Smart Contracts Go Live In Cardano (ADA) Testnet Alonzo Purple
Input-Output Hong Kong (IOHK), the developer of the proof-of-stake platform Cardano (ADA), announced that the Alonzo Purple testnet is up and running.
Following the first two Alonzo updates, named Blue and White, the third, Alonzo Purple update commences as the first fully public Cardano testnet to bring support for smart contracts.
Getting ready for the final phase
Cardano developer team tweeted:
“It’s an important moment, marking significant progress in the rollout of smart contracts on the Cardano mainnet which is targeted for the end of August/early September.”
As the critical upgrade, which introduces smart contract functionality to Cardano unfolds, the developing team proceeds with the systematic onboarding of crypto exchanges.
Cardano keeps smoothly transitioning into the long-awaited smart contract era, IOHK explained:
“We want to ensure as many exchanges as possible are ‘[Alonzo hard-fork-ready]’ when we hard fork the network, to ensure that their customers maintain uninterrupted deposit/withdrawal access to their ADA and do not have to wait for this to be sorted out afterwards.”
Hard fork combinator (HFC) event
The team behind the world’s fifth-largest crypto by market cap plans to launch full smart contract compatibility in the coming weeks, but following the initial onboarding phase, IOHK will hard fork the network and open Alonzo Purple testnet to any developer who wishes to join.
Cardano’s creator Charles Hoskinson shared in a video update:
“What’s really cool is that five seconds after the HFC event occurs, you can run Plutus code on Cardano… If you’re really creative and really understand our stack, you guys can actually start writing and deploying your smart contracts on mainnet if you so choose, which is pretty awesome. Or you can wait two, three weeks and the testnet will be in a position where you have the full ‘Cadillac’ experience, and you can write stuff and deploy it there.”
Cardano is still on schedule for the HFC event announcement, which is planned for August 12-13, said Hoskinson, who continues with regular updates about the rollout progress as the developer team prepares for the “huge wave of smart contracts” that is going to hit the network soon.
