Cardano’s Alonzo White Hard Fork Successful, What’s Next?

Cardano’s Alonzo testnet went through a hardfork yesterday. Alonzo White, as the effort is called, was successfully implemented, so let’s examine what’s next for the network.

Alonzo White Hardfork Successful

In a Twitter update from yesterday, IOHK revealed that the Alonzo testnet went through a successful hardfork called Alonzo White.

“We’ll monitor the new network closely over the next 24 hours while continuing to do further QA work on the node tonight. We’ll then review any feedback/results tomorrow and start addressing any required fixes. We expect a number of updates as we add features to Alonzo White.” – Reads part of the announcement.

The team hasn’t provided any further information since the announcement was made, leading to the assumption that everything is working as intended.

It’s worth noting that the Cardano team had previously announced the rollout plan for Alonzo. The latter consists of color-coded series of tenets – Alonzo Blue to Alonzo Black.

The first phase took place toward the end of May – Alonzo Blue. Alonzo White is the second phase, which began yesterday with the successful hardfork. Following is Alonzo Purple.

Going Forward

Some estimates put Alonzo Purple’s rollout in August. It’s the next step going into the Goguen era.

Emurgo, one of the founding entities of Cardano’s protocol, detailed some of the benefits that Alonzo brings to the ecosystem, including the opportunity to test out smart contracts for the first time. It’s also worth noting that Alonzo will be fully public once it rolls into purple – this should be the next phase, as mentioned above.

Also, the launch of the above should feature the very first major public testnet that will also see participation of all the pioneers. The last two stages are Alonzo Red and Alonzo Black. It’s also worth noting that after Alonzo Black rolls out, there’s a staging period before the Alonzo mainnet goes live.