Cardano has not only launched a new developer portal, but also a new token. However, the world premiere of the NFTA did not go completely smoothly.
Cardano wants to make Ethereum legs. But for that to happen, the project has to introduce one of the basic building blocks that made Ethereum its size: smart contracts. In that regard, the upcoming hard fork Alonzo promises to bring a breath of fresh air to the competition among smart contract platforms. Plutus, Cardano’s smart contract platform, is a core component of Alonzo. For a few months now, a select group of “Alpha Partners” and participants in the Plutus Pioneer Program has had the opportunity to deal with Plutus and Co. in the Alonzo Testnet.
Now Cardano has opened the door to its ecosystem a little further. On July 12, the project launched a new website that allows programmers to familiarize themselves with the basic functions of the network.
After months of the [Code-]Writing, polishing and checking, we are confident that the portal now has a very solid base and covers everything that is currently possible in the Cardano mainnet. Whether you want to implement transaction metadata, mint native tokens, integrate Cardano, operate a stake pool or finance your project: there is something for pretty much everyone. And all of this just before the Alonzo hard fork, which will bring smart contract capabilities. So yeah i’m super excited
Tommy Kammerer from Freiburg, head of the Cardano Foundation’s developer community, can be found on the same blog quote.
Cardano celebrates world premiere for NFTA
The launch of the developer portal was appropriately celebrated with a batch of ten non-fungible tokens (NFT). Specifically, it is “NFTA” (Non-fungible Token of Appreciation). On the one hand, the tokens serve as a community-focused marketing instrument. Each NFTA represents an image of one Member from the Cardano communityholding both thumbs up. A symbolic “okay” for Cardano’s new developer portal. The images are provided with a QR code with which the NFTA can be found in the Cardano Blockchain Explorer …
… at least in theory. Obviously something needs to be readjusted here, because at the time of going to press the scan was still leading to a dead end:
That bites, of course, with the careful approach that the project usually propagates for its updates.
NFTA: Just marketing, actually
If they work, the NFTA should also be able to be used within the Cardano developer portal. A kind of voting right is associated with them, with which their owners can highlight certain topics or projects once on the portal. Sidney Vollmer, who is responsible for brand communication at the Cardano Foundation, believes in this approach:
Both the scope of the topics covered in the portal and the way in which we promote them with these NFTAs show the amazing possibilities that Cardano offers. It’s something that many still have to get used to. With the help of our community they will do
Vollmer is confident.
The developer portal is to be found here. According to the blog, the Cardano Foundation welcomes suggestions and criticism, but primarily welcomes constructive contributions to the Cardano ecosystem. Repairing the NFTA would be a sensible first step.
[Update 13:32] The QR code error has now been identified. The problem was apparently not due to the NFTA, but to the Cardano Blockchain Explorer, which is managed by IOHK. Sidney Vollmer explains in the Telegram chat:
The NFTA’s are working properly. It is the Cardano Explorer that was buggy here. We’re 95% sure that IOHK was updating Explorer while our first NFTA transaction was being made. (You will have to add the data later). As you can see on other explorers, the transactions are there for everyone to see.
Sidney Vollmer via Telegram
In fact, the NFTA can be viewed in the Blockchain Explorer Cardanoscan.io Find.