Byron Phase
Byron Phase is the first phase of Cardano that was released in September 2017.
What Is the Byron Phase?
Byron is the first phase of Cardano, which was released in September 2017.
Byron was all about the basic challenges: sustainability, interoperability, and scalability. This meant creating a stable platform to help develop other projects in the future.
Developers wanted to make sure that it had a solid foundation before moving on to more advanced features. That’s why they focused on the launch of a working
mainnet and the Shelley Haskell testnet during this phase.
Byron, named after the famous poet Lord Byron, is the first phase of the Cardano settlement layer. This phase is similar to the bootstrap phase for other public blockchains. During the Byron phase, Cardano used a new
Proof-of-Stake algorithm called Ouroboros that took years and extensive academic research to develop. The main idea behind Byron is to create a stable platform that can be used by anyone and everyone to transfer value around the world.
This phase introduces the concept of delegation and voting to the Cardano protocol. Delegation is the process by which a stakeholder can choose someone else to vote for them on their behalf. In this way, you can delegate your stake to a pool operator, who will then add that stake to their own, and submit votes on your behalf.
Byron phase is also where the introduction of
side chains happened, and third parties were enabled to create their own blockchains that use Cardano as a consensus and settlement layer. This means they can build their own blockchain while leveraging Cardano’s security.
Finally, Byron would see the introduction of Ouroboros Genesis, which later became the heart of
Shelley. Byron represents an important step forward for Cardano and makes it one of the world’s most advanced blockchain platforms.
Cardano's proof-of-stake protocol, called Ouroboros, eliminates the need for specialized hardware and high electricity costs by allowing any stakeholder to participate in the network and receive rewards based on the amount they stake. This means users can participate with smaller amounts than are needed for proof-of-work blockchains, where rewards are distributed based on how much computing power you contribute.
Shelley, Goguen, Basho, and Voltaire follow Byron phase.
Shelley aims to create a fully decentralized network by transitioning the Cardano blockchain from the control of
Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) to the community at large. In this phase, users will be able to delegate their stake in the network and earn rewards. This will allow anyone with ADA tokens to contribute to the stability of the network – even if they don’t have technical expertise.
Goguen enables smart contract functionality on Cardano’s platform. Developers are able to build dApps on its blockchain using Plutus – a purpose-built programming language for financial applications.
Basho phase focuses on enhancing the scalability and
interoperability of the platform. The final phase of Cardano's roadmap is Voltaire, which’s all about making Cardano a self-sustaining system.