Smart contracts added to Cardano (ADA) blockchain very soon

Cardano blockchain is set to launch the Alonzo testnet as early as next month. The company’s chief executive officer Charles Hoskinson stated that the testnet will also bring smart contracts to the Cardano (ADA) blockchain.

“For the first time, people will be able to write smart contracts and deploy them on Cardano,” he stated.

Are you looking for fast-news, hot-tips and market analysis?

Sign-up for the Invezz newsletter, today.

Based on the plan for the project, the Alonzo upgrade is coming as a hard fork, but the smart contracts will be offered for testing purposes initially. However, the company plans to ensure the mainnet rollout in August.

A major milestone for Cardano

The inclusion of the smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain will represent a major milestone for the network. It will make Cardano a more competitive alternative to Ethereum (ETH). The decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on Ethereum has exploded, allowing the platform to build on a plethora of decentralized apps dApps largely based on smart contracts.

Since Cardano will be offering smart contracts on its blockchain platform soon, it means the platform will match Ethereum’s platform when it comes to capability.

Blockchain’s developers have developed a Cardano-native dapp that enables users to swap different tokens, – similar to the so-called “killer dapps” on the Ethereum’s network.

DeFi Pulse released data showing that the total value locked in DeFi is now $40 billion. In the meantime, major platforms like Aave, Compound, and MakerDAO are based on the smart contracts on Ethereum. With Alonzo’s launch, Cardano can expand the current level into a multi-billion dollar market.

Cardano offers lower transaction fees

Earlier this month, Cardano’s Mary upgrade moved the platform closer to the capabilities of Ethereum. It introduces the ability of users to create custom tokens. As a result, Cardano became a multi-asset network, allowing it to support different types of crypto assets in the future.

But the major difference between Cardano and Ethereum is the fact that the former does not depend on smart contracts for token transactions. As a result, the Cardano blockchain offers lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum.