The firm behind the Cardano blockchain has been developing a set of tools to enable the creation of sidechains, with the first already deployed as a public testnet.

On Jan. 12, IOG stated that the team has constructed an Ethereum virtual machine (EVM)-compatible sidechain as a proof of concept.

“Sidechains make Cardano extensible and more scalable without compromising the stability or security of the main chain,” the blog post explained.

The #Cardano sidechain toolkit was previewed at #IOScotFest, and we’re happy to share the first iteration is out now.

Here’s the lowdown on this exciting new project! https://t.co/Ny9tQuJh5K

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) January 12, 2023

Cardano Keeps Building

Using the new toolkit, anyone can leverage the properties of Cardano infrastructure to build their own sidechain. In essence, it appears very similar to how Polkadot operates with custom sidechains.

The toolkit allows the sidechain to have its own consensus algorithm and features, it stated. It is connected to the root chain through a bridge that allows cross-chain transfers, and block finality is derived through main chain consensus mechanisms.

The toolkit is comprised of three primary components. These are main-chain Plutus scripts leveraging the Cardano programming language, a chain follower tracking the main-chain data and events that govern the sidechain, and the sidechain module, which interprets primary chain data and implements the necessary ledger adaptations.

The software is still being audited, IOG stated, adding that it will be available as a public testnet later in January.

“Developers will be able to try it out by running a few Solidity applications to get a feel for its potential.”

In a YouTube AMA video in December, Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson explained his vision for sidechains on the network. He actually suggested that Solana would be better off as a Cardano sidechain.

“So you could take Solana, replace the current consensus algorithm with something 25 times faster and doesn’t collapse all the time, make it a Cardano sidechain, Solana would then be paid to ADA holders to maintain it,” he said at the time.

ADA Price Outlook

ADA prices have gained a marginal 2.3% on the day to reach $0.329 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.

The token has been making solid gains recently as crypto markets finally start to move upward again. As a result, ADA is up 22.5% over the past week.

However, the Cardano coin is still down a hefty 89.3% from its September 2021 all-time high of $3.09.

Is Tiffany & Co.’s foray into the NFT space genius or ridiculous? They might be on to something, considering there are 10,000 CryptoPunks out there, and Tiffany & Co. is only trying to sell 250 digital passes. For 30 ETH, CryptoPunks holders will get a “custom designed pendant and a NFT digital artwork that resembles the final jewelry design.” Keep reading to learn more about these scarce but pricey pendants.

We’re taking NFTs to the next level. Exclusive to CryptoPunks holders, NFTiff transforms your NFT into a bespoke pendant handcrafted by Tiffany & Co. artisans. You’ll also receive an additional NFT version of the pendant. Learn more: https://t.co/FJwCAxw8TN #NFTiff #TiffanyAndCo pic.twitter.com/pyKlWejHv4

— Tiffany & Co. (@TiffanyAndCo) July 31, 2022

Starting on August 5th, through this website, a selected number of CryptoPunks holders will be able to mint their lazily-named NFTiffs. “The pendant will be designed and crafted by Tiffany & Co. artisans, and inspired by the Cryptopunk owner’s Punk NFT. Only 250 NFTiff passes will be available for purchase. Each customer may purchase a max of 3 NFTiffs.” So, there might not even be 250 pendant owners.

Tiffany & Co. Did Its Homework

From the jump, reading the related material, it’s obvious that the people behind this project know what they’re talking about. And that the project is very well though out. “Tiffany & Co. designers will interpret each CryptoPunk into custom-designed pendants – converting the 87 attributes and 159 colors that appear across the collection of 10,000 CryptoPunk NFTs to the most similar gemstone or enamel color.” 

Maybe those stats are not as impressive, but check out what Tiffany & Co. says about the gold they plan to use. 

“Pendant will be in 18k rose or yellow gold based on the color palette of the NFT. The rose and yellow gold will complement the base color of each punk type. The two lighter base colors and the alien will be 18R, and the two darker base colors, the zombie and the ape will be 18Y.”

These people know about the aliens, the zombies, and the apes. And have a plan to represent each one. In gold, among other precious metals and stones. “Each piece will use at least 30 gemstones and/or diamonds to create the custom designs with the highest fidelity to the original NFT art. Examples of gemstones include but are not limited to Sapphires, Amethyst, and Spinel.”

That does sound amazing, but, is CryptoPunks-inspired jewelry a good idea in the first place?

ETH price chart on Bitfinex | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com

Other Pendant Characteristics

• First of all and most importantly, “clients will not have the ability to participate in the design process or provide feedback on the render.”
• “The pendant will be on a 18k gold adjustable chain between 18”-20”-22” of rectangular links.”
• Customers will receive the “physical good in early 2023,” but the NFT will be available “once the final rendering is completed.”
• For lucky individuals or celebrity customers, “Select custom pendants will include fancy stone shapes.”
• For keyboard warriors and the like, “all stones will meet Tiffany & Co.ʼs ethical and sustainability standards.”

imagine your boyfriend gives you a tiffany box and you open it up and it’s a cryptopunk

— Aubrey Strobel (@aubreystrobel) July 31, 2022

The whole project seems to be the work of Chain, a company that offers an NFT-as-a-Service product among other things. “Through an end-to-end service, we help leading brands launch their own customized and tailored NFT product that can be a digital and/or physical collectible powered by smart contracts and blockchain technology,” they promise. We’ll have to wait a few months to see if they and Tiffany & Co. deliver.

Featured Image: Pendant screenshot from the video | Charts by TradingView

The Cardano network gets a boost thanks to ADA Handle and its human-readable wallet address function. Rather than interact using a random-looking string of alphanumeric characters, ADA Handle facilitates custom addresses that are easy to remember and user-friendly to boot.

The firm launched its “NFT-powered” naming service earlier this week, and user feedback has been positive. However, as of yet, centralized exchanges do not recognize the custom addresses.

Cardano gets a naming service

Custom addresses offer a simple and elegant solution to transacting. ADA Handle co-founder Calvin Koepke says centralized legacy payment providers, such as Venmo and Cashapp, offer this via @ usernames, making it easy to identify a user.

But Koepke points out that users do not own that username or associated data. The ADA Handle system is different; it uses non-fungible tokens (NFTs) secured by an in-house PolicyID, allowing standardization and portability across dApps.

“A major downside of centralized platforms is that they own your data. While you may achieve a unique username on Venmo, you do not truly own that valuable username.”

The data is stored on-chain, meaning anyone with a Cardano node can query it. However, the team is working on a public API system to simplify the query lookup process.

Users can choose a handle of up to 15 characters, including three special characters: a dash, underscore, and full stop. Pricing follows a one-off payment based on a five-tiered system, depending on the length of the handle:

1. Legendary (1 character, 39 total): Auction Only
2. Ultra Rare (2 characters, 1,521 total): 500 $ADA
3. Rare (3 characters, 59,319 total): 100 $ADA
4. Common (4–7 characters, 140,842,288,080 total): 50 $ADA
5. Basic (8–15 characters, 753,789,555,901,817,000,000,000 total): 10 $ADA

More information is available at this link if you’re interested in minting your own handle.

How does this differ from Ethereum Naming Service?

Ethereum pioneered the concept of naming addresses with the Ethereum Naming Service (ENS). It also operates using NFTs, but because the smart contracts on which they run expire, a yearly charge is payable to retain the name.

“The cost, as of this writing, is $5 in ETH per year for 5+-character .eth names—more for scarcer three- or four-character .eth names—plus Ethereum gas fees.”

ADA Handle says its handles run as native assets on the Cardano mainchain. This means it operates without smart contracts, offering a secure and reliable service without renewal fees.

“This means we don’t require smart contracts for address routing, ensuring that even in the event of an unlikely smart contract bug, routing will always be accurate — 100% of the time.”

What’s more, ADA Handle is keen to point out that its service is future-proof and will evolve as the Cardano ecosystem expands. This takes the form of metadata functionality built in to accommodate future innovations.

Although handles are not compatible with centralized exchanges, Bitrue teased the possibility of adopting the technology on Tuesday.

What do we think, #ADA community? Would you like to deposit and withdraw ADA to Bitrue using a simple, customizable address instead of a long wallet address? @adahandle https://t.co/PYqfx7pxPV

— Bitrue (@BitrueOfficial) March 15, 2022