By George Ward
On January 12th, the blockchain engineering firm behind the Cardano ecosystem, Input Output Global (IOG), released good news for the Cardano community. The announcement mentioned the potential deployment of a sidechain toolkit.
Cardano’s IOG Announces An Upcoming Sidechain Toolkit
Before now, IOG developers used the sidechain toolkit to develop a public testnet of an EVM-compatible sidechain as a PoC (proof-of-concept). Upon completion of the audit, the toolkit will allow developers to deploy dApps, develop smart contracts, and move tokens across various test chains.
In addition, the toolkit will provide sidechain creators the flexibility to select their apps’ consensus mechanism and other specific features. A sidechain is a separate blockchain that operates alongside the main blockchain (mainnet) to enhance scalability while maintaining the mainnet’s focus on security and decentralization.
The IOG organization believes the progress made in the development of sidechains will significantly increase the utilization of the Cardano ecosystem. Additionally, they anticipate that a diverse range of partner chains and Cardano sidechains will emerge shortly.
On December 10th, in a Ask Me Anything session, the founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, said Solana is among the “partner chains” he wants to see on the Cardano blockchain. He added that Cardano could employ Solana’s speed while Solana would benefit from Cardano’s security and infrastructure.
Cardano Community Excited About The Upcoming Improvement
Meanwhile, the news of the expansion sparked optimism in the Cardano community. One member on Twitter hoped the update would push the price of ADA up, similar to the case of Ethereum.
From 2020 to 2021, the price of Ethereum witnessed bullish movements after the rollout of several utility tokens and layer-2 sidechains. Another Cardano Twitter user called the sidechain toolkit “a great move.”
The Cardano supporter believed the move would expand the deployment of sidechains on Cardano in the coming months. However, the IOG stated that the toolkit will not provide a “complete solution.” The company wrote:
“Some known areas need improvements, and we shall work on them steadily and carefully as time goes on. We shall also collaborate for thoughts, recommendations, and feedback.”
Apart from the sidechain toolkit, the blockchain plans to launch parallel accounting styles. This is part of the platform’s “Basho phase” and will help enhance interoperability in the ecosystem.
Interestingly, the upcoming sidechain solution is not the first the team has implemented on the Cardano blockchain. Earlier in July, the team developed an EVM-compatible sidechain which was the start of sidechain developments on the network.