Cardano's long-awaited scaling protocol Hydra has finally gone live on its mainnet. This represents a major milestone for the proof-of-stake network as it marks the first step in making the parent blockchain faster and better suited for use cases of cheap and fast transactions. Hydra is a family of Layer 2 protocols designed to enable Cardano to reach the scalability it desires. With the launch of this Hydra head, the Cardano community is elated in anticipation of the blockchain becoming a major player in the smart contract and decentralized finance (DeFi) marketplace.

The first Hydra head opened on mainnet without the need for a hard fork. This puts Cardano in a prime spot to effectively compete with other Layer 1 protocols such as Ethereum that are also exploring similar solutions. Ethereum is currently looking at a series of Layer 2 solutions such as Polygon zkEVM, Optimism (OP) and Arbitrum (ARB) in hopes of transforming its network and allowing for more use cases. However, Sui Network has recently entered the race with a high throughput scalability of 300,000 transactions per second (TPS), representing serious competition for Cardano.

For now, Cardano and the rest of the blockchain world will be collectively waiting to see if the Hydra head and other scaling solutions succeed in making their respective networks faster and better suited for more use cases. If successful, blockchain technology could very well become the backbone of our future digital economy.



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