Cardano is about to launch the SECP upgrade. The upgrade is scheduled for February 14th. The hype around the upgrade comes simultaneously when the network registers a rise in development activity.
GitHub development activity on Cardano is surpassing many other leading blockchain networks. As shared on Twitter, data from GitHub shows that Cardano is seated above ten other blockchain networks on multiple occasions. With Cardano’s points at 797 at the top, Polkadot, Ethereum, Filecoin and six other blockchains are behind.
According to the same data source, this is the 7th time that Cardano’s daily development activities have toppled many other blockchains.
Asides from Cardano, Polkadot is another network that has notably hit this milestone. Ethereum and Cosmos have also grabbed the position a few times this year.
Cardano’s SECP upgrade and all its pros for the network
SECP upgrade is approaching, and Cardano lovers have one more thing to be excited about.
 
 
“Another reason to fall in love with Cardano. St.Valentine’s day is just around the corner, and so is the Valentine (aka SECP) upgrade.” InputOutputGlobal tweeted, with regards to the upgrade. In addition, another tweet explained that “This upgrade comes to Cardano to foster secure cross-chain DApp development with Plutus, while advancing blockchain interoperability.”
Cardano has detailed the upgrade, explaining that the SEP or SECP256k1 is the name of the elliptic curve that many blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Binance Coin used to integrate public key cryptography. The curve uses a key pair to carry out validation for transaction signatures.
Excerpts of the blog post read;
“Examples of SECP include the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Schnorr signatures. These allow users to verify the integrity of specific signed hashed data. ECDSA and Schnorr signature algorithms work with the SECP256k1 curve in many blockchains.”
Cardano uses the Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) with elliptic curve25519 as a native signature algorithm.
Input Output Global (IOG) is set to enable the building of cross-chain applications efficiently. IOG will now include a built-in function to support ECDSA and Schnorr signatures and Cardano’s native signature.
The built-in functions will become native to Cardano. They will also be audited and integrated by experts to ensure security is at the highest level. The functions will make it possible for Plutus DApp developers to widen the choice of multi-signature or threshold signature design.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/cardano-clinches-important-development-milestone-as-ada-ushers-in-super-bullish-valentine-upgrade/