Long-Awaited Cardano Upgrade “Shelley” is Live on the Mainnet

Cardano enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that the long-awaited upgrade to Shelley has gone live. This new upgrade introduces some interesting changes. After five years of development, these changes can now be found on the main network. 

Shelley has Finally Arrived

For many years now, the Cardano project has been scheduled to undergo some very big changes. Known as Shelley, it is the latest hardfork to affect Cardano’s ecosystem and introduce some core changes. Several things have changed, and new features have been introduced to make this ecosystem a lot more robust in the process. 

The first major change is the introduction of staking support. Existing and future ADA holders can benefit from this feature to earn more rewards in the process. Similar to other proof-of-stake networks, users will be able to earn rewards for validating  transactions on the network. 

Under the hood, the rewards will be issued randomly. Cardano’s native Ouroboros protocol is still in place to determine who will get to add the next block to the blockchain. For owners of a larger ADA portfolio, staking coins will get them a better chance of adding a new block to the chain. 

Secondly, there is the option to explore a concept known as a stake pool. This allows users to pool together coins to stake larger amounts. Giving users the option to delegate their staking is something that has been possible in other ecosystems as well.  In theory, there is no limit as to how many of these stake pools will come online. Several dozen of them exist already, with more to be added in the near future. 

Just wow! 🤩

Just a couple of hours after launch, there's already 126 pools available on the Cardano mainnet! This is so awesome to see.

Thank you everyone who's been working so hard to get their pools up for everyone to delegate to! You are #Cardano's heroes. #ShelleyIsHere pic.twitter.com/VEwYwKkMMb

— Katsumoto (@Katsumoto87) July 29, 2020

The number of stake pools will fluctuate quite a bit. That is only to be expected, as smaller pools may band together over time. Staking bigger amounts of ADA will increase chances of success to receive a network reward. 

More Cardano Developments to Come

While the activation of Shelley on the mainnet is a major milestone, the work doesn’t end there. More specifically, at least two new phases of Cardano are in development already. Known as Voltaire and Goguen, they will introduce changes to the governance of the ecosystem, as well as its smart contracts. 

Evolving the Cardano ecosystem is an ongoing process. This applies to any blockchain and cryptocurrency project. Resting on one’s laurels is never an advisable course of action. Competing projects are not sitting still either, thus it is crucial to keep on  top of things at all times. 

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