Hero's Image

Cardano’s upgrade: What investors should know

Articles

In the wake of Ethereum’s successful transition to Proof-of-Stake last week, Cardano, the third largest smart contract platform by market capitalization, is set to go through a much anticipated upgrade today, September 22, the Vasil hard fork.

 

Figure 1: IOHK Blog, Vasil: what to expect, accessed September 22, 2022.

 

The mechanics of Vasil

 

Vasil implements a suite of improvements to the Cardano blockchain, enriching its smart contract capabilities, increasing the chain’s throughput, and reducing transaction costs, further improving Cardano’s scalability. This is possible due to the activation of a mechanism that simplifies the assignment of Proof-of-Stake operators to block production. This results in faster block validation and overall network syncing times without compromising security. In addition, Vasil introduces diffusion pipelining, which improves block propagation times by streamlining the process of sharing information among network participants. Plutus, Cardano’s scripting language, will also have its version 2 fully deployed, with new built-in functionalities that will reduce overall computational resources needed to execute code on the network. 

 

What this hard fork means for investors

 

Smart contract platforms are one of the strongest investment cases for crypto. Without these platforms, decentralized finance and NFT applications couldn’t exist. We believe this upgrade is a demonstration of the continued effort of alternative platforms to improve their infrastructure and move forward in their roadmaps, intensifying the competition among the major players in this space. After the rise of several Ethereum competitors in the last few years, it’s still disputable whether the future will be single-chain or multi-chain. Nonetheless, this kind of development reinforces the importance of having diversified exposure to crypto that takes into account the nuances of the smart contract sector. Ultimately, this will enable investors to capitalize on the growth in all ecosystems of decentralized applications.

 

For a detailed introduction to the underlying technology behind smart contracts and the investment case for this crypto sector, consider reading our Smart Contracts Primer.

 

 


 

This material expresses Hashdex Asset Management Ltd. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (“Hashdex”)'s opinion for informational purposes only and does not consider the investment objectives, financial situation or individual needs of one or a particular group of investors. We recommend consulting specialized professionals for investment decisions. Investors are advised to carefully read the prospectus or regulations before investing their funds. The information and conclusions contained in this material may be changed at any time, without prior notice. Nothing contained herein constitutes an offer, solicitation or recommendation regarding any investment management product or service. This information is not directed at or intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity located in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, availability or use would be contrary to applicable law or regulation or which would subject Hashdex to any registration or licensing requirements within such jurisdiction. No part of this material may be (i) copied, photocopied or duplicated in any form by any means or (ii) redistributed without the prior written consent of Hashdex. By receiving or reviewing this material, you agree that this material is confidential intellectual property of Hashdex and that you will not directly or indirectly copy, modify, recast, publish or redistribute this material and the information therein, in whole or in part, or otherwise make any commercial use of this material without Hashdex’s prior written consent. 

Investment in any investment vehicle and cryptoassets is highly speculative and is not intended as a complete investment program. It is designed only for sophisticated persons who can bear the economic risk of the loss of their entire investment and who have limited need for liquidity in their investment. There can be no assurance that the investment vehicles will achieve its investment objective or return any capital. No guarantee or representation is made that Hashdex’s investment strategy, including, without limitation, its business and investment objectives, diversification strategies or risk monitoring goals, will be successful, and investment results may vary substantially over time. Nothing herein is intended to imply that the Hashdex s investment methodology or that investing any of the protocols or tokens listed in the Information may be considered “conservative,” “safe,” “risk free,” or “risk averse.”

Certain information contained herein (including financial information) has been obtained from published and non-published sources. Such information has not been independently verified by Hashdex, and Hashdex does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of such information. Hashdex does not provide tax, accounting or legal advice. Certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue”  “believe” (or the negatives thereof) or other variations thereof. Due to various risks and uncertainties, including those discussed above, actual events or results, the ultimate business or activities of Hashdex and its investment vehicles or the actual performance of Hashdex, its investment vehicles, or digital tokens may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. As a result, investors should not rely on such forward- looking statements in making their investment decisions. None of the information contained herein has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or any other governmental or self-regulatory authority. No governmental authority has opined on the merits of Hashdex’s investment vehicles or the adequacy of the information contained herein.

Logo Hashdex
The material contained on this website is for informational purposes only and Hashdex, and its affiliates, is not soliciting any action based upon such material. The material is not to be construed as investment advice nor is it to be construed as recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product or to adopt any investment strategy. Further, the material contained on this website does not constitute a representation that the financial instruments described therein are suitable or appropriate for any person. Past performance is not an indication of any future performance. This website may contain advertising of financial products.