Ahead of the upgrade, the company stated that the core technical teams involved have undertaken extensive testing and integration efforts to ensure a successful outcome. IOHK emphasized the importance of the Vasil hard fork occurring as planned.
There are several ecological stakeholders to consider. IOHK stated that it has always been vital to ensure that any upgrade is safe and secure and that all actors in the Cardano ecosystem are fully prepared.
Improved smart contract functionality
The upgrade, in particular, is intended to improve Cardano's smart contract using Plutus v2. The upgrade is intended to increase the platform's efficiency. Notably, Cardano has seen increased activity after the introduction of the smart contract functionality.
Cardano, as previously reported by CoinGabbar, was onboarding five new Plutus scripts everyday at some point. At the beginning of August, the total number of smart contracts on the platform surpassed 3k for the first time.
The Vasil upgrade is also anticipated to unlock numerous functionality, like reference inputs, that enable on-chain data exchange. The functionality will allow users to have access to information recorded on the blockchain without having to spend or recreate UTXOs (unspent transaction output).
Elsewhere, Vasil will also enable reference script capabilities, which are expected to minimize transaction size, enhance throughput, and lower script execution costs. The upgrade allows developers to refer to a script without including it in every transaction.
Furthermore, the Vasil fork will include diffusion pipelining, which will improve a consensus layer on information sharing. In exchange, the layer enables quicker block propagation, facilitating the transfer of information about newly created blocks.
Moreover, IOHK stated that Vasil will address the problem of blockchain validity. The upgrade in this case optimizes Ouroboros' Verifiable Random Function (VRF) process, resulting in speedier block validation and network syncing times. The advantages come when the user's security is affected.
What’s next after the Vasil upgrade?
After the September 22 upgrade, IOHK announced that a PreProduction environment will be available on September 24. During the event, new Plutus functionality and cost models will be accessible in the PreProduction environment before being deployed to the mainnet on September 27.
It is worth noting that the Vasil hard fork has been delayed multiple times, with Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson slamming those who questioned the sluggish progress. Hoskinson, on the other hand, insisted on further testing to guarantee the upgrade went successfully.
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