The Cardano blockchain community is very active. They recently launched the algorithmic stablecoin Djed , they work closely with the UN and have now prepared to upgrade the network to the v8 protocol. It will come on Valentine's Day and will bring, for example, the new Plutus SECP cryptographic primitive. The update should take place on February 14, 2023 at 21:44:51 UTC.
Cryptographic primitives function as the cornerstones of the blockchain. They are often very specialized and must be absolutely reliable. Plutus SECP is for secure DApp development across blockchains using the SECP curve (specifically SECP256k1) to implement public key cryptography. Cardano itself uses the Elliptic Curve Edwards Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA)25519 as its native signature algorithm. To communicate with blockchains using SECP (for example, Bitcoin, Ethereum or Binance Coin), programmers had to implement their own code. This takes time, effort and ultimately reduces security because not every implementation will succeed. This function will now be taken over by the Plutus SECP cryptographic primitive.
After the update, the Cardano mainnet will switch to the v8 protocol. All users and SPOs (Stake Pool Operators) must update their nodes to the latest version. Versions prior to 1.35.4 will not be compatible with the v8 protocol, and nodes with an older version will therefore not work after a network upgrade.
