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- The Shelley Friends and Family test network has been successfully launched with 19 stake pool operators, as announced by the inventor of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson.
- Hoskinson also announced two new features for the Daedalus wallet as well as the first generation of Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs).
In a new video update, Charles Hoskinson, the inventor of Cardano, announced the “Pioneers Day”. As the CEO of IOHK described, the Friends & Family testnet was launched with 19 stake pool operators. To this end, a first conference call was held today, in which all 50 persons involved in the Friends and Family testnet took part. The stake pool operators have received their first homework to do. In addition, new functions will be released over the course of the week, which they have to test.
Hoskinson also stated that the test network will not yet be perfect and the Stake Pool operators will still find one or two bugs. Ultimately, this will benefit the launch of the public Haskell test network, which will soon follow the Friends and Family testnet, as Hoskinson announced:
The distance between now and the public Haskell testnet is not so long. I will be making an announcement very soon when it gonna hit, based on the feedback we get from the pioneers.
Hoskinson also explained that IOHK is currently in a very active exchange with the community on the subject of pledging, an area where “there is still a lot to do”. The idea behind “pledging” is that stake pools have to stake an ADA amount at pool registration before they can offer staking. If the amount of ADA delegated is lower than the amount originally set, the pool is deactivated. Stake pools with higher amounts of ADA should therefore be more attractive for users, as the owner of the pool is financially motivated to keep the pool running.
New Daedalus features and Cardano Improvement Proposals
In addition, Daedalus Flight 1.1.0 was released with some new features, as Hoskinson stated. As things are progressing so well, the CEO of IOHK himself has called for two new features: On the one hand, Hoskinson wants a CSV export function for all transactions with value and an exact time and date for tax purposes.
On the other hand, it should be possible to use a YubiKey, a hardware authentication device manufactured by Yubico, instead of the spending key. This allows users to plug in the YubiKey to unlock a transaction, thus achieving a 2-factor authentication. Regarding the integration of the Daedalus wallet with the Ledger hardware wallets, Hoskinson also said that the cold staking feature will be added with the next firmware upgrade.
Hoskinson went on to say that the first generation of Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs) is already underway. Four CIPs have already been written and may be put to a vote as part of the democratic process. Hoskinson spoiled on this:
Really cool things are coming, especialy on the voting and democracy side. Doors is doing an amazing work. Can’t spoil anything yet but I have to say that things gonna happen sooner than you think.
