This installment of the Cardano Developer Office Hours explores the Cosmos-Cardano Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) bridge project. The session provides an overview of the architecture, current development, and key components driving the project. Topics include the IBC protocol, blockchain interoperability, and the integration of Cosmos SDK with Cardano. A live demo showcases how to send messages between the Cosmos network and a local Cardano node. The session also covers real-world use cases like token transfers, cross-chain swaps, and more.

The ecosystem has reached 1,985 projects, 10.68 million native tokens, and 106.19 million transactions. The ledger team optimized Plutus script computations, reducing memory usage for better performance. Mithril activated the 'Pythagoras' era at epoch 539, advancing incremental database certification. Leios focused on cryptography benchmarking, while the interim council voted to officially adopt the Cardano Constitution.

The network has benchmarked node v.10.2, alongside UTXO-HD and Genesis performance updates. The consensus team removed EBBs and fixed block replay issues, while the Plutus team rebranded Plutus Tx to Plinth and refined the script context API. Hydra v.0.20.0 improved memory usage, and Mithril prepared for the Pythagoras era at epoch 539. Additionally, the Leios team enhanced efficiency by reducing certificate sizes.

This 13th installment of the Cardano Developer Office Hours is presented by Thomas Kammerlocher, Senior Full Stack Developer at the Cardano Foundation. Thomas discusses the Java implementation of Rosetta, a tool developed by Coinbase for exchanges to integrate with Cardano. Rosetta simplifies multi-chain support with its blockchain-agnostic API, and the transition from TypeScript to Java enhances performance and reduces resource consumption. Upcoming updates include support for staking rewards tracking, off-chain data integration, and more improvements to scalability and efficiency.

The January 31, 2025, development report highlights the successful implementation of the Plomin hard fork, marking the completion of the Conway ledger era. The ledger team made minor improvements, including removing dependencies and optimizing data structures. The Lace team released version 1.19.0, introducing a DApp explorer and performance enhancements. The Mithril team progressed on incremental certification of the Cardano database and prepared for the upcoming 'Pythagoras' era transition. The Leios team advanced both Haskell and Rust implementations to enhance performance and simulation fidelity.

The January 24, 2025, development report highlights consensus team progress on security, documentation, and Peras workstream improvements. The UTXO-HD branch achieved successful local chain synchronization. The performance team benchmarked node v.10.1.4 and introduced a tracing Discord channel. Plutus added the Fix construct and CLI tool guides. Hydra completed custom ledger experiments and restored hydra-explorer. Mithril advanced incremental database certification. The Leios team benchmarked efficient VRF cryptography.

This 12th installment of the Cardano Developer Office Hours is presented by Satya Ranjan, Senior Enterprise Architect at the Cardano Foundation. In this session, Satya discusses how the yaci-devkit simplifies building and testing on a local Cardano dev network, helping developers iterate faster and avoid public testnet limitations. The session highlights key features such as customizable block times, integrated tools, and Blockfrost-compatible APIs. A live demo shows easy setup using Docker and NPM distributions.

The January 17, 2025, development report focuses on final preparations for the Plomin hard fork, including bug fixes and code simplifications. Stake pool operators are urged to upgrade to node v.10.1.4. Lace v.1.18.2 improved crash recovery and fixed CIP-95 bugs. Mithril certified stake distribution on the mainnet and upgraded to node v.10.1.4. The Ouroboros Leios project progressed simulations to enhance network throughput. Voting for the Plomin hard fork continues.

Cardano node v.10.1.4 has been released, featuring mempool safeguards in preparation for the Plomin hard fork. The consensus team improved time management and block-fetch synchronization, while Plutus Core is finalizing the data-backed ScriptContext API to enhance script performance. Hydra has advanced incremental commits and explorer support, and Mithril released distribution 2450.0 to support node v.10.1.3.

The December 13, 2024, development report concludes the year, with updates resuming January 10, 2025. The networking team, in collaboration with the Cardano Foundation, noted 98.4% of transactions are included within two blocks, showing minimal congestion. The consensus team advanced UTXO-HD and reviewed low participation handling. Daedalus v.7.0.2 launched, enabling users to delegate voting power to DReps or select automatic voting options, enhancing governance participation.