The Cardano (ADA) Vasil upgrade will begin to apply September 22. Here’s what you need to know before the upcoming major rise…
IOHK confirms Cardano Vasil upgrade is ready
The parent organization behind Cardano has outlined what the Vasil fork scheduled for September 22 will change in the network. In a blog post published Sept. 16, Input Output (IOHK) noted that prior to the upgrade, the company noted that the core engineering teams involved were conducting intensive testing and integration work to ensure a positive outcome. In the broadcast, IOHK highlighted the importance of the Vasil hard fork, which turned out as planned.
There are multiple ecosystem stakeholders that need to be evaluated. It has always been very important to ensure that any upgrade is safe and secure and that players in the Cardano ecosystem are fully prepared.
Cardano advanced smart contract functionality
The developers specifically expect the upgrade to enhance Cardano’s smart contract via Plutus v2. The update is tuned to improve the efficiency of the smart contract platform. Notably, since the inception of the smart contract feature, Cardano has recorded increased activity.
Cardano adds five new Plutus scenarios to its update calendar every day. Overall, the number of smart contracts on the platform exceeded 3,000 for the first time at the beginning of August. It is also expected that the upgrade with Vasil will unlock various functions such as reference entries that enable data sharing on the Blockchain. This feature will facilitate access to information stored on the Blockchain without wasting and regenerating UTXOs (unspent transaction output).
Elsewhere, Vasil will unlock the intended reference script functionality to reduce compute size, increase throughput, and lower script execution costs. Upgrade allows developers to refer to a script without including it in every transaction.
In addition, Vasil will also introduce the pipe-line, developing a consensus layer on information sharing. The layer streamlines information sharing about newly created blocks, in turn facilitating faster block propagation. Also, IOHK pointed out that Vasil will fix the authentication problem on the network. In this case, the upgrade optimizes Ouroboros’ Verifiable Random Function (VRF) process. This triggers faster block validation and network sync times. Benefits occur by impacting security on the user side.
What’s next after the Vasil upgrade?
After the September 22 upgrade, IOHK also stated that there will be a Pre-production environment set for September 24. During the event, new Plutus features and cost models will be made available in the Pre-production environment before going mainnet on September 27.
It’s worth noting that the Vasil hard fork has faced several delays, with Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson blasting people who question the slow progress. However, Hoskinson argued that more testing is needed to ensure the upgrade runs smoothly.
