Cardano node upgrade to improve performance amid growing DeFi interest

the upgrade, issued to Cardano’s mainnet on June 19, offers significant performance improvements from the era’s frontier and corrects previous concerns with P2P/DNS. The Cardano GitHub states, “All SPOs are strongly encouraged to update.”

Cardano node 8.1.1 upgrade

The upgrade is considered a minor release designed to ensure better network connectivity and user stability. As Rick McCracken from DIGI tweeted,

“This update improves the performance of frontier nodes and corrects previous issues with P2P/DNS. It also includes all the performance improvements from 8.0.0. Let’s party! #Cardano.”

The network improvements provide several benefits to Cardano’s network, particularly for stake pool operators and users. Given the increasing total value locked (TVL) in Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem, the upgrade appears to be targeting the network area with the most growth.

Benefits include improved efficiency, greater scalability, enhanced network security, and better reward sharing.

Improved epoch border performance leads to a more efficient network that can process transactions faster and manage smart contracts. This translates into reduced latency and improved user experience for stakeholders.

It also allows the network to handle more transactions and users at once. This is critical to the long-term growth of the Cardano ecosystem as it continues to attract more and more users and decentralized applications.

The upgrade will also contribute to greater network stability by reducing the likelihood of bottlenecks and performance issues during era transitions. This helps maintain consistent network performance and a seamless experience for users.

For stake pool operators and participants, the upgrade also ensures a more accurate and fair distribution of rewards. This promotes a healthier ecosystem by incentivizing stake pool operators to continue maintaining and expanding the network.

However, despite the upgrade, Cardano’s market stats show a slight change in price. The price of ADA is currently at $0.25872, with a 24H change of -0.21% and a 7-day change of -8.02%. The token remains significantly below its all-time high of $3.09503, reached in September 2021.

Growing DeFi interest in Cardano

Nevertheless, interest in the Cardano ecosystem is growing, with a marked increase in the network’s total value locked (TVL). In mid-June, Cardano’s DeFi TVL surged past 500 million ADA amid growing interest in ecosystems.

As of June 13, data from DeFiLlama shows that the ADA token TVL had risen to 513.25 million ADA from 198.65 million ADA on January 1, a new all-time high for the smart contract network. As of June 20, the TVL has further increased to 516.49 million ADA as of going to press, an increase of 0.63%.

This growth in TVL is impressive as Cardano hit the 400 million ADA token mark on May 19. This suggests that over 116 million new ADA tokens have been added to the Cardano DeFi ecosystem in two months.

It is worth noting that this increase comes despite the US SEC possibly classifying Cardano as a security in their June 5 lawsuit against Binance, a classification the Cardano Foundation disputes, a claim that the Cardano communities have refuted. Several exchanges have also delisted ADA in recent days following regulatory uncertainty.

The continued rise of TVL on Cardano points to a consistent upward trend in decentralized finance (DeFi) activity, alongside continued network improvements.