Welcome to the Cardano Newsletter!
Published by the Cardano community team every two weeks, this newsletter will provide you with news, updates and events about the project!
The Shelley Incentivized Testnet: Delegation and Staking Now Launched on Cardano!
On 13 December 2019, IOHK launched the long awaited Shelley Incentivized Testnet. This Incentivized Testnet will allow you to earn real ada rewards for taking part in its network. Following this successful release of the Daedalus and Yoroi wallets for the Shelley Incentivized network, we have experienced unprecedented demand on the testnet network. IOHK engineers have been and are still working hard since launch to resolve edge-case issues and improve performance. They’ll continue to adjust network parameters and deploy new releases to iterate and optimise the network as required throughout this testnet phase. Your feedback is an essential part of this process. If you have any feedback/suggestions/issues, we would like to ask you to contact our Support Desk.
Thanks for your continued support of the Shelley Incentivized Testnet.
IOHK have also released a Stakepool operator guide containing key info about running a Cardano Shelley Stakepool. Interested in running a Stakepool on the Shelley Incentivized Testnet?
Four additional things to pay extra attention to:
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It is important to note that the amount of ada you are holding in your Daedalus or Yoroi wallet at the time of the main UTXO snapshot is the amount that can be used for staking and delegation on the incentivized testnet. You must ensure you have access to your seed words. You will need these and recover your balance details within a special Rewards wallet that has been created for the Shelley testnet.
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You do NOT need to send your ada anywhere or to anyone! Please beware of anyone claiming you need to send your ada to them for staking or delegation. This is not the case! Only a number value is captured in the snapshot and this is then used as the figure in your testnet wallet.
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DO NOT try to send your mainnet ada (the ada in your regular wallet) to the testnet or a testnet address. This is not possible, and if tried may lead to loss of funds.
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A trusted website to download the Shelley Incentivized Testnet Rewards Wallet apps is: https://staking.cardano.org/en/ any other unofficial or third party websites should be avoided!
The Cardano Foundation Appoints McCann Dublin as Brand Strategy and Design Agency for the Cardano Brand Reappraisal
The Cardano Foundation has appointed McCann Dublin as the brand strategy and design agency for both Cardano and the Foundation. The brand reappraisal’s end goal sets to achieve a brand realignment that is in line with the Cardano Foundation’s mission and objectives. The exercise’s current stage will assess the existing brand of the Foundation and unify the Cardano brand with the project’s essence and value proposition. The brand work will take place in stages starting with the reappraisal, which includes brand audit and survey, before proceeding to the next stage – refresh depending on the results of the current stage.
Read more about this exciting update on our Forums!
Meet the Cardano Foundation’s Taipei Team: Kerstin Lin and Frédéric Johnson
Meet our Taipei-based Kerstin and Frédéric! Kerstin, an Austrian national who helps run the Cardano Foundation’s Asia operations, is based in the Taiwanese capital. She contributes toward improvement of our engagement in the region. Kerstin is trilingual (speaks German, Chinese and English) and is the longest-serving Taipei-based Foundation team member. Frédéric, a Franco-American national, manages technical projects. He is fluent in French and English, and is an avid traveler and astrophile. Check out their “Meet The Team” videos below.
The Cardano Foundation’s Global PR, Communications and Marketing Director Featured on The Cardano Effect Podcast #66
The Cardano Foundation’s Global PR, Communications and Marketing Director, Bakyt Azimkanov, joined Rick and Philippe on yet another interesting Cardano Effect Podcast to take a deep dive about the upcoming brand reappraisal with McCann Dublin, the future of the Cardano Foundation, his impressions from Wyoming, to answer questions from the community and much more. Enjoy the show!
Cardano Foundation Chairperson, Nathan Kaiser, Interviewed by The Cryptoviser
The Cardano Foundation’s Chairperson, Nathan Kaiser, joined the Cryptoviser to explain in more detail what constitutes a community, the Foundation’s Council and future governance models and recaps the main milestones of 2019. Enjoy the special episode!
IOHK: Shelley Testnet - Your weekly rollout rollup - Week 26
IOHK provides Shelley Testnet Newsletter updates every Friday. Please check out the updates on our Forum below. And for the very latest technical updates, you can follow all the commits and pull requests in the community GitHub.
If you are not already part of the conversation, you will find a lot of activity over at the stake pool Best Practice Telegram.
EMURGO Meetup Recap: Blockchain x Gaming Use Cases
EMURGO hosted its first meetup on the potential use cases for blockchain & gaming at its Tokyo office on November 19th, 2019!
Leveraging EMURGO’s partnership with Korean gaming association KBCCA & KMGA (Korea Blockchain Contents Association/Korean Mobile Gaming Association) and our network of industry partners, EMURGO was excited to bring together five gaming enterprises: YarukimanTokkys, Platinum Egg, ONBUFF, ANIVERSE, Mashioba, and KBCCA & KMGA for the local meetup.
EMURGO Blog: What Traditional Financial Services Can Be Carried Out Using Cardano Blockchain?
Contracts are the cornerstone of financial services. These include loans, securities, bonds, mortgages, and much more. Financial contracts are agreements between parties to exchange cash flows. In traditional financial systems, these agreements are written by different legal experts in different parts of the world, each with their own laws, terminology and implications. The essence of these contracts, however, can be distilled down based on the cash flow obligations. Abstracting financial contracts out to this flow of value reveals that they follow a smaller number of standardized patterns.
EMURGO Official Merchandise: Get 15% Off on X-mas! 
Happy Holidays! EMURGO’s new Christmas collection is now available! This exclusive merchandise includes t-shirts, hoodies, pouches, stickers, laptop sleeves, and iPhone cases. See more details below and get 15% off by using the discount code provided!
Happy Holiday Greetings from the Cardano Foundation, InputOutputHK & EMURGO!
Happy Holidays! The Cardano Foundation, InputOutputHK and EMURGO wishing you all a very happy holiday season, and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Watch the Cardano Foundation team’s video
Watch Charles Hoskinson’s Best Wishes and Cardano Update video
Cardano Community Meetups
Upcoming Meetups
RSVP to these events!
12 Jan 2020 Cardano meetup in Osaka, Japan by Miyatake Toshiaki. More info coming soon!
13 Jan 2020 Cardano meetup in Nagoya Japan by Miyatake Toshiaki More info coming soon!
View all Cardano Community groups here
Nothing in your area ?
See if a group already exists on our meetup.com page and connect with the local organizer!
OR
Start your own Cardano meetup group? Learn more here
Stay safe! We, or any of the Cardano affiliated organizations/personnel, will never ask you to send us Ada or any other asset, nor will we ask for your password or pass phrases. Official partnerships/affiliations will always be announced through official channels. Use caution and do your own research before transferring funds.
More at 'How to Stay Safe Online’.
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