One of the companies behind the Cardano (ADA) blockchain, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), has announced the launch of Alonzo Blue 2.0’s testnet for the cryptocurrency’s blockchain, in another step forward to bringing smart contracts to Cardano.
In a tweet, IOHK detailed this is an important milestone as even though it’s “still early code” it’s a “crucial building block.” It provides an important update to the command line interface that will allow future smart contracts to be built upon on the network.
Moreover, smart transactions enabling users to associate a transaction’s metadata on-chain and store executable contract data are being implemented. Stake pool operators have 24 hours to update their nodes before running test scrips.
Alonzo Blue is part of a series of upgrades that will bring smart contracts to the Cardano network and allow developers to create decentralized applications on it, bringing the decentralized finance ecosystem to ADA. Currently, smart contracts have allowed developers to create DeFi applications on Ethereum., Binance Smart Chain, and Solana, for example.
The Alonzo hard fork is part of the network’s “Goguen” era, named after Joseph Goguen, an American professor of computer science from the University of California and the University of Oxford. The Goguen era comes after the Shelley phase, in which Cardano became a decentralized blockchain and community members became validators.
Alonzo will roll out in three phases: blue, white, and purple. Each opens up more to the public until the upgrade’s full integration is complete, with the process taking 90 days. It’s expected to be completed by the end of August. It will include a converter to allow ERC20 tokens from the Ethereum blockchain to run on Cardano.
As CryptoGlobe reported, the Cardano network has recently hit a new milestone, as one million wallets have now been created on it. The milestone was reached at a time in which thousands of new wallets are being created every day as presumably more users join the network in anticipation of the smart contract rollout.
The price of Cardano’s ADA is up over 1,900% over the last 12 months as it’s currently trading at $1.56, according to CryptoCompare data.
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