Charles Hoskinson reported that the ‘Alonzo’ test net would reach Cardano this April as a hard fork.

The long-awaited ‘Alonzo’ testnet, which will bring intelligent controls to the Cardano (ADA) network, could experience its launch at the end of April. IOHK CEO and Cardano Lead Developer Charles Hoskinson previewed some of the following steps within the project’s roadmap during the Cardano360 virtual conference. Hoskinson stated that the testnet would launch in late April or early May.

Cardano’s transition is taking place through three updates; two hard forks will be the beginning. Allegra, which came to life in December 2020, brought code ready for developers to start their testing procedures, and ‘Mary, ‘which turned Cardano into a multi-asset network and came to life in early March.

The final piece is ‘Alonzo, ‘which will incorporate the extended UTXO model with the Plutus intelligent contract language. As Hoskinson revealed, ‘Alonzo ‘will also take place in the form of a hard fork at the end of next month. Smart contracts will be available for testing purposes, with the full mainnet launch schedule set for August.

Hardfork for ‘Alonzo’ will set its Implementation Between April and May

Hoskinson revealed the timetable for Alonzo to meet its complete stage. Hoskinson explained that the process needs integration into the ledger and node code, rolling out from now until early April. On the other hand, the “alpha partners” will run acceptance criteria.

Throughout March and throughout April, integration into the node to get a CLI will happen. As integration occurs, partners are brought in, and these are alpha partners, so they are very close and deep in the company’s court.

Once this is done, in late April or early May, IOHK – the technology team building the Cardano protocol will be ready to launch the ‘Alonzo’ testnet. Hoskinson also said that vast groups of programming professionals and Plutus pioneers are about to command stress tests on the web.

Hoskinson cautioned that matter because Plutus had found its structure by a separate team, there might be some “rough edges” when integrating alongside Shelley’s. Therefore, he also explained that quality control and user acceptance testing are always essential requirements to avoid any related issues.

Cardano’s New Fork Means a New Era for the Platform

The addition of smart contracts for Cardano will mean a new milestone for the platform, which will finally rank as a proper rival to Ethereum concerning its functionalities.

Ethereum has been capable of smart contracts for a very long time. However, more recently, an environment of decentralized applications based on smart contracts has started to gain traction within that network. Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a booming space that currently has close to $ 40 billion in locked capital.

The leading DeFi platforms, such as MakerDAO, Compound, Aave, are based on Ethereum smart contracts. With the appearance of smart contracts to Cardano, this network will finally host DeFi protocols. This week, Hoskinson suggested that many of Ethereum’s DeFi would migrate to Cardano once the update has taken place.

By: Jenson Nuñez

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here