Ecosystem readiness for Vasil upgrade
The Alonzo upgrade brought a host of new possibilities for decentralized applications (DApps), decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and decentralized finance (Defi) solutions development on Cardano. Building on previous upgrades (Shelley, Allegra, and Mary), Alonzo introduced a multi-functional environment enabling smart contract development using Plutus scripts along with native tokens introduced in Mary. Now it’s time to scale and optimize the ledger to facilitate efficient development for a range of new applications.
The Vasil upgrade is named after a much loved and respected Cardano community member, the late Vasil St Dabov. The upgrade will bring significant improvements using Cardano’s hard fork combinator (HFC) approach and enhance the network’s performance by increasing throughput, script efficiency, and reducing latency in block transmission.
The Preview test environment has now been running successfully with Vasil capability for some time. On September 13th, the IOG and the Cardano Foundation submitted an update proposal to hard fork the Cardano Pre-Production environment. This environment matches mainnet configuration and will allow the community to continue final-stage integration/upgrade testing before the final countdown to the Vasil upgrade on Mainnet on September 22nd.
For your reference, here are the key dates:
- September 19th - Mainnet update proposal needs to be submitted by this date to trigger HFC event on 22nd
- September 22nd (epoch 365 at 21:45 UTC) - Vasil Mainnet HFC event (era transitions from Alonzo -> Babbage)
- September 27th (epoch 366 at 21:45 UTC) - Plutus V2 Cost Model available on Mainnet
Over 98% of mainnet blocks are now being created by the Vasil node (1.35.3). The top Cardano DApps have confirmed they have tested and are ready. Meanwhile, top exchanges continue to make good progress on their updates (now over 55% by liquidity), so we are confident we will be able to proceed with triggering the hard fork at the appropriate time.
TEST ENVIRONMENTS
We have the following environments available to our technical communities to help them upgrade, test, and integrate against the new Vasil capabilities:
Preview: Long-term environment to test the latest functionality where we expect to increase our data history for expanded test scenarios. Can currently test the new Vasil functionality. Will be re-spun infrequently.
Pre-Production: Environment that matches mainnet configuration, long-term and stable environment for final-stage integration/upgrade testing. Currently running in Alonzo so can only regression test in this environment. We will H/F this environment only one epoch before mainnet. Will rarely be re-spun.
Testnet: the ‘original’ Cardano testnet – not to be used for Vasil testing – this environment will be respun post-Vasil as part of a wider initiative to enhance testing processes.
Mainnet: Our production environment – the actual network the Cardano community uses every day.
*Preview and Pre-Production replace the two uses of the previous Cardano testnet, which has been deprecated for new deployments.
TRIGGERING THE HARD FORK
Vasil is the most ambitious update program for Cardano to date. With such a complex upgrade with multiple stakeholders, we need to be confident the ecosystem is ready and prepared before any hard fork is triggered. For this mainnet upgrade to be triggered, the IOG & Cardano Foundation teams will be tracking three critical mass indicators the community will need to reach:
- 75% of mainnet blocks being created by the final Vasil node candidate (1.35.3)
- Approximately 25 exchanges upgraded (representing 80% of ada liquidity)
- Top 10 DApps by TVL confirming they have upgraded to 1.35.3 on PreProduction and are ready for mainnet.
Once everyone is comfortable and ready, in close collaboration with the Cardano Foundation, the IOG team will trigger the upgrade for the Cardano mainnet.
SPO READINESS
Vasil functionality is reliant on a strong majority of block-producing nodes running the latest 1.35.3 version, more specifically, to trigger the upgrade, we’ll need to see 75% of mainnet blocks being created by the final Vasil node candidate (1.35.3).
Mainnet blocks by node version
Node Version |
Block percentage |
Pre-1.34.1 |
0% |
1.34.1 |
0% |
1.35.0 |
0% |
1.35.1 |
0% |
1.35.2 |
0% |
1.35.3 |
100% Metric met ✅ |
Information is correct as of 27th September. Data is updated daily by 4 PM UTC. For the very latest ‘live’ numbers please visit Pooltool or Cexplorer.
DOWNSTREAM COMPONENT INTEGRATION STATUS
As well as ensuring we have a good number of updated 1.35.3 nodes running the networks, downstream components (used by DApp developers, SPOs and exchanges) also have to be compatible. Here’s the status.
Component |
Status |
Node 1.35.3 |
Released - release notes |
DB-Sync 13.0.4 |
Released - release notes |
WBE |
Released - release notes |
Rosetta |
Released - release notes |
Serialization Library |
Successfully tested against 1.35.3 |
Token Registry |
Successfully tested against 1.35.3 |
Ogmios |
Released |
GraphQL |
Released - release notes |
Blockfrost |
Successfully tested against 1.35.3 (Preview & Pre-Production) |
Explorer |
Successfully tested against 1.35.3 |
Daedalus |
Released on mainnet - release notes |
Information correct as of 27th September
EXCHANGE READINESS
We need to ensure network liquidity is aligned with any hard fork event.
As always, the Cardano Foundation exchange integration team will be supporting exchanges throughout this upgrade. Users will be able to track the status of their preferred exchange, using the curated list of links below. The list will be updated twice weekly based on info from exchanges so should be regarded as a snapshot not ‘live’ information.
Any ada holders using exchanges or wallets will not be adversely affected by the Vasil hard fork, and should not have any concerns about their holdings. However, certain delays or service disruptions (e.g. withdrawing funds) are still possible while exchanges are undergoing integration work.
To trigger the hard fork event, IOG & the Cardano Foundation has set a metric of approximately 25 exchanges upgraded (representing 80% of ada liquidity).
TOP 12 EXCHANGES BY LIQUIDITY*:
Name |
Integration status |
Binance |
READY |
Upbit |
READY |
MEXC |
READY |
Bitrue |
READY |
Coinbase |
READY |
XT.com |
READY |
AAX |
READY |
WhiteBit |
READY |
ChangellyPRO |
READY |
BKEX |
READY |
ZB.com |
READY |
HitBTC |
READY |
*Top 12 exchanges according to CoinGecko.
OTHER EXCHANGES:
Name |
Integration status |
Litebit.eu |
READY |
OKex |
READY |
Gate.io |
READY |
BitMart |
READY |
AscendEX(Bitmax) |
READY |
BtcTurk |
READY |
Dex-Trade |
READY |
Bitkub |
READY |
NDAX |
READY |
Newton |
READY |
OKCoin |
READY |
Hotbit |
READY |
DigiFinex |
READY |
Crypto.com |
READY |
Bitfinex |
READY |
Bithumb |
READY |
Phemex.com |
READY |
ZebPay |
READY |
Huobi |
READY |
WooTrade |
READY |
Exmo |
READY |
BitPanda |
READY |
Altcoin Trader |
READY |
eToro |
READY |
FMFW |
READY |
Kucoin |
READY |
BTSE |
READY |
Bequant |
READY |
Bitvavo |
READY |
Kraken |
IN PROGRESS |
CoinEx |
READY |
LATOKEN |
IN PROGRESS |
Bitbns |
IN PROGRESS |
Bittrex |
READY |
ExMarkets |
READY |
Paribu |
READY |
Cryptomate |
Not started |
CoinFalcon |
Not started |
ZBG |
Not started |
VCC Exchange |
Not started |
BW.com |
Not started |
B2BX |
Not started |
Zipmex |
Not started |
NovaDAX |
Not started |
Coinbase Pro |
Not started |
CoinHub |
Not started |
CoinDCX |
Not started |
Decoin |
Not started |
CEX.io |
Not started |
CoinOne |
Not started |
LocalTrade |
Not started |
Indodax |
Not started |
Bitexen |
Not started |
AEX |
Not started |
Bitforex |
Not started |
Dcoin |
Not started |
CoinTiger |
Not started |
Information is correct as of 27th September. In case of any additional questions, users can contact their chosen exchange as they will be able to provide the very latest technical status. In case of experiencing any access issues around the Vasil upgrade, users are encouraged to first contact and log a support ticket with their exchange. It is also recommended to follow exchanges’ announcements on their Twitter – often status updates will be communicated.
Users can also log a support request using the "Submit a request" button at the top menu bar.
DAPP PROJECTS
DApp developers also need to be prepared for Vasil and have the time they need to test. IOG is working closely with a number of projects across the ecosystem. Here's the latest information we have on the status – we’ll keep this updated as we receive feedback from projects.
This information is correct to the best of our knowledge. We update this table daily at 1600 UTC. For the very latest status, we always recommend you contact your favorite projects via their Discord channel or Twitter.
Project |
Vasil Devnet (node version 1.35.3) |
Preview (node version 1.35.3) |
Pre-production (running 1.35.3) |
Minswap |
- |
Tested |
Tested |
SundaeSwap |
- |
Tested |
- |
Wingriders |
- |
- |
Tested |
MuesliSwap |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
Lending Pond |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
Fluid Token |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
ADAX Pro |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
Aada |
- |
- |
Tested |
VyFinance |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
Meld |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
Revuto |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
DQuadrant (Artano, Kuber) |
Tested |
Tested |
Tested |
If you are building on Cardano and want to share an update on your readiness status, please update the community with the #ReadyForVasil tag and tag @anijov (or send a message to - we’ll do our best to add you to the tracker here.
The trigger metric for DApps will be when we have the ‘Top 10’ DApps by TVL confirming they have upgraded to 1.35.3 on PreProduction and are ready for mainnet.
We’ll continue to iterate and improve this page to make it as useful as possible in the period up to the upgrade on mainnet. Thanks as ever to all the community for the support