Cardano, the leading Layer 1 (L1) blockchain, recently announced the release of the first Hydra head on its mainnet as traditional Layer 1 (L1) blockchain networks attempt to become more scalable. This is a key turning point for the community and opens the door to a new era of chain scalability.
Scaling has long been a major problem in the cryptocurrency world since it is essential to the decentralization component of the so-called “blockchain trilemma.” The difficulty of attaining scalability, security, and decentralization all at once is referred to as the “trilemma.” With the introduction of Hydra, Cardano seeks to address this issue by putting in place a modular and highly adjustable scaling solution.
The network’s creators, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), claim that Hydra is “a family of Layer 2 (L2) protocols designed to make Cardano more scalable and adaptable for various use cases that require fast and cheap transactions.”
The first Hydra head’s deployment is anticipated to greatly increase Cardano’s transactions per second (TPS) from the 250 it stood at before Hydra’s release to 1 million by enabling cheaper and quicker transactions on the network.
The capacity of Hydra to grow horizontally, or to handle an increasing volume of transactions as additional users join the network, is one of its main advantages. Due to its focus on sustainability, governance, and research-driven growth, Cardano, which has recently gained a lot of attention, finds this solution to be the perfect fit.
Cardano might become a genuine candidate to become the leading smart contract hub in the blockchain industry if it can guarantee 1M TPS, which would greatly enhance platform adoption and ADA token usage.
The introduction of Hydra is anticipated to increase Cardano’s appeal to both users and developers. The demand for a solid and scalable infrastructure intensifies as the platform keeps expanding and draws in a wide variety of decentralized applications (dApps). Cardano ADA is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency at the moment.
Additionally, it is anticipated that Cardano’s total value locked (TVL) will increase even further when decentralized finance (DeFi) initiatives begin to operate on the L2 network.
Over the past six months, Cardano’s TVL has constantly risen. The seven-day moving average of the chain’s TVL was $154 million, according to on-chain data provider Artemis, a number that was last seen in May 2022.
According to information from DefiLlama, Cardano’s TVL as of this writing was $153.96 million.
The Ethereum network is integrating many Layer 2 solutions, such as Polygon zkEVM, Optimism (OP), and Arbitrium (ARB), to help shape the network’s future and enable wider usage, whereas Cardano is investigating ways to make its network more scalable with Hydra.
