Shelley Phase
The second era of Cardano – Shelley Phase is named after Percy Shelley, an English Poet.
What Is Shelley Phase?
The Shelley phase of Cardano was launched in July 2020 with the release of the Shelley code. The next phase – Goguen – focuses on
smart contracts.
The Shelley Phase of Cardano aims to transform the protocol into a fully decentralized blockchain. It will improve the security and scalability of the network by introducing
proof-of-stake consensus, delegation, and incentives schemes. This will allow users to stake their ADA tokens and vote on transactions.
A key component of the Shelley Phase is delegation, whereby ADA holders can delegate their stake to other participants on the network who are already running
nodes. Those who run nodes are called 'stake pool operators', and when they operate a stake pool, they receive rewards for processing transactions.
The release of Shelley marks the first time the platform was completely decentralized, with network participants being responsible for maintaining the network and reaping the rewards for their participation.
The launch of Shelley opened up several exciting opportunities for Cardano users, including:
Rewards - Staking your
ADA on the Cardano blockchain will allow you to receive rewards in ADA. The more ADA you stake, the more rewards you could earn.
Transactions - Staking your ADA makes transactions cheaper and faster.
Pooling -
Staking pools allow you to pool together with other users to increase your chances of earning rewards while reducing risks.
Monitoring - The Ouroboros Praos algorithm enables real-time reporting on block production and performance.
Delegation - If you wish to generate rewards without participating directly in staking, you can delegate your ADA to another user who will stake on your behalf.
Cardano’s roadmap consists of five eras: Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho, and Voltaire.
Byron (2017)
Byron is the foundation era of Cardano. It started with the
mainnet’s launch in 2017. Byron was named after Lord George Gordon Byron, an English Romantic Poet. This phase also included a balance check and reward system for staking pools. It was completed in February 2018.
Shelley (2019)
Shelley focused on decentralization and automation. It will include a treasury system to fund future development and support incentives for stake pool operators. Shelley was expected to be completed in 2019 but released in 2020. The Shelley era was named after Percy Shelley, an English poet.
Goguen (2020)
Goguen focuses on smart contracts and metadata standards for these contracts. It helps developers create decentralized apps on the Cardano blockchain by developing a high-assurance smart contract language called Plutus. The Goguen era is named after Joseph Goguen, a computer scientist who worked on mathematical semantics for programming languages and developed algebraic computation models, including abstract state machines.