Alonzo

Alonzo is the protocol upgrade implemented in September 2021, as part of the Goguen development phase. It built on top of transaction metadata, token locking, and native asset functionality to enable smart contract development.

This upgrade introduced a versatile platform opening up opportunities for businesses and developers, by allowing the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) for decentralized finance (DeFi).

Such capability was enabled by adding the necessary tools and the infrastructure using the Plutus platform. Applying a rigorous approach based on formal methods and verification, Alonzo extended the basic multi-signature scripting language (multisig) used in Cardano Shelley. Multisig was upgraded to the Plutus Core language for more powerful and secure scripting options. For this, Alonzo implemented the extended unspent transaction output (EUTXO) accounting model.

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