Tezos is preparing to launch the first public testnet for Tezos X — a major upgrade designed to merge EVM and Michelson smart contracts into a single composable execution environment.
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The testnet is expected to go live in May, marking the first real deployment of a roadmap that has been evolving since 2024.
At its core, Tezos X is designed to eliminate one of blockchain’s biggest usability problems: fragmented ecosystems that rely on bridges, wrapped assets, and isolated liquidity.
Instead of operating across disconnected environments, Tezos X allows applications built with Solidity and Michelson to interact directly on the same ledger.
No bridges. No synthetic assets. No separate chains.
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One Transaction, Multiple Worlds
The architecture introduces what Tezos describes as a unified execution layer.
In practice, that means an app built in Michelson can interact atomically with an EVM smart contract inside a single transaction.
One example shared by the team imagines an NFT marketplace written in Michelson where an item priced in tez can still be purchased using USDC held inside an EVM contract — all settling instantly on the same chain.
The goal is composability without fragmentation.
Developers building on EVM retain access to existing Solidity tooling and infrastructure, while Michelson developers can continue deploying contracts using their current workflows without rewriting applications from scratch.
The execution layer itself is built as an enshrined, non-custodial rollup secured by Tezos Layer 1, meaning there are no additional governance tokens or external validator systems introduced into the stack.
Performance Became the Priority
Since the original Tezos X roadmap was introduced, the network’s priorities have shifted heavily toward speed and execution performance.
According to the latest update, throughput has increased nearly 14x to 27 Mgas/s — roughly equivalent to around 1,300 transactions per second — with internal experiments showing room for significantly higher scaling.
Latency has also become a central focus.
Tezos says its sequencer infrastructure now enables confirmations in the millisecond range, with current latency sitting near 50ms in some environments.
That speed upgrade also introduces additional benefits around transaction ordering and MEV protection, giving users more certainty around execution outcomes before blocks finalize.
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Etherlink Evolves Into the Execution Layer
The first rollout of Tezos X will initially support two environments:
Rather than launching as an entirely separate product, the execution layer will arrive through an Etherlink upgrade proposal that expands Etherlink into a broader multi-interface system.
The architecture is also designed to support additional runtimes in the future, including potential JavaScript-based environments after a planned RISC-V migration later in 2026.
That migration is expected to move the rollup engine from WASM to RISC-V, opening the door for more predictable gas accounting, JIT compilation, and significantly faster integration of new programming environments.
A Different Approach to Scaling
Tezos also used the update to distance its architecture from the fragmented Layer-2 landscape commonly associated with Ethereum.
Instead of deploying multiple semi-independent chains, Tezos X is positioned as a unified execution layer directly embedded into the protocol itself.
The team says this distinction is why it has started replacing the phrase “canonical rollup” with “execution layer.”
Unlike many L2 ecosystems that introduce separate governance structures or custodial assumptions, Tezos X remains governed by Tezos bakers and secured by Layer 1 consensus.
“People should use applications that happen to be powered by Tezos, not ‘use a blockchain’ as a primary act,” the post states.
The broader vision is to make blockchain infrastructure increasingly invisible to end users.
Mainnet Could Arrive This Summer
The near-term roadmap is now relatively clear.
May 2026 will focus on public testing, allowing developers to experiment with cross-interface composability between EVM and Michelson applications.
If validation proceeds successfully, a governance vote is expected in June through an Etherlink upgrade proposal.
Approval would officially bring Tezos X to mainnet, making composable EVM and Michelson execution live inside the Tezos ecosystem for the first time.
For Tezos, the launch represents more than just another scaling upgrade.
It is a long-awaited attempt to unify multiple smart contract environments into a single execution system — while keeping the network’s core principles around self-custody, governance, and protocol-native interoperability intact.