The Cardano (ADA) network is inching closer to the Mary upgrade, which could see the blockchain provide tough competition to Ethereum
Cardano’s ongoing Mary upgrade could see the network challenge Ethereum by providing developers with the ability to create non-fungible tokens (NFT) and more. Input Output Hong Kong, the firm behind Cardano’s development, conducted a hard fork on 3 February and implemented the Mary upgrade (or the Goguen native token upgrade) into the test net.
According to Cardano’s roadmap, the Mary upgrade will transform the blockchain into a multi-asset network, allowing it to compete with the likes of Ethereum. The team expects to launch the mainnet before the end of the month. The other features of the Mary upgrade will roll out simultaneously in line with ADA roadmap’s various phases.
The ongoing Cardano upgrade will see its native tokens have similar functions to ERC-20 fungible and ERC-721 non-fungible tokens on Ethereum. Thanks to the upgrade, Cardano users will now have the power to create their own tokens. Despite the similarities in function to the Ethereum tokens, Cardano’s native tokens have different designs to that of the leading smart contract platform.
A major difference between Cardano and Ethereum following the upgrade would be the elimination of execution fees. On the Ethereum network, users interacting with a token smart contract on the blockchain have to pay gas fees. Cardano wouldn’t charge its users’ such fees.
The Ethereum network has sometimes struggled to get retail investors involved in the blockchain activities due to high gas fees during network congestion. Cardano wants to avoid similar problems by eliminating gas fees from its network.
Cardano users also don’t need smart contracts to create tokens, a move that could eliminate the possibility of fraud perpetrators exploiting smart contract vulnerabilities, human error and other risks linked with smart contracts.
ADA races to new all-time high
The ongoing Cardano network development is positively affecting ADA, Cardano’s native cryptocurrency. ADA hit a new all-high price of $0.97 during the weekend. The cryptocurrency started the year at $0.18, but it is now up by over 400% as it enjoys the general market’s rally.
The recent rally saw ADA surpass Polkadot (DOT) in terms of market cap, and it is battling for the fourth place with XRP. Cardano’s recent price growth can be attributed to the excellent fundamentals and working principles the network is putting in place.