Cardano is a blockchain platform that utilizes a proof of stake consensus mechanism. It’s the third biggest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of more than $80 billion. Alonzo is the name of Cardano’s hard fork which is a major upgrade of Cardano’s network and is set to launch today, September 12th, 2021.
Why Alonzo hard fork is important for Cardano?
Alonzo hard fork brings the functionality of smart contracts to the Cardano network. Developers will be able to create their own smart contracts which open Cardano towards DeFi and NFT world. Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, repeatedly stated that he wants to make Cardano the hub of DeFi and NFTs. Despite this upgrade, it will take some time to actually deploy smart contracts. Hoskinson announced that only a few simple smart contracts will go live with the launch of Alonzo.
In which stage is Cardano ecosystem?
Cardano’s development is divided into 5 main stages:
With Alonzo hard fork Cardano is entering a new stage – Goguen. The new stage brings huge optimism to the Cardano community, as it will challenge Ethereum’s smart contract ecosystem. Cardano was also one of the biggest gainers of the recent crypto bull run. ADA being worth $2.6 is a price increase of more than 40% in the last month.
There are many challenges Cardano is yet to overcome, but the development so far gives confidence to the community that it will continue to advance towards the set goal. It will be interesting to see new use cases on Cardano network which will surely contribute to overall crypto adoption. We will continue to follow how Cardano moves forward in the new stage and years to come.