Last week, IOHK successfully applied a change to the Cardano protocol that is set to bring token locking to the platform. The upgrade, called Allegra and set to take place on Dec. 16, represents a major step in IOHK’s drive to bring both Goguen’s smart contract functionality and Voltaire’s governance to Cardano.

IOHK, the company behind Cardano, has announced that they successfully executed Allegra, a protocol update that will bring token locking to the blockchain. In the making since at least the beginning of December, Allegra is a development change that was set to happen alongside the integration of metadata on the network.

Token locking, while a small technical change to the consensus protocol overall, will have a significant impact on the way Cardano works and, as such, required a hard fork to be implemented.

Thanks to the blockchain’s unique hard fork combinator (HFC), the protocol upgrade happened smoothly without triggering any interruptions, breaks, or restarts to the blockchain. Those holding ADA only need to be running the latest version of their preferred wallet, while stake pool operators are required to update their nodes to the latest version. Exchanges, on the other hand, need to update their software stacks, but the company said that dedicated teams from both IOHK and the Cardano Foundation will assist them with the transition.

Allegra will officially take place on Dec. 16, at the boundary of epoch 236, just before 10 PM UTC.

According to the company’s official announcement, Allegra will prepare Cardano for smart contracts and the creation of assets that run on the platform while providing an important piece of governance functionality that will come with Voltaire.

Token locking will enable Cardano to record that a specific token issued on the network is being used for a particular purpose. Once more tokens aside from ADA are issued on Cardano, it will enable a certain number of tokens to be reserved for a specific period of time so they can gain a certain benefit, such as voting or running complex smart contracts.

“This update is another key milestone in the incredible Cardano journey we’ve been making since Shelley this summer. We’re delighted to deliver it – as we promised – during 2020. See you on the other side as we continue accelerating into Goguen, and all the new utility it will bring in 2021,” the company said in the announcement.

The post IOHK continues Goguen momentum with the Allegra Cardano protocol update appeared first on CryptoSlate.

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