Cardano News

Reflecting on 2023, the Cardano Foundation has achieved significant milestones. At the Cardano Summit 2023, the importance of public trust was emphasized. The Foundation enhanced operational resilience through continuous network monitoring and collaboration with exchanges, contributing to network health. Educational initiatives included the Cardano Explorer and Academy. Adoption efforts showcased blockchain’s broader uses, such as in the Georgian wine industry. The Foundation developed tools like the Identity Wallet and Ledger Sync to drive adoption. Looking ahead, Cardano aims to strengthen trust and stability in blockchain infrastructure.

The Cardano Foundation has announced that the Cardano Summit 2024 will be held in Dubai, UAE from 23 to 24 October. The Summit aims to foster connections and drive the use of blockchain technology into new frontiers, offering attendees opportunities to learn from experts, establish relationships, and find inspiration in how blockchain can solve real-world problems. Dubai’s reputation as a leading crypto hub makes it an ideal location for the event, building on the success of last year’s Summit. The 2023 edition saw over 10,000 attendees and 27 community events worldwide. Cardano Foundation CEO, Frederik Gregaard, highlighted the growing adoption of blockchain across various sectors and expressed excitement for hosting the Summit in Dubai again. Attendees can register their interest and learn more about the event’s agenda, speakers, and activities.

This week, the networking team published several packages, including ouroboros-network-0.12.0.0, and fixed syncing in bootstrap mode. The consensus team updated production libraries for UTXO-HD, measured sync times, fixed a snapshot interval bug, and added UTXO size analysis. The Plutus team advanced CIP-57 implementation for contract blueprints. The Hydra team prepared for the Conway switch, added a UI to the Hydra explorer, and made off-chain protocol changes. The Mithril team worked on transaction certification, improved the explorer, and implemented Prometheus monitoring. The SanchoNet team updated documentation. Catalyst continued onboarding Fund11 projects and began retrospective discussions for Fund12. The education team updated the Haskell Bootcamp and Cardano Developer courses.

On March 1, 2024, at 15:13:47 CET, Cardano celebrated its 10 millionth block, minted by JAPAN4 pool. This milestone highlights the community's dedication since Shelley in 2020. The Edinburgh Decentralization Index (EDI) released dashboards showing Cardano's superior decentralization, with a Nakamoto coefficient of 58, compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum's 2. The Japanese Cardano community hosted a successful booth at Japan Web 3 Week Tokyo, with future events planned. Other news includes Rejuve’s decentralized aging research, IOG's new stablecoin XSY, CIP-1694 governance feature testing on SanchoNet, and Cryptoheadz's Cardano introduction event in California.

Cardano wallets, essential for blockchain interaction, range from hot wallets for convenience, cold storage for security, to full node wallets for transaction validation. Hot wallets like Nami, Typhon, Eternl, VESPR, and Lace offer various features. Cold storage options Ledger, Trezor, and Keystone provide offline security. The full node wallet Daedalus ensures maximum security by validating transactions locally. Each type caters to different user needs.

This week, the ledger team added reference script support for Plutus V1 in Conway, addressed stake distribution inaccuracies, and improved tooling and tests. The Plutus team began implementing the contract blueprint for Plutus Tx and updated the quick start guide to recommend the IOGX Nix flake template. The Hydra team resolved the fanout bug, optimized fee estimation, and implemented transaction metadata. The Mithril team released distribution 2408.0 with significant updates, including improved stake distribution support, and continued developing transaction certification data types. The SanchoNet team launched a patch release, fixed BLS12-381 primitives issues, and brought the GovTool online with limited wallet support. Project Catalyst is onboarding 300 approved projects, emphasizing the Statement of Milestones for accountability, and preparing for a special voting event to decide Fund12's launch location. The education team updated advanced lessons in the Haskell Bootcamp course and practical scenarios in the Cardano Developer Course.

The first joint report for Hydra and Mithril projects highlights progress since January 2024. Mithril released distribution 2408.0, with updates like SanchoNet network release and Cardano transaction certification. Enhanced support for Conway and SanchoNet was also implemented. Hydra saw roadmap changes, with significant updates including dropping JSON encoded transaction support, progress on the Hydra heads explorer, and work on incremental commit features. The team resolved a fanout bug discovered during hydra-chess development and deployed a Hydra explorer supporting multiple versions, though it currently supports only one version per network.

This week, the networking team integrated bootstrap peers with cardano-node for improved connectivity and enhanced the tx-submission logic. The consensus team addressed unnecessary block downloads, fixed a bug in the io-sim, and added support for configuring ledger state snapshots. The Hydra team advanced model-based testing, resolved validation issues, and integrated Haskell linting. The Mithril team developed a new data type for certifying Cardano transactions, enhanced browser verification with the WASM client, and deployed a new Mithril network on SanchoNet. SanchoNet focused on governance actions and tutorials. Project Catalyst announced a fun voting event to determine Fund12’s launch city and continued onboarding Fund11 projects. The education team delivered the Cardano Developer course and updated the Haskell Bootcamp course.

Messari’s ‘State of Cardano’ Q4 2023 report shows significant growth, moving from 34th to 11th in total value locked ranking, with notable stablecoin developments and infrastructure progress. Catalyst Fund 11 results revealed 300 projects funded from 8,000 wallets casting over 300,000 votes. The Cardano Foundation’s initiatives in education and research are highlighted in a recent blog. Rejuve’s Developer Blog discusses using AI and blockchain to address aging. Other news includes FINMA’s stance on staking protocols, Plutus V3 on SanchoNet, and Charles Hoskinson’s insights on the crypto industry.

In this interview, Jasmine, CEO and co-founder of Rejuve.AI, provides insight into the project's mission to address human aging and longevity challenges. The decentralized research network uses AI and blockchain to reward data contributors, deliver personalized insights and establish connections with trusted providers in a Web3-based ecosystem for longevity.

The decision to launch on Cardano reflects their commitment to decentralization and governance. Jasmine discusses performance, highlights the unique features of the Longevity App and outlines the future roadmap.

The interview concludes with a look at the key partnerships contributing to Rejuve.AI's success. Lets dive right in!