The Cardano (ADA) community is expecting the new Alonzo hard fork that is expected to bring smart contract functionalities to the Cardano network. This could be the beginning of a new process in which projects could release their smart contracts and interact with the Cardano network.
Cardano Alonzo Hard Fork to Enable Smart Contracts
In a recent Cardano360 release, the new plan for Alonzo and smart contracts implementation has been revealed. The goal is to expand the functionalities of the Cardano network and become a blockchain platform that would support decentralized applications (dApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions.
With the new announcement, Alonzo testers could start working on this network (testnet) as soon as next month. Moreover, in June, the goal is to start the countdown for the official hard for launch.
Although there are some projects that have already developed some projects, they are waiting for the new functionalities to be added to the network. The Cardano network could easily become a competitor of Ethereum (ETH) and also a competitor of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
This is the third hard fork in recent months. For example, back in December, Cardano enabled token locking functionalities, later in March this year, the Mary hard fork took place. Now, the Alonzo update will be definitely important to keep moving towards Goguen, the new era of the Cardano network.
Expansion of Blockchain Networks
Different blockchain networks have been expanding in recent years in the cryptocurrency market. The main issue that blockchain platforms such as Ethereum are currently facing is related to scalability.
Ethereum (ETH) became the largest blockchain network after Bitcoin (BTC) and it supports hundreds of projects that are running on top of this platform. Users are sending and receiving transfers, swapping their coins, providing liquidity to pools and lending and borrowing assets.
Due to this large activity on Ethereum fees and transaction times have certainly grown. This has made it very difficult for users to use Ethereum for trading and other activities. Indeed, the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) became a strong competitor of Ethereum due to its fast transaction times and very low fees. Nevertheless, the BSC is more centralized than Etheruem.
Cardano could also enter this category of a competitor to Ethereum. The goal is to have several blockchain networks that would offer efficient and reliable services (including for the DeFi market) to the crypto community. With the latest updates, Cardano is moving in this direction.
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