Blog > 2021

2021: the year robots, and graffiti came to a decentralized, smarter Cardano

Beeple used to illustrate our blog posts, but art NFTs made him a millionaire, and then AI and DeFi arrived

27 December 2021 Anthony Quinn 11 mins read

2021: the year robots, and graffiti came to a decentralized, smarter Cardano

Incredibly, given the state of our Covid-shocked world back in January, 2021 has had its fair share of fun. And if 2020 was a big year for Cardano with the upgrade from Byron to Shelley, this year was bigger still. Decentralized block production arrived, tokens went native, contracts turned smart – and there were some world firsts. But, our review of the year is getting ahead…

Cardano education in 2021: the year of the pioneers

It was a busy time for the team at IOG – and the next 12 months look busier still

23 December 2021 Niamh Ahern 5 mins read

Cardano education in 2021: the year of the pioneers

2021 saw the launch of our Plutus Pioneer and Atala Pioneer programs. These interactive training courses aim to widen the reach of our education materials and have been completed by thousands of people.

The feedback we’ve received about the lectures, delivery, and support has been very positive and demonstrated a high level of commitment to learning. So we are planning some new…

Cardano at Christmas (and what to say if anyone asks…)

You may be taking some time out from crypto this holiday season. But if table talk does flow towards Cardano, here’s your conversation starter…

21 December 2021 Fernando Sanchez 7 mins read

Cardano at Christmas (and what to say if anyone asks…)

'twas the night before Christmas, when all thru the house,

Not a crypto was stirring, not even Cardano

When American scholar Clement Clarke Moore wrote A visit from St. Nicholas, cryptocurrencies were certainly not in his mind. According to historians, Clarke wrote the piece as a Christmas treat for his daughters, and read it aloud as the family gathered together on Christmas Eve…

When it comes to DeFi, Do Your Own Research

With the #Cardano ecosystem growing fast, it’s more important than ever to research before getting involved with a project. In these exciting times, let's be careful out there

9 December 2021 Neil Burgess 11 mins read

When it comes to DeFi, Do Your Own Research

Distributed applications (DApps) are coming to Cardano. The excitement is palpable. Yet, as the ecosystem steps up a gear, the excitement about this new stage in our journey needs to be tempered with some caution.

Cardano is an open, permissionless blockchain. So there is no central company, or other body, exerting ownership and, with it, responsibility. Anyone can build on this…

Introducing our new peer-to-peer (P2P) testnet

We are working with a small group of stake pool operators on a new P2P testnet to further drive network decentralization

8 December 2021 Olga Hryniuk 3 mins read

Introducing our new peer-to-peer (P2P) testnet

Cardano continues to build momentum with more features and capabilities being steadily added to the blockchain. As we recently reported, we are optimizing the network to increase throughput so more transactions can be processed faster, and decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts created and used more efficiently. This week, we have kicked off an important new…