What You Need to Know About Cardano Alonzo’s Hard Fork

Alonzo Hard Fork will bring much-anticipated smart contract functionality. After its implementation, anyone will build and post their contracts onto the Cardano blockchain, giving space for native dapps.

Cardano’s Alonzo Hard Fork will bring smart contract functionality. After implementation, anyone will build and post their contracts onto the Cardano blockchain. And give space for native dapps.

The Cardano development team has been hard at work over the past few months. They have been churning out updates to the network before Shelley’s reign comes to an end. The first significant update of Goguen will be out in Q3. Technically, it will mark a new era for this blockchain system. Also, it is one more step on its way towards global adoption and acceptance by users everywhere!

The Ages of Cardano

Cardano’s design is to be a gamechanger. With six main stages, the project will grow and develop. Indeed each new phase expands its functionality.

Byron: Cardano’s revolutionary, the peer-to-peer protocol allows users to exchange the ADA currency. Besides, they can mine it with their proof of stake.

Shelley: They transfer the network through incentives. Thus, encouraging participants to host their nodes. The main goal of this era is to ensure a diverse group of people is running these computers.

Goguen: Initiates smart contract skills to the network. This allows developers to propagate applications on top of Cardano.

Basho: The Cardano technology ecosystem is about to take on a new form by introducing side chains. This will allow for more complex and innovative scaling solutions in the blockchain.

Voltaire: A new voting system for self-sustaining governance is on the way to EOS. Users will be able to stake their funds. As a result, they will have a say in the future development of this decentralized network.

Cardano developers are putting the finishing touches on its Ouroboros protocol. This intends to deliver better incentives for stakeholders. The final push of Shelley is coming soon. And it also promises to unlock exciting features like high-definition wallets!

The Shelley project is one of the most ambitious blockchain projects to date. Introduced in 2019, it has already seen two major hard forks: Allegra and Mary.

The recent release of Allera introduced a token locking mechanism. In brief, it allows users to lock up Cardano tokens in anticipation of on-chain voting. Importantly, Mary came up with token support for CNT. It enables users to create and deploy their tokens on the blockchain.

Cardano’s “hard fork combinator” system allows for more seamless and efficient transitions. They can do this by combining two different protocols (Byron or Shelley) on a single ledger.

Alonzo Stages

Developers at Cardano were hesitant to undergo a hard fork. They believed it would be divisive, with many community members not switching over.

Either way, there is no need to worry about a slow transition or disruptive updates. The combinator will allow for seamless transitions without any friction.

The hard fork has three main color-coded phases.

• Alonzo Blue
• Alonzo White
• Alonzo Purple

After Alonzo Purple, there are two subsequent phases called “Alonzo Red” and “Alonzo Black.” These smaller tests help identify bugs in the blockchain that may need to be fixed before it goes live.

Alonzo Blue launched smart contracts to 50 technical participants. Many found and tweaked minor errors. The test phase revealed bugs expected with all software as it is tested more in the future.

After months of development, IOG and Alonzo Blue are ready to take on a new challenge. Their latest experiment is an endurance test. Additionally, it will push the capabilities of their most recent addition.

The exercise boot camp has been designed for hundreds of people who’ve joined the network. Furthermore, they aim to put it through its paces over two weeks or less. And depending on how well they fare against these challenges!

Alonzo Purple is set to become one of the first public testnets. This will allow them to onboard thousands of more participants. Also, they are planning on splitting it up into two phases — first light purple, which allows for simple, smart contracts. Secondly, Dark purple would be able to support much more complex ones.

Alonzo Red/Black is the final testing phase before Alonzo’s release. This stage includes bug fixes and cleanup to prepare for the next hard fork.

No more changes are allowed after this point, so inspection must be thorough. So, there is no room for errors that could jeopardize or delay development on future updates.

With the Goguen Era, developers will build DApps on Cardano’s network. Thanks to Alonzo’s new smart contract capabilities.

The Plutus Platform plans to release an intelligent contract builder during this phase. This will allow technical and non-technical users to build dapps.

What is Platus

Plutus creates a system that allows developers to create smart contracts. Additionally, the same programming language, whether on- or off-chain. This way, there is no difference between coding for one and another!

Platus Core

Cardano’s Plutus Core is the programming language. It connects smart contracts with Cardano’s final layer, their blockchain. Also, it simplifies code for use in a distributed ledger space. Plutus Core allows developers and users to focus less on details complicating coding.

Hoskinson mentions this in his Africa Vision video. “DApps will bring efficiency to the world.” Eventually, these projects may replace many real-world financial institutions. And provide economic freedom for those who need it most.