Cardano News

The first Cardano Buidler Fest was exhilarating and intense, yet enjoyable for attendees. It featured engaging presentations, lively discussions, and joyful dinners. With 102 participants, 53 proposed sessions, and 29 additional sessions, the event was packed with activities. Despite being sold out early, a participant from Peru managed to join. Feedback highlighted the perfect size, great venue, and excellent food, though improvements are needed in diversity and space for coding. Overall, the event fostered positive interactions and valuable insights.

This week, the performance team analyzed Conway era benchmarks with DReps, improved error reporting, and supported the new CLI command for testnet data. Node metrics were expanded, and UTXO scaling benchmarks were completed. The networking team enhanced peer-sharing, worked on Genesis APIs, resolved bootstrap peer issues, and synchronized churn with outbound governor. The Plutus team improved fixed point operators for efficiency. The Hydra team refactored network protocols and made workflow fixes. Voltaire & SanchoNet finalized Conway era features, updated Plutus CostModels, and improved CI setups. Fund12 in Catalyst is ongoing with approaching deadlines. The education team launched the DRep Pioneer Program, published Haskell Bootcamp lesson 19, and continued work on Mastering Cardano.

Ouroboros Genesis, the latest enhancement to Cardano’s consensus protocol, addresses the vulnerabilities of nodes joining or rejoining the network. It introduces concepts like ledger peers, lightweight checkpointing, limits on eagerness (LoE) and patience (LoP), and Genesis density disconnections (GDD). These measures prevent long-range and eclipse attacks, ensuring nodes can securely sync with the blockchain. The first Genesis-capable implementation is expected by Q3 2024, with ongoing optimizations to handle increased peer counts.

Over the past few weeks, the SRE team deployed Cardano node v.8.9.2 to various environments and v.8.10.1-pre to SanchoNet, rewriting the ouroboros-network-ops cluster. The consensus team reworked database arguments for UTXO-HD, reviewed the Peras innovation report, and supported networking work on big ledger peers. The Mithril team prepared distribution 2418.1-pre with broader CPU support, implemented transaction certification, and worked on signature and proof generation. They also started a global configuration file and investigated error logs. The node and CLI team released v.8.10.1-pre to SanchoNet, improved CI pipelines, and implemented build-estimate for transaction balancing. Fund12 entered the submissions phase with a deadline of May 13. The education team developed the DRep Pioneer program curriculum and attended the Cardano Buidler fest and Catalyst Fund12 launch.

In April, the Mithril project focused on increasing SPO participation, reaching 258 registered signers, representing 22% of Cardano’s active stake. Key updates included a pre-release of distribution 2418.1 and decentralization experiments for the signer registration process. The Hydra project updated its roadmap, emphasizing incremental commits and decommits, and introduced enhancements to the /commit endpoint. The Cardano Buidler Fest featured significant contributions, including the integration of Mithril into Cardano’s IBC protocol and Sundae Labs’ development of the Gummiworm fork for enhanced security in Hydra heads. Logo designs for both projects were also refreshed.

The Cardano Foundation, with Blink Labs, dcSpark, Sundae Labs, and TxPipe, launched PRAGMA, an open-source association for blockchain software development, aiming to support Cardano projects. The “Spotlight on Stake Pools” features ZW3RK, led by Haskell expert Moritz, contributing to the Cardano ecosystem. Ambassador Stories highlights Tim Brückmann, a marketing expert behind IAMX. Other news includes BuilderFest in Toulouse, DRep and Fund12 Workshops, a Cardano Foundation survey on SPO activities, Frederik Gregaard’s discussion on Cardano’s Interim Constitution, and IOG’s X Space on decentralization and cross-chain interoperability.

This week, the performance and tracing team concluded benchmarking nodes v.8.9.2 and v.8.10.0, designed quick queries for the analysis pipeline, and enhanced Prometheus output for better accessibility. The Plutus team unified command line tools into a single executable and added features. The Mithril team focused on transaction certification, memory issue fixes, and signer registration decentralization, while the Hydra team prepared for versioned network protocols and added property tests. The ledger team updated PlutusV3 in the genesis file, fixed bugs, and improved data generation for the Conway era. The Catalyst team launched Fund12 in Barcelona and began proposal submissions. The education team reviewed capstone projects and planned DRep training with the Voltaire tribe and Intersect team.

CIP-1694, published in November 2022, introduces on-chain governance for Cardano, ensuring ada holders’ participation. Honoring Phillip Chang, the upgrade involves three key roles: Delegated Representatives (DReps), the Constitutional Committee (CC), and Stake Pool Operators (SPOs). The governance process includes multiple milestones, with community involvement encouraged through training sessions, testing environments, and workshops.

The Cardano Foundation, along with Blink Labs, dcSpark, Sundae Labs, and TxPipe, announced the launch of PRAGMA, a not-for-profit open-source association for blockchain software projects. PRAGMA aims to foster an open-source ecosystem for Cardano and other blockchains, focusing on projects like Amaru and Aiken. Membership will open to broader developers in 2025, supporting the creation of innovative, enterprise-focused technologies.

This week, the core technology teams released node v.8.9.2, resolving a peer-sharing issue. The SRE team made various environment improvements, including re-spinning the Voltaire private chain and updating SanchoNet. The networking team advanced Genesis support, and the consensus team implemented a new diffusion pipelining criterion. The Hydra team fixed a bug, refactored network functions, and prepared a cardano-api branch. The Mithril team worked on transaction certification, memory leak investigation, and signer registration decentralization. Voltaire & SanchoNet updated documentation and tutorials. Fund12 launched in Barcelona on April 26, with proposal submissions starting April 30. The education team wrapped up the ABC Cardano Developer course and developed new Aiken content.