE) that should probably speed up developer onboarding.

This is the second recent announcement that came from Block.One which might have a significant impact on the EOS ecosystem. Block.One also recently introduced a substantial change to the network’s resource allocation system that would require users to lease network resources instead of buying them.