Cardano is emerging as the global decentralized operating system. As a third generation blockchain, it was designed for global usability, rather than a p2p (peer to peer) cryptocurrency, with a programmable and low transactional cost platform for scalability.
The Goguen era will deploy Cardano to its full potential. Plutus programming will give the network the functionality needed to develop the DeFI (decentralized finance), DApp (decentralized applications) and DId (digital identity) ecosystem.
The Cardano network system is designed on two independent layers that allow processing speed, a transactional layer, where the ledger lives with its balances where the Ouroboros consensus algorithm is executed, and a computational layer, where the programming runs and all the execution of smart contracts takes place.
To get to Goguen, the era of smart contracts, the first steps were necessary with two previous ones, Byron’s foundational era and Shelley’s decentralization, starting in epoch 208, at the end of July 2020. With Goguen, the evolution process does not end, but it marks a turning point in Cardano’s growth.
Shelley was delivering what was promised until its peak at the end of March 2021, with d=0, a parameter that indicates that block production was left in the hands of the community, between the pools and their delegators.
Goguen already started its transition and the hard forks did their silent work. In epoch 237, December 2020, Allegra gave the first signal, adding to the network some components needed to create native tokens in Cardano, such as token swapping and burning, writing monetary scripts, and then Mary, in epoch 251 in March 2021, moved from a single-asset ledger to a multi-asset ledger, enabling the creation of native tokens.
The crypto hunger showed its power, with the creation of almost 20 thousand NFT (non fungible tokens) in just 1 month since the hard fork Mary, which while having no functionality other than collection as art, the low cost of creation and transfer exhibit their characteristics for when possible use in finance or applications of various uses.
In the roadmap it is scheduled that approximately, for epoch 282 in August 2021, a new hard fork, called Alonzo, will run, in which Goguen will finally make its full debut.
Preparing developments for take-off
I will mention, just as an example of what is coming in Cardano, the main launches.
- Occam Finance will launch the first launch platform and liquidity solution — OcamRazer — for Cardano. The ecosystem will also consist of a DEX and credit marketplace, as well as the OCC token.
OccamRazer: The next generation protocol for decentralized fundraising. It will allow projects to raise funds to attract more diverse projects from the blockchain ecosystem.
OccamX: A competitive and efficient DEX, which will provide the next building block to accompany the primary marketplace built on OccamRazer.
OccamDAO: Finally, our governance layer, along with the OCC token at its core, will govern how the ecosystem behaves. A decentralized autonomous entity controlled by the community.
- Orion will aggregate each CEX, DEX and exchange group into a decentralized platform, providing a non-custodial gateway to the cryptocurrency market by aggregating the liquidity of exchanges into a single DeFi platform.
The partnership with Cardano comes after a series of integrations with other protocols, including Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche and Elrond.
- YaySwap The first high-performance decentralized exchange platform on the Cardano Blockchain.
RoadMap: May 2021, Yayswap token launch. August — October 2021, Yayswap liquidity launch, after Cardano smart contracts feature is enabled. Aug — Nov 2021, Yayswap platform launch, 2 weeks after Yayswap liquidity launch. Nov 2021, launch of wrapped token service for your tokens that are on Cardano Blockchain for tokens on other blockchains. Q2 2022, public launch of YaySwap fund and launch of YAYinov fund.