New Cardano (ADA) Upgrade Confirmed for February 14

It looks like Cupid has aimed his bow at the Cardano community this year as the team at Input Output has announced a major upgrade that is scheduled to take place on Valentine’s Day.

Dubbed the “Valentine” upgrade, this technical feat will bring new Plutus SECP cryptographic primitives to the Cardano network.

Rebecca Hopwood, the community coordinator at Input Output, reports that following a period of community testing and close collaboration with stake pool operators (SPOs), developers and exchange engineering teams, an update proposal has been submitted by a joint Input Output, Cardano Foundation and EMURGO technical team to upgrade the Cardano mainnet to protocol v8.

“We are thrilled to announce that the Valentine upgrade is finally upon us, marking a critical milestone in the evolution of the Cardano network,” she wrote.

The upgrade is set to take effect on Feb. 14, a fitting time to declare your love for the network.

For those looking to get in on the action, SPOs and Cardano node users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest version, 1.35.5. It is worth noting that any version prior to 1.35.4 will not be compatible with protocol version 8 and will not work on the mainnet after the upgrade.

This much-anticipated upgrade will bring a bouquet of benefits to the Cardano community, including greater interoperability and secure cross-chain dApp development.

The new built-in functions will add a special touch of security to Plutus, making it easier for developers to work with other blockchains and support signatures such as ECDSA and Schnorr.

Preparations for this upgrade have been underway for some time. With over 80% of block-producing nodes already running the required new node, the upgrade is almost ready to be deployed on the mainnet.

IOG and the Cardano Foundation are committed to keeping the community informed of its progress and encourage everyone to stay close to their channels for the latest updates.