Another step towards the release of Shelley! As you may recall, EMURGO and the Cardano ecosystem has been focused on the rollout of the Cardano Incentivized Testnet - the beginning of the launch of the Shelley era which will bring full decentralization & staking features to Cardano. In the incentivized testnet, ADA holders will be able to delegate their ADA stake or run a staking pool with real ADA rewards.
A necessary part of the incentivized testnet is to determine how much ADA is held across ADA addresses within the Cardano ecosystem. This is the purpose of a “snapshot.” Since we need to give ADA holders the opportunity to verify that they actually hold access to their wallet credentials and ensure that the snapshot worked, there needs to be a “Balance Check” or trial run of the snapshot, before the actual “Official Snapshot” that is to be conducted later in the very near future. Hence, the need for two different snapshots: Balance Check & Official Snapshot.
Anybody who holds ADA can participate in the Cardano Incentivized Testnet, but must hold their ADA in a Yoroi or Daedalus Wallet at the time of the “Official Snapshot.” ADA held on hardware wallets or exchanges at the time of the “Official Snapshot” will not be accounted for.
On November 12, 2019, the Cardano Incentivized Testnet “Balance Check” was completed. If you had your ADA in Yoroi or Daedalus wallets at the time, you will be able to verify the snapshot of your ADA funds with Balance Check versions of Yoroi and Daedalus. Yoroi Wallet’s Balance Check version app for Chrome and Firefox is scheduled to be released around November 14, 2019. These versions will be compatible with mobile wallets, so no other versions will be necessary. EMURGO and IOHK will utilize the “Balance Check” primarily to check for bugs so that participants can stake ADA without issue prior to the actual Incentivized Testnet.
As a reminder, ADA holders will need to move their ADA from any hardware wallet to Yoroi Wallet or Daedalus at the time of the “Balance Check” and the “Official Snapshot,” to be accounted for respectively. Participation in the balance check is optional. It will not impact your ability to participate in the Incentivized Testnet which will start with the “Official Snapshot.”
