CCIP v1.6 is officially live! This upgrade features numerous architectural improvements that facilitate faster chain integrations and reduced costs for users and node operators Notably this includes: - Non-EVM Chain Support: v1.6 makes CCIP VM-agnostic, which unlocked support for the first non-EVM chain, @solana. Any chain, using any virtual machine (EVM, SVM, Move, etc), can be integrated with CCIP. - Faster Chain Expansion: A leaner onchain footprint (one OnRamp/OffRamp contract per-chain, instead of per chain-lane), combined with an offchain Risk Mangement Network implementation, means CCIP's footprint only grows proportionally with the number of chains - Any-to-Any Connectivity: By moving from lane-based to chain-based deployments, any chains supported by v1.6 become interoperable with all other v1.6 chains by default. Solana is the first chain supported by v1.6, with more to come - Enhanced Execution Batching: CCIP can now not only batch messages from the same source + destination chain lane, but can batch messages from multiple source chains landing on the same destination chain. This reduces costs for users as CCIP volume grows - New Architectural Design: CCIP v1.6 now operates as a global decentralized oracle network (DON) where nodes receive sub-network roles (Committing DON, Executing DON) from a Capability Registry on a home chain. This allows nodes to support a subset of CCIP-connected chains, rather than all chains, allowing for specialization and further scaling gains Notably, with the CCIP v1.6 upgrade, all existing CCIP integrations remain compatible, requiring no modifications from devs Minor additional upgrades also include single chain payments for node operators via the Reserve contract and streamlined token pricing and gas updates required for CCIP fee pricing