Cardano (ADA) has “successfully” implemented the long-awaited ‘Alonzo’ update last night. This is reported by the developers of Input Out Hong Kong (IOHK) on September 12:
1/2 Upgrade successful.
Moments ago, we deployed the #Alonzo upgrade at the epoch rollover.
Welcome to the start of a new era for #Cardano $ADA pic.twitter.com/r6QNvTv4pt
— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) September 12, 2021
It means Cardano is finally smart contracts supports. This opens the doors for many new functionalities on the blockchain network, such as decentralized applications, or dApps. Cardano wants to attract the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector and there are also non-fungible token (NFT) projects in development.
The update was implemented yesterday using a so-called hard fork combiner (HFC) protocol upgrade event. This enabled ‘Plutus’ scripts, a programming language based on ‘Haskell’ for writing smart contracts on Cardano. IOHK says Cardano is still only in the early stages:
“This is where the mission really begins as we – the entire community – begin to realize the vision we’ve all been working towards for so long. Building a decentralized system that extends economic identity and opportunity for everyone, everywhere.”
The lack of smart contracts functionalities on its Ethereum (ETH) rival was often criticized, also because it took so long. Cardano also recently ran into complications when the first dApp immediately encountered problems on the testnet. Several projects have since been postponed. IOHK therefore emphasizes that expectations may be too high because dApps will not be ready immediately:
“There are high expectations for this upgrade. Some unreasonable. Cardano viewers may expect an advanced ecosystem of ready-to-use DApps available immediately after the upgrade. Expectations have to be managed here.”
The hype surrounding the update has recently caused the ADA price to rise sharply and a new all time high (ATH) reached $2.39 on Sept. Yesterday ADA also rose sharply, but the price has been falling again since last night. It may be a sign of “buy the rumour, sell the news” effect. Despite this, the number of projects under development on Cardano is currently growing rapidly:
Aug 2021 USA May 2021
In just 3 months, Cardano has integrated 100 more projects spanning from DeFi to NFT.
Next target for $ADA should be $10🚀🚀🚀
🔄Retweet if you believe Cardano ecosystem will bomb like Big Bang explosion! #Cardano #ADA $ADA pic.twitter.com/zMLPF1LfVS
— Cardians (@Cardians_) August 31, 2021