Input Output Global (IOG), the developer behind the Cardano blockchain platform, has announced plans to add new built-in functions to its smart contract programming language, Plutus, to support Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Schnorr signatures.
The move is aimed at making it easier for developers to build cross-chain applications, as currently, Plutus developers would have to spend time, effort, and funds to implement ECDSA and Schnorr algorithms over the SECP elliptic curves in Plutus, which “increases potential security risks and may use an unrealistic amount of resources.”
Tim Harrison, a Cardano developer from IOHK, the company behind IOG, said in the blog post that the new cryptographic primitives would allow developers to use a wider range of multi-signature or threshold signature designs natively in Cardano, thus providing the highest level of security.
Preparations for the upgrade have been underway for some time across the entire Cardano ecosystem, with positive results from intensive integration testing in the preview test environment since November 2022.
According to Harrison, the upgrade is not as complex as previous ones and will not have such an impact across existing decentralized applications (DApps). Nonetheless, the teams are ensuring readiness by closely working with key Cardano stakeholders such as DApps, exchanges, and service providers.
Additionally, he also stated that over 80% of block-producing nodes were running the required new node, and exchanges have already been notified of the upgrade to allow them to upgrade their systems as required.
However, the mainnet upgrade is tentatively planned for the 14th of next month, with the update to the pre-production test environment scheduled for February 11th, as per the blog post.
Cardano (ADA) Price Review
Cardano, a cryptocurrency with a dedicated community and a large number of active developers, has faced obstacles in enhancing its user experience and identifying its true market demand.
Despite these challenges, the Cardano ecosystem has seen a recent resurgence in its value. After experiencing a 74.8% drop in value last year, ADA has seen a substantial 33% increase in capitalization since the beginning of the year, and its price has also recovered by 25.8% over the past two weeks.
Coinmarketcap data shows that ADA is currently trading at $0.3383, and the daily and weekly charts indicate a gain of around 3%. If the positive rally continues, price recovery could potentially lead ADA to reach its previous highs.
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