Shelley and the other news of the Cardano Virtual Summit

IOHK revealed some news about the Cardano project at the Cardano Virtual Summit.

First of all, the launch of the update called Shelley, which will make Cardano’s blockchain more decentralized than, for example, the Bitcoin blockchain, and will be able to scale in order to support large volumes of transactions. 

In fact, from July 7th, 2020 users will be able to start interacting with the mainnet and will be able to start staking ADA tokens thanks to the new Daedalus wallet. 

This will be the first full version of the Shelley mainnet, with all key features. The goal is to stick to the roadmap and to carry out the Shelley hard fork on July 29th.

Product Director of IOHK, Aparna Jue, said:

“The team has been hard at work to ensure Shelley is rolled out successfully, and on time. We’re excited to continue to deliver on our promises, and for the community to be with us every step of the way”.

CEO of IOHK, Charles Hoskinson, added: 

“The community has always been central in the development of Cardano, so we’re excited to be entering a new phase of the blockchain, with users more able than ever to participate in and shape the network”.

Other news from the Cardano Summit

In addition to these important announcements, other novelties were also presented during the Summit. 

For example, the launch of Atala PRISM, a decentralized identity system with the potential to give millions of people autonomous identities and access to a blockchain-based financial and social services market. This system is being tested in Ethiopia. 

The Atlas project was also presented, a project that will allow Cardano users to exchange funds, vote or manage their digital identity in one optimized experience. 

Another presentation included the Catalyst project, a new governance model based on the next update called Voltaire that will give ADA owners the power to vote on the future development of Cardano thanks to research about democratic models, and social experiments to define new models of community consensus in order to achieve a completely decentralized fund management system. 

Finally, IOHK also announced that it will launch a $20 million Cardano ecosystem fund, in collaboration with Wave Financial Group, the first venture capital fund to support the adoption of IOHK’s blockchain platforms, including Cardano of course. 

This fund will invest globally with an average investment size between $250,000 and $500,000.