IOG has made its reputation building and maintaining Cardano and ada – its first native cryptocurrency. Academic research has been the foundation for a secure, decentralized, and scalable ledger that has led the way in proof-of-stake blockchains for five years.

Collaborating with researchers and top universities across the globe, IOG is dedicated to tackling difficult research…

As Cardano scales, Input Output Global (IOG) engineering teams are working on a range of solutions to boost network performance. Mithril is one such solution, aiming to streamline the speed and efficiency of data synchronization between applications.

During July’s 360 show, Arnaud Bailly – IOG technical architect – shared a Mithril development update.

The importance of Mithril…

The minimization of proof of work's (PoW) energy cost and carbon footprint is one of the most hotly discussed topics in the crypto space. Substituting the PoW primitive in Nakamoto's longest-chain protocol with a proof of useful work (PoUW) has long been theorized as an ideal solution in many respects but, to this day, the concept has lacked a convincingly secure realization.

Today, at the leading international cryptology conference, Crypto, Input Output Global, Inc (IOG) introduces Ofelimos, a novel PoUW-based blockchain protocol whose consensus mechanism simultaneously realizes a decentralized optimization-problem solver. The…

Smart contracts present a standard approach to expressing complex interactions between two or more parties willing to exchange currencies or data in a decentralized way. Smart contracts are effectively automated digital agreements on a blockchain. Written in code, they can track, verify and execute the binding transactions of a contract when predetermined conditions are met. To…

Before you start, read:

• Part 1: Cardano's foundational research overview
• Part 2: Overview of the research enabling smart contract support on Cardano
• Part 3: Research overview: tokens, stablecoins, and fees

Previous blog posts delved into the foundational research that enabled Cardano’s multi-functional ledger support for expressive smart contracts and native assets.

As part of the Basho development phase, Cardano is undergoing steady upgrades and optimizations for increased scalability and interoperability. The ‘How we are scaling Cardano in 2022’ post reflected on Cardano’s scalability goals, and also discussed interoperability and the role of sidechains…