Cardano Smart Contracts

Cardano is about to go through one of the major updates called Alonzo. This means that the Shelley era is over, and Cardano steps into the Goguen era, named after Joseph Goguen, a computer scientist. During this time the network is going to introduce smart contracts. The launch is planned for September 12, 2021. Let's take a look at some details of the upcoming updates.

What will happen?

The Alonzo hard fork is planned to go through several stages:

1. Alonzo BlueSmart contracts are introduced to a small group of 50 participants. At this stage it is necessary to fix some errors that may appear.
2. Alonzo WhiteThis stage is to test the network’s capabilities. More participants will be introduced and will be able to try new functionality. This part should take from two to four weeks. It is led by the main developers, the head of this team is Charles Hoskinson.
3. Alonzo PurpleThis is a fully public testnet. Alonzo Light Purple will bring an introduction of simple smart contracts, Alonzo Dark Purple is about an introduction of complex smart contracts.
4. Alonzo RedThis stage is dedicated to bug fixing.
5. Alonzo BlackThis stage is also dedicated to bug fixing.

What is Plutus?

The name of the platform which will be the basis of smart contracts is The Plutus Platform. The programming language that is used on the platform is Haskell. When the code is completed it goes to the Plutus Core, which serves to connect smart contracts to a final settlement layer.In case a user does not possess any serious programming skills, there is another language called Marlowe. It is built on top of Cardano and Plutus and provides a simplified way to build apps.

What will it change?

Smart contracts are the most important components for developing decentralized applications. They give the opportunity to run apps without intermediaries. The interesting thing here is that Cardano will give to a wide range of users an opportunity to create applications.

All that was said above is purely about the functionality of the network. However, there are more outcomes. The price of Cardano has already increased significantly since the beginning of August, when Alonzo was first discussed. Furthermore, recently the ADA price reached its new all-time high (it went as high as $3.10 on September 02, 2021.

New opportunities have already been attracting investors’ interest. They will have a chance to ask all the questions at the annual Cardano summit, which should happen at the end of September.

What does Charles Hoskinson say?

Charles Hoskinson is being very positive about the ongoing changes. On his Youtube channel users can get a regular update. According to videos there so far everything is going on schedule.On Youtube we also can see a highly supportive community, that is waiting for all the new features.

Implementation of smart contracts will definitely push Cardano to another level. As the ADA price changes and is trying to reach its top level, it may be suggested that investors are waiting for the updates and, moreover, are expecting them to turn out really well.It is also expected that new functionality will speed up adoption. Right now Cardano is considered to be one of the best alternatives to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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