Cardano News

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.

Crypto scams are rising with market growth. Common scams include fake URLs, fake wallet apps, and unsolicited airdropped tokens/NFTs directing users to malicious sites. Protect yourself by verifying URLs, using secure connections (https://), avoiding unsolicited messages, and never sharing your seed phrase. Always download wallets from official sources and double-check transaction details before signing. Bookmark verified sites and use browser tools to confirm website authenticity. Stay vigilant to safeguard your assets.

The Infrastructure Survey 2024, conducted by the Cardano Foundation from April 2-8, gathered insights from 141 responses representing 239 stake pools, including four major CEXs. This survey aims to understand the needs and challenges of stake pool operators (SPOs) to enhance Cardano’s operational resilience. The findings, which account for 27% of the total active stake, highlight SPO roles in network security and resilience. The Foundation plans to conduct this survey annually to continuously improve the Cardano ecosystem.

Node version 8.10.0-pre is live on SanchoNet, including governance changes, Plutus v3 support, and updates for the Constitution Committee. This version should only be used on SanchoNet, which was recently respun. Frederik Gregaard highlights blockchain’s transformative potential, emphasizing five enablers: decentralized identities, zero-knowledge proofs, oracles, secure bridges, and smart legal contracts. Ha Nguyen, a Vietnamese Meetup Organizer, joins as an Ambassador, enhancing Cardano community engagement. Important updates include Project Catalyst’s new cancellation policy and various Cardano-related events.

Over the past two weeks, the ledger team enhanced conformance tests and infrastructure, fixed node v.8.10 issues, and updated tooling. The Lace team released Lace v.1.10 with simpler onboarding, improved DApp-wallet interaction, and enhanced staking views. The Plutus team updated the Plutus Tx compiler for better short-circuiting, to be released in v1.26.0.0. The Hydra team released v.0.16.0, supporting cardano-node v.8.9.0, and updated Hydra clients. The Mithril team focused on transaction certification, scaling, and decentralizing signer registration. Voltaire & SanchoNet added Conway-related tests and ToJSON instances. Catalyst Fund12 launched in Barcelona on April 26. The education team supported Voltaire training and published Haskell Bootcamp Lesson 18.

This week, the consensus team improved LocalTxMonitor and HasTx functionalities, completed UTXO-HD tests, and addressed issues in the mempool-parallel test. They proposed a new testing framework for quickcheck-dynamic and prepared for node v.8.10 release. The Lace team released v.1.9 with multi-wallet and multi-account support. The Hydra team fixed a broken head situation, enhanced compatibility, and added decommits to the tutorial. The Mithril team worked on transaction certification, scaling, and a decentralized signer registration prototype. Catalyst Fund12 launches on April 26 in Barcelona. The education team continued the Cardano Developer course and prepared for constitutional committee training.

Last week, the "Cardano Girls 59" video released on March 25, 2024, went viral, uniting the Cardano community and highlighting the importance of female participation and collaboration. A V2 of the series is also available. Cardano was nominated for ‘Layer-1 Solution of the Year’ at the Blockchain Life Awards 2024, with voting open until April 11. Project Catalyst Fund12 will launch in Barcelona on April 26, featuring workshops and a launch party, with online streaming available. Other news includes a spotlight on Stake Pool ABLE, a new bug bounty program with Immunefi, and a strategic partnership between Emurgo and Encryptus.

This week, the consensus team finalized integrating node v.8.10.0-pre for SanchoNet governance testing. The ledger team enhanced test frameworks and data quality, resolving issues and improving signal generation. The performance team conducted benchmarks for node v.8.9.1. The Lace team prepared for the release of Lace v.1.9. The Plutus team added a new guide on AsData functionality and optimized scripts. The Hydra team restored network test compatibility, fixed bugs, and prepared a new API format. The Mithril team released distribution 2412.0 with updates, continued transaction certification, and worked on a P2P network prototype. Voltaire & SanchoNet improved governance action handling and efficiency. Project Catalyst paused town halls until Fund12 launches on April 26 in Barcelona, introduced a formal cancellation policy, and planned for future accountability. The education team continued the Cardano Developer course and worked on Haskell Bootcamp Lesson 18.

In March, Mithril saw an increase in SPO participation, reaching 230 pools with 4.6B₳ stake, representing 20% of the active stake. The release of Mithril distribution 2412.0 included support for Prometheus metrics, Pallas-based chain observer implementation, and the deprecation of the snapshot command. Hydra focused on incremental commits and decommits, Conway era support, and preparing for the 0.16.0 release. Significant progress was made on streaming plugins, with SundaeLabs contributing to a plugin architecture that enhances Hydra's extensibility for various external systems and scalable persistence methods.