Cardano’s Most Ambitious Upgrade Finally Has a Confirmed Launch Date

Input-Output Hong Kong (IOHK), the blockchain development firm behind Cardano (ADA), confirmed the release date of the Vasil hard fork. It will happen on September 22, contrary to what some developers had speculated.

In a series of Tweets, IOHK informed the status of the Vasil upgrade, adding that it would be the most important and complicated upgrade to date as, in addition to bringing greater capacity to the network, it will significantly reduce the cost of transactions.

VASIL UPGRADE: DATE CONFIRMED 💪
Following the successful completion & extensive testing of all core components, plus confirmed community readiness, we along with @cardanostiftung can today announce 22nd September for the #Vasil upgrade on the #Cardano mainnet. 🧵$ADA
1/9

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) September 2, 2022

Vasil Will Be Supported by Major Cryptocurrency Exchanges

According to IOHK, most leading cryptocurrency exchanges have already started upgrading their nodes to support the latest hard fork. The firm expects “a seamless technical transition, with no disruption for its users or a break in block production.”

“The majority of leading exchanges have now started their update process. Based on current trajectory & previous experience, @CardanoStiftung has every confidence in them completing their updates & meeting the 80% liquidity metric set.”

On top of that, the update will allow developers to create blockchain-based applications in a “more powerful and efficient way” through Plutus, the smart contract platform of the Cardano blockchain.

Vasil Delay Causes Network Commotion

Vasil was initially scheduled to be launched at the end of July; however, the development of the fork proved so complex that it had to be pushed back for a couple of months, causing unrest among developers such as Adam Dean, who pointed out that the Testnet was “catastrophically” broken. This was denied on air by Charles Hoskinson, creator of Cardano.

🧵 (1/n) It’s important to point out today that the #Cardano #Testnet is **catastrophically** broken due to a bug in Cardano Node v 1.35.2. This was the version that we had previously been told was “Tested and Ready” for the Vasil Hardfork. This bug was only discovered…

— Adam Dean (@adamKDean) August 18, 2022

Other developers, such as Peter Szilágyi and Sebastien Guillemot, complained that the project had a “culture of silence” that did not allow them to talk about network errors and that even mentioning a bug caused a “multi-day panic.”

We have such a hush-hush culture that even hinting at some test network issue leads to a multi-day panic. Meanwhile in Ethereum, devs can just honestly talk about their software https://t.co/cYEY6dNp8o

— Sebastien Guillemot (@SebastienGllmt) August 23, 2022

Hoskinson, widely known for fiercely defending his creation, said Guillemot was wrong and that the tweets from both developers sought to “kick up dust for no apparent reason,” adding that all problems have been solved.

Now, all things seem to point out to a Cardano fully ready to be forked. In addition, 70% of the dApps tracked have confirmed that pre-production testing has been successfully executed, and 80% of the Stake Pool Operators (SPO) have been updated.

Cardano Devs Are More Excited Than ADA Traders

As exciting as Vasil is, and as important as this revolutionary hard fork is for the future of Cardano, traders and speculators have responded with a “Meh” in anticipation.

It is true that ADA could stop its major bearish trend, but it is also important to consider that the coin has been trading sideways since may, bouncing roughly between $0.42 and $0.6 with some exceptions. Right now, ADA trades at $0.457 which is quite near the channel’s support.

And with Vasil scheduled one week after the Ethereum Merge, perhaps there have not been too many eyes focusing on Cardano’s developers and the ADA price charts.