Cardano is leading in terms of development activity, per GitHub data. It is outperforming blockchains such as Polkadot, Ethereum, Decentraland and Chainlink in 24-hour development activity.
This comes as Cardano builder IOG, in collaboration with the Cardano Foundation, announced the submission of an updated proposal to upgrade the Cardano pre-production environment to protocol v8.
Valentine upgrade nears
Cardano's big upgrade, the Valentine (SECP) upgrade, is getting closer. The upgrade for Cardano aims to advance blockchain interoperability while fostering secure cross-chain dApp development with Plutus.
Valentine functionality is anticipated to be available in the preproduction environment on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at 12:00 a.m. UTC. The Valentine (SECP) upgrade is tentatively scheduled to go live on the mainnet on Feb. 14, 2023, at 9:44:51 p.m. UTC.
While this upgrade is not as complex nor does it have such an impact across existing dApps, IOG, the Cardano Foundation, and EMURGO are ensuring readiness by working closely with key Cardano stakeholders (notably SPOs, dApps, and exchanges) that may need to prepare for the new capability.
As stated in an ecosystem readiness post, over 77% of SPOs are currently running the required new node, and 86% of blocks have been produced. This exceeds the target of 75% of produced blocks by the time of the upgrade.
The upgrade has been announced to the exchanges, and all dApps must be updated to work with the new protocol version.