Summary:
- Avalanche L1 network shipped a key upgrade to better the network for developers and blockchain builders.
- The upgrade called Cortina migrated the X-chain on Avalanche so that the whole blockchain now runs on a single consensus engine.
- AVAX, the native asset on this blockchain, jumped 5% in price after Cortina went live on the mainnet on April 25.
Layer 1 proof-of-stake network Avalanche shipped the Cortina upgrade to the blockchain’s mainnet as part of the project’s roadmap. Cortina was designed to bootstrap the network for efficiency and incentivize developer activity. This is achieved by optimizing the network that AVAX runs atop.
Around 11 AM ET on April 25, Cortina went live on the mainnet and upgraded to Avalanche Go v1.10.0. According to the core team, this represents the node implementation stack for the entire chain.
Cortina was first rehearsed on the Fuji testnet. Developers published a pre-release code for the upgrade that was activated back on April 6. The upgrade also refines the delegation of fees among validators who chose to stake after Cortina, introducing batch rewards.
AVAX, the native asset on this blockchain, jumped 5% in price after Cortina went live on the mainnet on April 25. The crypto coin traded above $17 during trading hours on Wednesday. AVAX also spiked in price as leading token Bitcoin (BTC) clawed back into the $29,000 range following more U.S. banking sector uncertainty.
Single Consensus Engine For Avalanche Post-Cortina
Yesterday’s Cortina upgrade implemented changes across the primary chains on Avalanche. For starters, one of the chains known as the X-Chain can now run a consensus model called Snowman++. The two other chains, P-Chain which is the platform chain and C-Chain which manages contracts also run Snowman++.
This means that the entire network now runs on a single consensus engine. Furthermore, the gas limit on the C-chain bumped up from 8 million to 15 million. This will allow developers to build and ship decentralized apps or dApps that require more intricate designs.