Cardano’s EVM-Compatible Sidechain Public Testnet Proves Super Bullish For ADA After Going Live

• The announcement follows the deployment of the blockchain’s developer toolkit last month.
• It is part of Cardano’s efforts to enable blockchain interoperability and the expansion of its dApp ecosystem.

About a month after releasing a toolkit for developing sidechains, Cardano’s developer, IOG, has released a public testnet for its Proof of Concept (PoC) Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) – compatible sidechain. The announcement pushed the price of the native token ADA up by 4% to an intraday high of $0.4 Wednesday, according to CoinMarketCap.

In coverage by ZyCrypto last month, IOG noted that developers could try out the testnet by running solidity apps, testing token transfers, linking wallets, deploying smart contracts, or dApps on the platform.

‘‘This proof of concept testnet is ephemeral and will be regularly re-spun during its pilot phase. Ultimately, it is intended to be a community resource, and we encourage developers and SPOs to get involved and collaborate,’’ notes the announcement. 

The smart contracts supported on the testnet at the moment are those based on Solidity. But according to IOG, other networks could soon be added to extend Cardano to other communities.

As part of the rollout, the team of developers plans to have a Discord session with users to answer their questions about the sidechain. In light of the same, IOG has directed that the community members send their comments to the #ask sidechain’s Discord channel.

Milkomeda smart contract sidechain

It is worth noting that it is not the first time that Cardano and Ethereum have collaborated for interoperability. In 2021, a blockchain development company dcSpark, created a sidechain project called Milkomeda for EVM-compatible smart contracts on Cardano main chain. The network, which according to the developers, is at the centre of interoperability, has enabled about 10 million transactions, with crypto wallets in upwards of 100,000.

To sum it up, it is hard to tell whether the latest development would trigger a surge in the price of ADA. The current crypto market cap is above $1.07 trillion amid optimism for a softening inflation rate. The sentiment, however, hit Wednesday differently after Fed Chair Jerome Powell commented that it might take a while before the high inflation rate is fully tamed. That underlined the macroeconomic setting that could continue suppressing the price of ADA, just like the rest of the market.