The Weekly Wrap - 17 September 2021

1. Cardano launches smart contract capabilities

The Facts:

• Cardano’s Alonzo hard fork went live on September 12.
• The hard fork introduces Plutus scripts, which may be used for writing smart contracts on the blockchain.
• The new smart contract capabilities provide new use cases for decentralized applications (dApps).

Why it’s important:

• The launch of smart contract capabilities has been highly anticipated in the Cardano community, with many projects planning to launch on the platform.
• Smart contract blockchains have gained traction in recent years, therefore this upgrade might further fuel innovation in decentralized applications.

2. EY announces integration with Polygon

The Facts:

• Ernst & Young, one of the world’s largest professional services networks, has announced an integration with Polygon, an Ethereum scaling solution.
• Additionally, EY is working with Polygon to create permissioned, private industry chains leveraging optimistic rollups for scalability.
• Polygon provides EY with a toolset to scale transactions for clients and the option to move transactions on the Ethereum mainnet.

Why it’s important:

• Many use scaling solutions like Polygon or Avalanche as a cheaper way to make transactions and use decentralized applications.
• Polygon is currently the scaling solution with the highest total value locked (TVL) in bridges from Ethereum.

3. Google partners with Dapper Labs

The Facts:

• Google is partnering up with Dapper Labs to support and scale the Flow blockchain.
• As part of the deal, Google Cloud will offer infrastructure for scaling the Flow network, enabling developers to access blockchain nodes with lower latency.
• Dapper Labs is best known for developing the NBA Top Shot NFT marketplace, as well as CryptoKitties.

Why it’s important:

• This partnership could boost Flow’s readiness for further mainstream adoption.
• Scalability is essential when minting and transferring NFTs, especially when it comes to blockchain gaming. However, using Google Cloud (or AWS) may raise centralization concerns.

4. Solana experiences network downtime

The Facts:

• From Tuesday until early Wednesday, Solana experienced a network downtime lasting over 17 hours.
• A sudden and large increase in transaction load caused message congestion. The inadequate message prioritization led to a network fork.
• Solana validators decided to restart the entire network with a patched client software to mitigate the issues.

Why it’s important:

• While it’s unclear whether this was an intentional attack or unfortunate coordination of bot behavior, the event highlights the vast scope of attack vectors to be considered when designing blockchains. Although unpopular, high fees tend to prevent this type of issue.
• Halting a network is a severe disruption and something that should not happen to a top 10 cryptocurrency with significant amounts of assets on-chain (in the case of Solana, an amount in excess of $50b).

5. Coinbase applies for membership with National Futures Association

The Facts:

• Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has applied for a membership with the NFA, a self-regulatory organization for the U.S. derivatives industry.
• This membership will allow the exchange to offer futures and derivatives trading.

Why it’s important:

• As crypto derivatives volumes are up in 2021 compared to last year, this move comes in a time of growing demand.
• Given the customer base of the exchange, Coinbase could become an important player in the crypto derivatives market.

In other news

• NFT scaling startup Immutable raises $60m (via The Block)
• Algorand and Harmony launch developer incentive programs (via The Block)
• OpenSea confirms NFT insider trading by executive (via The Block)