The DB Sync team resolved off-chain data issues and improved memory management. Node v.9.2 benchmarks advanced, and cardano-tracer-0.3 was released. Mithril progressed decentralization, and Intersect elections close October 20. Chang #2 hard fork planning aligns with CIP-1694. Catalyst Fund13 submissions finalize with reviews ongoing. Community contributions to Cardano core rose to 45.97%. The education team preps for the Cardano Summit in Argentina and December constitution events.

The consensus team set performance goals, rebased UTXO-HD, and improved robustness. Plutus revamped user guides and submitted CIPs on arrays and maps. Hydra advanced incremental commits, Blockfrost integration, and tested Raft networking. Mithril decentralized signature orchestration and prepared for node v.9.2.1. Intersect held annual meetings, and Catalyst opened Fund13 proposals. Education prepped for Cardano Days in Santander and attended the Constitution event in Oslo.

Cardano node v.9.1.1 resolved Conway-era replay issues. A snapshot-converter tool addressed UTXO-HD deserialization and memory leaks. Lace enhanced governance for hardware wallets, Plutus finalized functions for the next hard fork, and Hydra improved network resilience. Mithril advanced decentralization, Voltaire emphasized community governance, and Catalyst neared Fund12 onboarding completion. Education prepared for Cardano Days and supported Plutus Core updates.

The consensus team optimized ledger snapshots, bandwidth, and UTXO-HD benchmarks. Plutus updated user documentation and contract blueprints. Hydra v.0.19.0 added Conway ledger support, while Mithril advanced decentralized signature orchestration. Intersect progressed the Chang upgrade, with elections ongoing. Catalyst previewed Fund13 in town hall 175, set to launch next week.

The ledger team introduced a Conway feature restricting reward withdrawals without DRep delegation post-bootstrap, fixed bugs, and improved testing. Performance benchmarks for node v.9.1.1 were released, setting a new baseline. Mithril advanced decentralization and transaction handling. Voltaire's committee applications are open, Catalyst prepped Fund13 categories, and Fund12 onboarding nears completion. Education updated 'Mastering Cardano' and prepared content for Cardano Days events.

Cardano's core teams released node v.9.1.1 to fix replay issues in the Conway era and introduced a snapshot-converter for UTXO-HD. Governance for hardware wallets improved, Plutus advanced built-in functions, and Hydra enhanced network resilience. Mithril progressed decentralization, Voltaire emphasized community governance, and Catalyst focused on Fund12 onboarding. Education supported Plutus updates and prepared for Cardano Days events.

The ledger team focused on conformance tests, improving the ledger test suite, and preparing for the upcoming hard fork by documenting changes affecting DApp developers. The SRE team upgraded the pre-production network to the Conway era and made various infrastructure improvements. The Lace team is set to release version 1.15 with enhanced governance capabilities. The Mithril team is decentralizing signature orchestration and optimizing memory use. The Voltaire team prepared for the Chang #1 hard fork on September 1. Catalyst advanced Fund12 onboarding and achieved progress in the Hermes project, while the education team preps for Cardano Days.

The performance and tracing team released node v.9.1 benchmarks, improved resource trace emission, and integrated non-systemd Linux support in cardano-tracer. The consensus team enhanced ChainSync client testing and reviewed the final Genesis statement of work. The Lace team is reviewing feedback from Rare Evo 2024 for future updates. Plutus team updated Plinth documentation, while Hydra launched the Hydra Doom project. Mithril completed stake distribution certification and drafted a CIP for signature diffusion. The Chang hard fork is set for late August, marking Cardano's entry into the Conway ledger era. Fund13 preparation continues, and the education team is gathering feedback and updating content.

Doom (1993) remains a cultural icon, now demonstrated on Cardano's blockchain using Hydra heads. By leveraging Hydra's ability to handle complex operations off-chain, the game runs in real-time through smart contracts validating deterministic game states. While running Doom on a blockchain is impractical, this tech demo highlights Hydra's potential, offering open-source components and innovative approaches that could inspire new blockchain applications.

The ledger team added minor features like ledger state queries for voting on proposals and transaction size computations, while focusing on Conway testing and conformance tests. The Lace team released version 1.14 with CIP-95 support and bug fixes. Hydra released version 0.18.0, addressing a Conway fork issue and adding incremental decommits. GovTool is active on preview and SanchoNet, with 67% of stake upgraded to node v.9.1.0 for the Chang upgrade. Catalyst released the Catalyst Horizons report and is preparing for engagements at Rare Evo. The education team is reviewing the Cardano Developer course and updating "Mastering Cardano".