As a researcher who has witnessed the evolution of blockchain technology over the past decade, I must admit that watching Cardano grow from its humble beginnings to becoming one of the top players in the cryptocurrency market is nothing short of fascinating. It’s like observing a caterpillar transform into a butterfly, except this metamorphosis happens in mere years instead of months or seasons.
This past Friday, the Cardano blockchain celebrated its seventh birthday, establishing itself as one of the most well-known protocols in the crypto market. Right now, Cardano’s native currency, ADA, holds the eleventh spot among all cryptocurrencies, with a market value of around $14 billion.
The business entity responsible for Cardano, known as Input Output Global (IOG), took to social media platforms to commemorate a notable achievement. They emphasized substantial progress made since its establishment by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders, who also contributed significantly to the creation of the Ethereum blockchain’s inception.
Cardano’s Architectural Evolution Over Seven Years
In a tribute video, Input Output Global (IOG) highlighted significant stats demonstrating the progress and advancement of Cardano. With more than 95 million transactions conducted, the blockchain network has proven its utilization and acceptance over time.
Furthermore, over 74,000 instances of Plutus scripts have run successfully, playing a crucial role in the smooth operation of smart contracts within this system.
Cardano has seen impressive levels of community involvement as well. This includes the formation of around 1.3 million delegated wallets and the release of 226 academic papers. Moreover, about 1,373 projects have been initiated on the blockchain, indicating a high level of community activity.
Through its 12 financing stages, the Catalyst Funding Program has been instrumental in propelling advancements within the Cardano system. By backing more than 1,800 innovative concepts, this initiative has encouraged updates and additional growth within the protocol.
Over the past seven years, there have been major changes in Cardano’s structure. The move from the Shelley phase to the Alonzo hard fork represented a crucial turning point.
Moves Toward Decentralized Decision-Making
2020 marked the start of the Shelley phase, a time dedicated to promoting decentralization and bolstering network security via Ouroboros updates. These updates optimized stake pool functionality and ADA distribution, thereby fostering attractive staking rewards for participants.
As a crypto investor, I was thrilled by the Alonzo hard fork, rolled out in 2021, which transformed Cardano by introducing smart contract functionalities. This upgrade notably boosted the block size and optimized script memory unit parameters, making it simpler for developers to build on the platform. With these advancements, it’s now possible to develop decentralized applications (dApps) that take full advantage of Cardano’s unique features.
With the Vasil and Chang updates, improvements were made, with Chang being the initial hard fork during Voltaire’s era, marking the final phase of the protocol. The Vasil update, rolled out in 2022, brought on new functionalities such as enhanced Plutus scripts to cut down transaction fees and the adoption of diffusion pipelining for quicker block transmission.
In two stages, the latest Chang update is being deployed, incorporating on-chain governance into the system. The initial stage, utilizing CIP-1694, establishes a base for decentralized voting and governance activities.
In the next stage, we’ll bring on more governance features such as delegate representation and treasury withdrawals. This will give the community even more control and influence.
Next Steps In The Voltaire Era
As a researcher, I am anticipating that the second phase of the Voltaire era will involve transitioning from the original genesis keys, which have been instrumental in maintaining our network since its birth, to a system primarily supported by Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) and with heightened participation from Delegated Representatives (DReps) and the Constitutional Committee (CC).
To ensure we reach decentralized governance, it’s crucial to verify that stake pool nodes comply with the necessary operational standards and that decentralized applications (DApps) are almost ready for deployment.
The shift to the Voltaire period will happen once the Genesis keys are used for the last time, leading to a significant update called a hard fork. This event solidifies Cardano’s position as an autonomous blockchain. Yet, specific details about upcoming improvements and their release dates have not been shared publicly at this time.
Currently, when I’m typing this, the native token of the protocol, ADA, is being traded at approximately $0.403. In just the past week, it has increased by almost 15%, largely due to the overall market surge.
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2024-09-28 18:12