Sui’s devnet v1.82.0 release brings a suite of protocol and node‑level updates that streamline operations and reduce costs for developers and validators.
At the core of the update is protocol version 139. The change introduces the `enable_forwarding_addresses` flag, which allows forwarding address registries to be sequenced as an implicitly read system object and passed as a shared input. In addition, the non‑refundable storage fee is dramatically lowered from 1 % to 0.01 % of the storage rebate, a reduction that applies to both devnet and mainnet (the mainnet version is 138). Protocol 139 also imposes a 1 % charge on non‑system package inputs based on per‑byte object read cost.
Other protocol tweaks improve resilience and efficiency. Under protocol 131, the random‑beacon DKG now continues running if a timeout round is missed, potentially re‑enabling randomness mid‑epoch instead of disabling it for the entire epoch. Full nodes that have not enabled pruning will now drop old `executed_transaction_digests` entries from the previous epoch, keeping disk and memory usage bounded.
The update refines client‑side interactions as well. gRPC now accepts an optional `x-sui-consistent-read-checkpoint` header, allowing servers to wait until data up to a specified checkpoint is available before responding. When `enable-simulate-allowed-proposers` is on, `SimulateTransaction` limits returned transactions to allowed proposers for clients with a protocol version header of 136 or higher. A new signature scheme, `SignatureScheme::MLDSA65`, is added, enabling ML‑DSA‑65 signatures and multisig members to be submitted via `ExecuteTransaction` and verified with `VerifySignature`.
On the API side, the legacy JSON‑RPC service has been removed from full nodes, freeing disk space by deleting the old database on startup. GraphQL subscription handling was also updated: resuming a subscription with `after`/`afterCheckpoint` no longer replays checkpoints at or below the resume point when the serving replica’s tip lags that point.
For developers, the lower storage fee and new signature scheme reduce operational costs and expand security options. Validators benefit from the pruning improvements and checkpoint replay options, which can help maintain node performance as the network scales.