As part of the Alonzo Hardfork, Cardano is aiming to launch Smart Contracts on September 12.
The date of the Smart Contracts launch was announced via Input Output via Twitter. A broad spectrum of opportunities will emerge with the launch of smart contracts in the Proof-of-Stake blockchain. First off, the possibility for using Plutus as their own programming language in gaming, as well other use cases like DeFi and NFTs being covered by the release of dApps.
It’s happening.
We’re targeting 12 September 2021 for the ‘Alonzo’ upgrade, bringing smart contracts to Cardano via a hard fork combinator (HFC) event.
Find out more about the journey to a new era of smart contracts, DeFi and more for #Cardano $ADAhttps://t.co/59czSxrxFO
— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) August 13, 2021
Cardano’s Head of Delivery Nigel Hemsley confirmed that the test and engineering teams are working round-the-clock to ensure the timely and final release of the Alonzo upgrade.
The absence of smart contracts and the slow implementations have served as beacons of criticism for the team. Nonetheless, the progress made by Cardano in the past few months in implementing and launching smart contracts is substantial.
Alonzo Purple, the first public test network version was launched by Input Output just last week, where the Alonzo testnets will be finalized with the commencement of the mainnet hardfork in September. Crypto community members will be able to stake assets, test the smart contract’s code and run validator nodes through the availability of Alonzo Purple. Next week will mark the selection of the key candidate launch of the node.
The remainder of the time will be focused on checks and software testing to finalize the hardfork next month. As groundwork for the release, 140 exchanges with the completed software package with parts such as Rossetta API, DB- Sync, GraphQL Explorer and Cardano Wallet need to be set. As such, 140 exchanges are on the works for Alonzo Purple integration.
September 1 is the marked date for executing a final testnet prior to the Alonzo upgrade final launch once the software components are complete and ready. Ahead of the launch date, Cardano’s ADA incurred an increase, became the third cryptocurrency after Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) with a market cap of $64.3 billion, and is momentarily trading at $2.04.
Also read: Cardano Becomes the Third Largest Cryptocurrency with Protocol Upgrades Around the Corner