Blog > 2021

Cardano’s Extended UTXO accounting model – built to support multi-assets and smart contracts

Cardano uses an innovative Extended UTXO accounting model to support multi-assets and smart contracts. In the first of a two-part blog, we look at the different blockchain accounting systems and why EUTXO matters

11 March 2021 Fernando Sanchez 5 mins read

Cardano’s Extended UTXO accounting model – built to support multi-assets and smart contracts

Blockchain networks are complex data structures. Transactions continuously crisscross the chain, creating digital footprints that require careful tracking and management to maintain the integrity and reliability of the underlying ledger.

Two major accounting ledgers exist in the blockchain space: UTXO-based blockchains (Bitcoin, for instance), and Account/Balance chains…

Not long till 'd' (=0) day

We are fast approaching full decentralization of block production on Cardano. It's a good time to reflect on the network’s evolution

4 March 2021 Colin L Edwards 8 mins read

Not long till 'd' (=0) day

At the end of March, we’ll reach another milestone for Cardano when we’ll see d, the parameter that governs what percentage of transactions are processed by the genesis nodes, get to zero. At this point, responsibility for block generation will be fully decentralized. In other words, Cardano’s network of 1,800+ community pools will be solely responsible for producing blocks.

D=0 day will be a landmark moment in Cardano's continuing journey. When we deployed the Shelley update back in July 2020, d was set to an initial 1.0, meaning that every block was produced by IOHK’s network of federated nodes. Of course, this was the antithesis of…

Bringing Glow to Cardano

We just spun up a devnet to support Glow, the very latest language Cardano will support. We talked to its creator about building a DSL for DApp development.

26 February 2021 Eric Czuleger 7 mins read

Bringing Glow to Cardano

At the end of 2020, we announced our devnets plan to support the longer-term strategic goal of opening up Cardano to multiple development languages – as outlined in the ‘‘Island, Ocean, Pond’ video. This week, building on the Ethereum Virtual Machine, we’re rolling out a new development environment to support the Glow language.

François-René Rideau of Mutual Knowledge Systems is…

Babel fees - denominating transaction costs in native tokens

Introducing a novel mechanism that allows the payment of transaction fees in user-defined tokens on Cardano

25 February 2021 Prof Aggelos Kiayias 8 mins read

Babel fees - denominating transaction costs in native tokens

In Douglas Adams' classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a Babel fish is a creature that allows you to hear any language translated into your own. This fantasy of universal translation ensures meaningful interaction despite the myriad different languages in the galaxy. 

In the cryptocurrency space, smart contract platforms enable the development of a myriad custom tokens…

Building native tokens on Cardano for pleasure and profit

New capabilities will allow users to choose simple and powerful tools to bring their assets to life on Cardano

18 February 2021 Tim Harrison 9 mins read

Building native tokens on Cardano for pleasure and profit

With the ‘Mary’ protocol upgrade, which will be implemented using our hard fork combinator technology, native tokens and multi-asset capability are coming to Cardano.

On February 3, we upgraded the Cardano public testnet to ‘Mary’ for final testing. We plan to deploy the Cardano update proposal to mainnet on February 24, which would therefore deploy ahead of the boundary of…