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After many delays and setbacks, Cardano’s long-awaited Vasil hard fork update finally went live on September 22, 2022. Charles Hoskinson, the creator of Cardano, announced in early June 2022 that the Cardano blockchain would undergo an update known as the Vasil hard fork. End of June 2022. However, for some reason it was delayed and it will eventually be released in mid-September 2022, around the time of the Ethereum Merge.
To learn about Ethereum Merge, click here.
To learn about Ethereum Merge misconceptions, click here.
In this article, let’s understand Cardano’s Vasil hard fork.
What is Vasil Hard Fork?
A hard fork is a major change in the network protocol that is permanently different from the early version of the blockchain. Miners have to decide which blockchain to keep checking. Previously, a Hard Fork on the Bitcoin blockchain produced Bitcoin Cash. The Cardano community has been anticipating the Vasyl upgrade, which finally launched in September 2022.
In short, the Cardano blockchain has been upgraded via the Vasil hard fork.
This is the second major upgrade to the Cardano network and focuses on improving connectivity and standard network stability.
Vasil offers new features including pipeline testing, UTXO on-disk integration, new CIP methods (CIP-31, CIP-32, CIP-33 and CIP-40) and Hydra.
Expectations from Vasyl’s hard fork
The update was expected to improve transaction fees, scalability of the decentralized application, and transaction speed.
- Transaction fees. Transaction fees will decrease due to upcoming development and major network improvements, resulting in smaller transaction sizes and higher network performance.
- Decentralized application (dApp) scalability. The upgrade is expected to address a modern issue that has significantly hindered the ability of Cardano’s decentralized applications (dApps) to scale.
- Transaction speed. Vasil will enable developers to store and reference data without logging out. This will improve transaction throughput and promote blockchain concurrency. In addition, it will significantly speed up transactions.
Before moving forward, let’s understand the various CIP mechanisms and diffusion pipelines that will be implemented.
Best Cardano Improvement Protocols (CIPs) and Diffusion Pipeline on Vasil’s Hard Fork
- CIP-31 (Reference Inputs)
As the name suggests, the link input will allow you to view the output without actually spending it, which is what Cardano hopes to do with the CIP-31. The idea is to make it easy to access data already stored on the network without having to worry about the UTXO being dispersed from spending and creating new ones.
Examples of use cases include checking the state of an on-chain application without actually consuming its output (for example, checking the current state of a stablecoin state machine).
- CIP-32 (embedded data)
This proposal aims to allow data to be attached to outputs rather than data hashes. The ultimate goal is to make it easier and faster for users to communicate data values.
The Cardano team expects dApp developers to use this feature extensively, as it will greatly simplify the overall state of their systems.
A fundamental goal of CIP-32 is to conceptually simplify the scenario where outputs are conceptually linked to data.
- CIP-33 (Reference Scripts)
Cardano Improvement Proposal 33 proposes to enable scripts to be used to satisfy script requirements during the authentication process, rather than requiring a transaction to be spent. Reference scripts will be able to link to outputs and be used to meet scripting needs.
- CIP-40 (collateral exits)
This one includes an entirely new category of transaction exits called collateral exits and attempts to increase the overall scalability of the network.
- Diffusion pipeline
Block propagation time has been improved with diffusion pipelines. As new dApps are deployed on the Cardano blockchain, it is critical to increase the scalability of the network. The basic idea behind a diffusion pipeline is to send blocks before they are fully validated, while making adjustments to the consensus layer to enhance block propagation across nodes.
What does the Road Ahead look like?
Vasyl’s hard fork is certainly a milestone in Cardano’s history. Although the first smart contract became available only in September 2021, thanks to the developers of Cardano, the network received one of the most important updates.
The diffusion pipeline and other smart contract enhancements are likely to be of interest to DeFi developers and users. As Cardano grows, another update may be required. Time will tell if Cardano can keep up the pace.
Conclusion. When will the Vasil Hard Fork be?
Cardano and Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson informed his viewers that the hard fork will happen “in September”. The long-awaited Ethereum merger is scheduled to happen on or around September 15th, perhaps not a coincidence.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not legal tender and is currently unregulated. Please ensure that you carry out a sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information presented in this section does not represent any investment advice or the official position of WazirX. WazirX reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or amend this blog post at any time and for any reason without prior notice.
