Cardano Experience Robust Week: Key Updates from IOG and Metrics

• Input Output Global (IOG) highlighted recent advancements in Cardano’s ecosystem, including updates for the Conway era, smart contracts, and more.
• Enhancements in the Conway era include the addition of Delegate Representatives and improvements in error reporting and node metrics.
• The Plutus team has increased the efficiency of UPCL programs, while the Hydra team addressed network protocol discrepancies.

Input Output Global (IOG), the research and development arm for the Cardano network, has recently detailed several significant advancements in their latest blog post.

These developments span various aspects of the network’s infrastructure and capabilities, particularly highlighting progress in the Conway era, enhancements in smart contract functionality, and updates on educational initiatives.

Conway Era Upgrades and Enhancements

The Conway era of development on the Cardano network has seen focused improvements from IOG’s performance and tracing teams. They have scrutinized benchmarks that led to the integration of Delegate Representatives (DReps), enhancing the mechanism for tracing DRep data and reporting errors within the transaction generator.

The weekly #Cardano development update is now live.

Check out the key highlights from this week and get the latest on development progress in core technology, scaling, governance and education.https://t.co/EDnnnzSAbK

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) May 10, 2024

Additionally, the team has expanded node metrics to include new functionalities like block producer and build information, contributing to a broader and more detailed analysis of UTXO scaling scenarios. The Ledger team has been especially active, focusing on implementing key features such as the bootstrap phase and governance action transition within this era.

Cardano Smart Contracts, Scaling, and Catalyst Updates

On the smart contracts front, the Plutus team has been working to enhance the efficiency of the UPCL programs by improving the implementation of the fixed point operator.

Meanwhile, the Hydra team has addressed and refactored discrepancies in the network protocol versions and integrated relevant changes into the /commit endpoint, alongside executing minor workflow adjustments.

The community-driven Catalyst Fund 12 is well underway, with participants from around the world rushing to submit their proposals before the May 13 deadline. This fund represents a significant part of Cardano’s approach to decentralized community innovation and project funding.

Ecosystem Growth and Metrics

The Cardano network continues to show robust growth in terms of new projects and native tokens. Since January, the number of projects launched on the Cardano blockchain has increased from 157 to 170.

The network’s native tokens have also seen an increase of 5.5%, rising from 9.45 million to 9.95 million. Moreover, the total transactions processed on the network have risen from 83.4 million to 90.3 million, underscoring the expanding usage and adoption of Cardano’s blockchain technology.