Charles Hoskinson, the well-known creator of the Cardano blockchain, recently made an exciting announcement about the integration of Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) 69 into the upcoming Chang hard fork. This significant development was shared by Hoskinson through the X platform, reflecting his ongoing commitment to listening to the community and meeting the demands of the Cardano Foundation (CF).
In his own words, Hoskinson explained how the decision was made to include this proposal: “I noticed the requests for CIP-69 coming in. I spoke with the IOI delivery team, who then spoke with the team at Intersect. It became clear that there was a lot of community demand for this, and the CF was also advocating for CIP-69 to be included in Chang.”
Despite being a last-minute addition, Hoskinson assured everyone that it is unlikely to cause significant delays: “I don’t believe this will cause significant delays to the delivery of Chang, but it’s important to recognize that out-of-band script changes always have the potential to disrupt and introduce additional risks. However, the development teams will find a way to implement CIP-69 in Chang.”
CIP-69, which was created by developers within the Cardano ecosystem, aims to enhance interactions in Cardano’s Plutus smart contracts by standardizing input arguments across different types of scripts. This includes spending, certification, rewards, and minting. The main innovation proposed is the removal of the datum argument, which is traditionally linked to validator blocking. Instead, it will be replaced with a requirement for just one redeemer and the script context for execution. This simplifies access to data through ScriptContext or a new extension in TxInfo’s Spending constructor.
This technical update addresses the “mutual dependency issue,” which has been a hindrance to the development of effective and secure decentralized applications (DApps) on Cardano. It has complicated the design and architecture of DApps, making it challenging to create them on the platform.
In addition to the integration of CIP-69, the Chang hard fork, scheduled for the second quarter, marks a significant milestone for Cardano as it ushers in the era of decentralized governance known as “Voltaire.” This fork consists of two main updates. The first will introduce essential governance elements, while the second will advance to full on-chain governance capabilities. This includes delegate participation and treasury withdrawals, giving the community the power to not only vote but also directly fund projects.
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