The Alonzo Testnet For Cardano Is Now Live: Report

The Alonzo testnet for Cardano is now live as Input-Output Global announced and here is what you can expect from the long-awaited smart contracts as we can see in our Cardano latest news.

Input-Output Global announced that this is the start in the journey of smart contracts and to organize the different stages of the rollout, IOG employed the use of the color index system with Blue representing the current test phase, and we can see the white and purple ones but what do they mean? According to the blog post:

“We have recently launched the first alpha testnet, Alonzo Blue, supported initially by a small group of SPOs, partners and Plutus Pioneers. We have now commenced the process of inviting this early group to get set up.”

The Alonzo testnet for Cardano in the blue phase is described as the foundation of programmable smart contracts on the blockchain and involves working with members of key groups like Plutus Pioneers. The Plutus pioneers are developers that had an educational course to learn Plutus and Haskell and their goal is to test the smart contract functionality. Over the upcoming weeks, the process will expand to include the development companies known as the “alpha partners” in order to create apps and oracles, lending and borrowing mechanisms, DEXs, NFTs, and DeFi tools.

Today, we are delighted to report we have successfully spun up the first testnet in our #Alonzo rollout. #AlonzoBlue is our early alpha network, providing core Alonzo-node networking capability. 1/2https://t.co/z8shaZeIhq pic.twitter.com/Eg2t9PdM8x

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) May 27, 2021

Operation Director Gerard Moroney said that the goal of this is to accumulate code and to document everything that is shareable with the community. The next stage is the White one which is the same as the blue one but opened to a wider group of testers that are working in a stable and refined environment after settling out everything in the Blue phase. During this stage, the goal is to integrate the off-chain components with the new stable environment like the wallet backend and the alpha partners will also test the scripts in a live environment.

So now that smart contracts are on the horizon, what do you think the next insult is going to be from the trolls? We've had just a wallet and ghost chain. What do you guys think? Should I hold a contest for best trolling? pic.twitter.com/QKI4VgS1Am

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 28, 2021

The Purple stage is about three months from being completed, smart contracts on Cardano however are becoming a reality. IOG CEO Charles Hoskinson fired back at the critics who accused Cardano of being nothing but a staking wallet while some even called it a scam:

“So now that smart contracts are on the horizon, what do you think the next insult is going to be from the trolls? We’ve had just a wallet and ghost chain. What do you guys think? Should I hold a contest for best trolling.”