The development wing of Cardano, IOHK–led by Charles Hoskinson, is preparing to trigger the first hard-fork combinator dubbed Allegra in preparation for Goguen in the next few days as per an update on Dec 2.
Cardano Prepares for Goguen
The automatic upgrade won’t affect block production. It will be part of the next transition to the Goguen era, a few months after the activation of Shelley. The hard fork introduced staking pools, decentralizing the network.
While Cardano is known for its time-consuming and meticulous procedures as it heads for any upgrade, the next hard fork will be smooth. It will introduce several efficiencies and a token-locking feature that will introduce a minor change to the consensus protocol of the network.
However, since the update affects Ouroboros, network nodes must reach consensus. For this, node operators must download the latest version of the code and check its operation.
Part of the update read:
“IOHK’s innovative hard fork combinator has given Cardano a secure, smooth path to regular protocol updates – each bringing fresh value and utility to the network while minimizing disruption and risk. We’re in the final stages of quality testing and will start the testnet deployment process this month, with an expectation of moving to the mainnet around the middle of December.”
The Locking Feature in Allegra
Allegra will be the first of the two hard fork combinators (including the integration of metadata) that prepares Cardano for smart contracting and the addition of secondary tokens besides ADA (the on-chain currency) in the Goguen Phase. This stage is set for activation at a tentative time in Q1 2021.
Through the “locking feature,” users will know how long each token (item recorded on the digital ledger) is being utilized. Besides, Allegra introduces a crucial functionality of the Voltaire: Support for a Voting System. Combined, both are essential in supporting certain conditions needed by complex smart contracts.
According to Kevin Hammond, a Software Engineer with IOHK, locking in Cardano’s sense means reserving a certain number of tokens for a specific period to achieve a certain benefit.
As reported, the announcement is one of the many set for this month in readiness for smart contracting activation.
Source:(BTCManger)
