Cardano is gearing up for its largest upgrade yet, according to founder Charles Hoskinson. The update includes several technical changes aimed at improving smart contract performance and network security.
The Van Rossem hard fork will bring Cardano to 'version 11' and introduce three separate optimizations to the Plutus smart contract language. These changes are expected to make contracts cheaper and faster to run, potentially lowering costs for DeFi protocols and expanding what builders can do on-chain.
The upgrade also includes enhancements designed to prevent two stake pools from registering or operating with the same verifiable random function (vRF) key, a cryptographic mechanism used to fairly select block producers. This is seen as a significant security improvement.