Cardano News

Node version 8.10.0-pre is live on SanchoNet, including governance changes, Plutus v3 support, and updates for the Constitution Committee. This version should only be used on SanchoNet, which was recently respun. Frederik Gregaard highlights blockchain’s transformative potential, emphasizing five enablers: decentralized identities, zero-knowledge proofs, oracles, secure bridges, and smart legal contracts. Ha Nguyen, a Vietnamese Meetup Organizer, joins as an Ambassador, enhancing Cardano community engagement. Important updates include Project Catalyst’s new cancellation policy and various Cardano-related events.

Over the past two weeks, the ledger team enhanced conformance tests and infrastructure, fixed node v.8.10 issues, and updated tooling. The Lace team released Lace v.1.10 with simpler onboarding, improved DApp-wallet interaction, and enhanced staking views. The Plutus team updated the Plutus Tx compiler for better short-circuiting, to be released in v1.26.0.0. The Hydra team released v.0.16.0, supporting cardano-node v.8.9.0, and updated Hydra clients. The Mithril team focused on transaction certification, scaling, and decentralizing signer registration. Voltaire & SanchoNet added Conway-related tests and ToJSON instances. Catalyst Fund12 launched in Barcelona on April 26. The education team supported Voltaire training and published Haskell Bootcamp Lesson 18.

This week, the consensus team improved LocalTxMonitor and HasTx functionalities, completed UTXO-HD tests, and addressed issues in the mempool-parallel test. They proposed a new testing framework for quickcheck-dynamic and prepared for node v.8.10 release. The Lace team released v.1.9 with multi-wallet and multi-account support. The Hydra team fixed a broken head situation, enhanced compatibility, and added decommits to the tutorial. The Mithril team worked on transaction certification, scaling, and a decentralized signer registration prototype. Catalyst Fund12 launches on April 26 in Barcelona. The education team continued the Cardano Developer course and prepared for constitutional committee training.

Last week, the "Cardano Girls 59" video released on March 25, 2024, went viral, uniting the Cardano community and highlighting the importance of female participation and collaboration. A V2 of the series is also available. Cardano was nominated for ‘Layer-1 Solution of the Year’ at the Blockchain Life Awards 2024, with voting open until April 11. Project Catalyst Fund12 will launch in Barcelona on April 26, featuring workshops and a launch party, with online streaming available. Other news includes a spotlight on Stake Pool ABLE, a new bug bounty program with Immunefi, and a strategic partnership between Emurgo and Encryptus.

This week, the consensus team finalized integrating node v.8.10.0-pre for SanchoNet governance testing. The ledger team enhanced test frameworks and data quality, resolving issues and improving signal generation. The performance team conducted benchmarks for node v.8.9.1. The Lace team prepared for the release of Lace v.1.9. The Plutus team added a new guide on AsData functionality and optimized scripts. The Hydra team restored network test compatibility, fixed bugs, and prepared a new API format. The Mithril team released distribution 2412.0 with updates, continued transaction certification, and worked on a P2P network prototype. Voltaire & SanchoNet improved governance action handling and efficiency. Project Catalyst paused town halls until Fund12 launches on April 26 in Barcelona, introduced a formal cancellation policy, and planned for future accountability. The education team continued the Cardano Developer course and worked on Haskell Bootcamp Lesson 18.

In March, Mithril saw an increase in SPO participation, reaching 230 pools with 4.6B₳ stake, representing 20% of the active stake. The release of Mithril distribution 2412.0 included support for Prometheus metrics, Pallas-based chain observer implementation, and the deprecation of the snapshot command. Hydra focused on incremental commits and decommits, Conway era support, and preparing for the 0.16.0 release. Significant progress was made on streaming plugins, with SundaeLabs contributing to a plugin architecture that enhances Hydra's extensibility for various external systems and scalable persistence methods.

Over the past few weeks, the SRE team deployed cardano-node v.8.9.0 across all environments and created a new profile-cardano-db-sync-snapshots nixosModule. The consensus team merged an alternative fs-api interface, implemented a new diffusion pipelining criterion, and released consensus packages for node v.8.9.1. The Plutus team optimized UPLC and improved documentation. The Hydra team aligned the specification with the incremental de-commit implementation, updated to cardano-api v.8.40, and tested against cardano-node v.8.9.0. The Mithril team focused on transaction certification, UI improvements, metadata provision, and low-latency transaction signing. SanchoNet resources were updated with compatible components. Project Catalyst shared results from the first non-funding vote and announced Fund12’s launch in Barcelona at the end of April. The education team resumed the Cardano Developer Course and supported Voltaire’s constitutional committee training plans.

The Cardano Summit 2024 will be held in Dubai, UAE, from October 23-24, aiming to connect global blockchain enthusiasts and foster innovation. Cardano node version 8.9.0 has been released, introducing Genesis Lite and addressing the "Blocks from the Future" issue. The "Spotlight on Stake Pools" series features ABLE, led by Mike Hornan, highlighting its educational initiatives and contributions. Other news includes CEO Frederik Gregaard's reflections on 2023, a governance event in Tokyo, the Cardano Foundation's redesigned website, insights from the Aiken Team, and a Cardano Hackathon in Berlin on July 26-27.

The DRep Pioneer Workshop Leaders Program, launched by Intersect, educates the Cardano community about decentralized governance as outlined in CIP-1694. This program, part of the Chang upgrade, trains Delegated Representatives (DReps) to participate in Cardano’s liquid democracy. Selected leaders from diverse regions will deliver training, fostering informed decision-making. This initiative supports Cardano’s transition into the ‘Voltaire’ era, emphasizing community-driven governance.

This week, the core technology teams released node v.8.9.0, introducing Genesis Lite bootstrap peers and fixing a dynamic block forging bug. The Lace team started closed beta testing for DApp discovery. The Plutus team added Plutus contract blueprints in the 1.23.0.0 release. The Hydra team worked on the cardano-api-classy library, improved Hydra Head explorer UI, error reporting, and refactored protocol logic. The Mithril team certified Cardano transactions, improved the Mithril explorer UI, and optimized communications between Mithril and Cardano nodes. The ledger team focused on Conway functionality, testing, and code cleanup. Catalyst held a non-funding vote for Fund12’s launch location and conducted a retrospective on Fund11. The education team wrote content for Mastering Cardano and updated the Cardano Developer Course.