Aurora Releases Its Engine 2.9.0 Version

We are thrilled to announce the release of Aurora Engine 2.9.0 on the mainnet! This latest version features the groundbreaking Cross-Contract Call (XCC) for the Aurora EVM, enabling Ethereum-compatible smart contracts to interact seamlessly with Wasm smart contracts within the NEAR ecosystem.

You can now leverage the Aurora Engine 2.9.0 to access the following XCC features:

• Access the XCC feature by calling a special precompile address in your EVM smart contracts.
• Ensure your EVM address has a wrapped NEAR (wNEAR) balance of at least 2 wNEAR for the first use to cover the storage staking cost.
• Remember that the NEAR environment is asynchronous; hence, the result of a NEAR call must be handled as a callback to the EVM.
• The XCC precompile creates a NEAR sub-account for each address using the feature to distinguish users.

Getting started with XCC is easy! The Engine has a streamlined process for EVM accounts to fund their XCC counterparts on NEAR. When you use the XCC feature for the first time, the Engine automatically creates a NEAR sub-account and deploys the XCC Router contract to manage calls on your behalf. This sub-account needs a NEAR balance to cover storage costs. The XCC precompile converts wNEAR tokens from your address into base NEAR to fund the new account, simplifying the process.

In addition to these exciting features, Aurora Engine 2.9.0 includes many minor bug fixes as we continue to improve the code quality of the Aurora Engine.

This new release will unlock exciting opportunities for collaboration and innovation within the Aurora and NEAR ecosystems. We encourage you to explore the potential of Aurora Engine 2.9.0 and the XCC feature and look forward to seeing the fantastic applications you’ll develop!

For more details, and to start taking advantage of the XCC today, you can use the SDK by following this link and check out these examples on how to leverage XCC to interact with NEAR and NEAR’s Blockchain Operating System (BOS).

Best regards,

The Aurora Engine team