• Cardano’s Friends & Family testnet has successfully come through the first week of testing, with only minor problems encountered so fa.
• IOHK has released the new Cardano Blockchain Explorer 1.0.0, based on the Haskell code.

Cardano‘s Friends & Family test network is one of the final steps before the long-awaited launch of the Shelley mainnet. It was launched last Monday and is currently being tested by 19 stake pool operators in a kind of “alpha” for the Shelley mainnet. The Friends & Family test network is set to grow by a further 38 stake pools, with each current member recruiting and training two new members, IOHK announced:

Our pioneers are doing the tough early work, laying the trail for all who follow. In due course, we’ll be asking them to bring new pioneers on the journey.

Yesterday the second week of the Friends & Family testnet began, with Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) describing on the day before yesterday that it is well underway thanks to the hard work of the “pioneers”, the first stake pool operators. Cardanians.io wrote that the stability and speed of blockchain synchronization through the Haskell node is “astonishing” good.

In an update at the end of the first week of testing, IOHK stated that it was “a damn good first week” for the Shelley Haskell test network. Last week, the 19 pioneers set up nodes in addition to internal development and testing teams. They also focused on testing staking and defining the first operational parameters for the protocol. Overall, however, only minor problems have arisen at the moment.

So far, we’re hearing the experience has been good. Codebase looking solid. A few issues to address but nothing too significant so far. Our pioneers have now completed two important initial exercises – to cover the core node and network setup.

This week will focus on the basics of a pool setup and operation, according to IOHK. With regard to the launch date, there is still no concrete date. The only thing that seems certain is that the launch will take place in 2020. The next steps before the launch will be a public testnet and the balance check testnet.

IOHK releases Cardano explorer 1.0.0

Yesterday IOHK announced the release of the new Cardano Explorer 1.0.0. It is a completely redesigned application based on the Byron reboot infrastructure and Haskell code. The new Cardano explorer represents a significant advance over the original, which was released in 2017 with the launch of the Cardano mainnet:

As well as bringing new functionality, improved reliability and enhanced usability, it is foundational for a host of future features as we take the final steps towards the rollout of Shelley on mainnet.

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