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.

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.

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.

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.

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.