Cardano News

Cardano is strengthening its presence in Argentina through key initiatives, including developer workshops, the ADN event, and discussions with government officials. The ALBA program at UTN is advancing blockchain education, and a recent workshop led by IOG culminated in a graduation event attended by Charles Hoskinson. The ADN event showcased blockchain innovations, while government talks explored blockchain's potential in Argentina. Additionally, Cardano's first community-driven Constitutional Workshop was held in Argentina. These activities highlight Cardano's commitment to local engagement and blockchain innovation. The Cardano Foundation also launched the SSI Wallet Alpha Program, inviting users to test and contribute to its development.

The ledger team focused on Conway features and fixed a bug affecting functionality post-bootstrap. Hydra worked on network reliability, upgraded the Hydra head for node compatibility, and introduced a technical writing guide. Mithril released distribution 2430.0, supporting Cardano node 9.1.0, activated transaction certification in test networks, and continued CIP drafting. Catalyst's onboarding is progressing, with Town Hall 173 marking Fund12's end. The education team completed a Cardano Developer course in Buenos Aires and organized a graduation event for smart contract developers.

Input Output Global has launched the alpha v1 release of partner chains, enabling new blockchain networks to bootstrap security by leveraging Cardano's stake pool operators (SPOs). This release introduces innovations like shared security, mixed validator committees, and consensus model flexibility, allowing partner chains to benefit from Cardano's extensive network. While this release is not for live production, it marks a significant milestone in realizing Charles' vision. Midnight will be the first partner chain to use this technology, with further developments and feedback expected in the coming months.

Intersect’s organizational structure is crucial to the Cardano ecosystem, featuring seven key committees: Budget, Cardano Civics, Marketing, Membership & Community, Open Source, Parameters, and Technology Steering. These committees manage various aspects of Cardano’s development and governance. They collaborate with Working Groups and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to ensure efficient and decentralized network management. This episode provides a detailed overview of each committee’s responsibilities and their contributions to Cardano’s growth.

In 2024, Cardano is transitioning to a fully community-run governance structure, with Intersect playing a crucial supporting role. Six key developments to expect include:

1. Cardano Constitution workshops: Intersect will organize workshops to gather community feedback for drafting the Cardano Constitution.
2. Cardano Constitutional Convention: Set for December 2024, this event in Buenos Aires will present and potentially ratify the final Constitution.
3. DRep launch: The first batch of Delegate Representatives (DReps) will begin operating, enabling direct community participation in governance.
4. Intersect grants: Intersect will provide grants for technical projects and event organization.
5. Community hubs: Intersect will support local gatherings and hackathons to unite the Cardano ecosystem.
6. Governance educational videos: Intersect will release video series to educate the community on Cardano governance.

Cardano node v.9.1.0 has been released, featuring critical updates for the upcoming Chang upgrade, including a Conway genesis file, CLI enhancements, and CIP compatibility. Performance benchmarks for node v.9.0.0 showed significant improvements. The networking team advanced tx-submission design and reviewed Genesis pull requests. The Lace team is preparing for version 1.14, and Plutus TX has been rebranded as Plinth. The Hydra and Mithril teams made progress on network reliability and transaction certification. The education team is in Argentina teaching a Cardano Developer course.

This monthly report on Cardano's Hydra and Mithril scaling projects provides an insightful overview of the latest advancements and plans. Notably, the Mithril team released a new distribution (2428.0) with critical updates, prepared for upcoming distributions supporting Cardano node 9.1.0, and showcased a transaction verification demo in the Nami wallet. Meanwhile, Hydra's roadmap saw significant progress with the completion of incremental decommits, integration of an SDK for wallet developers, and ongoing efforts towards defining Hydra Head V1. The July 2024 stakeholder meeting featured engaging presentations, including Blockfrost's Mithril certificate demo and discussions on enhancing Hydra's functionality, reflecting the community's growing interest and collaboration in Cardano's scaling solutions.

The Cardano Foundation participated in Project Catalyst Fund 12, where 258 projects received funding, highlighting the community-driven development of the Cardano ecosystem. Cardano-node 9.0.0 was released, adding on-chain governance, Plutus v1 reference scripts, and enhanced smart contract security. EMURGO announced the relaunch of the USDA stablecoin under Encryptus. Cardano Ambassador Lloyd Duhon discussed future governance innovations, including DReps and the Voltaire era. Additional updates include the release of Cardano Wallet v2024-07-19, support for Cardano Native Tokens by Tangem, and the launch of Cardano Codex 2024.

The ledger team focuses on testing for the Chang upgrade. Lace v.1.14 is upcoming. Hydra updated for node v.9.0.0 and simplified the demo setup. Mithril released distribution 2428.0, supported node v.9.0.0, fixed bugs, and optimized certification. Node users should upgrade to v.9.0.0. Fund12 results announced 258 new projects, with Town Hall 171 celebrating winners. Catalyst completed 900+ projects and allocated over 100M ADA. The education team is in Buenos Aires for the Cardano Developer course.

A blockchain hard fork upgrades the software run by distributed nodes, introducing new features and improving security. Cardano uses a hard fork combinator (HFC) for smooth transitions. The Chang Hard Fork requires 70% of stake pool operators and 80% of exchange liquidity to upgrade, marking the start of community-run governance outlined in CIP-1694. Part one includes the Interim Cardano Constitution and the Interim Constitutional Committee, while part two introduces Delegate Representatives, SPO voting, and treasury management, fully implementing decentralized governance by Q4 2024. This transition will make Cardano the first truly community-run blockchain network.