Amid the much-anticipated Ethereum Merge, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has announced plans for the Vasil Hard Fork, due sometime in the next month, i.e. September.
Cardano – one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by marketcap – has been planning this hard fork for months, but the upgrade remained overshadowed by Ethereum’s scheduled transition to PoS consensus, which is roughly 15 days away.
On a live stream that aired on Twitter, Hoskinson explained “extensive testing is still being done” for the Vasil hard fork – named after Cardano supporter and consultant Vasil Dabov, who recently passed away.
The Vasil hard fork intends to add four Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs), including reference inputs, inline datums, reference scripts, and collateral outputs, to the proof-of-stake blockchain.
- Reference inputs let you read datums without the need for recreation, improving the network’s efficiency.
- Inline datums allow the data to be stored on-chain instead of a hash, making it easier for developers to create and manage smart contracts over the blockchain.
- Reference scripts reduce interaction with smart contracts by using references, reducing the transaction cost for users.
- Collateral outputs improve transaction experience by reducing collateral required for a transaction to go through.
According to Hoskinson, who also co-founded Ethereum, “the next major lift is to get the exchanges on board. Binance is reporting that they’re currently upgrading by volume. By volume, they’re about 30-40% of the Cardano trade volume. And other than that, Kraken and Coinbase and so forth tend to follow along.”
Once Cardano hits 75% of stake pool operators and three to five major exchanges, the upgrade date can be finalized. The rest of the exchanges typically need a little push to follow suit.
More details on the hard fork have been explained in a Twitter thread by blockchain development firm InputOutput.
In the last 24 hours, Cardano (ADA) has shed roughly 5% – according to Coinmarketcap – as the broader market has taken a deep dive.
