Cardano (ADA) developers have been busy at the backend, even after the launch of Aiken 1.1.0 in 2024.
Notably, Aiken, the leading smart contract language on Cardano, is responsible for about 62% of all smart contract activity.
Cardano’s Aiken v1.1.11: What’s New?
In a recent update on X, the protocol announced the release of Aiken v1.1.11. This is an upgrade to the version released last year to the Aiken programming language. This language is used to develop smart contracts on Cardano.
The recent update includes new features, fixes, and improvements to the previous version. Primarily, these concerns benchmarking, Plutus Blueprint generation, and testing quality-of-life enhancements.
These features and fixes aim to improve functionality and usability and make innovative contract development more accessible for developers. With this, developers in the Cardano ecosystem will operate more efficiently.
Aiken v1.1.11 has some crucial modifications, like the new benchmarking feature, which introduces a new command.
This is the “Aiken bench,” similar to the Aiken check. Notably, it collects and runs benchmarks across the codebase.
However, beyond that, it displays the result in a visual terminal format and allows for it to be exported in JSON format. The advantage of this feature is that it enables organized data analysis.
Meanwhile, the enhancements to the test framework introduce a new type of test called “bench.” This allows fine-grained control over generated values as it progressively scales input sizes.
Additionally, some fixes and improvements help alert developers to challenges. For instance, the blueprint schema fixes and corrects the handling of pairs in Plutus Blueprints. This ensures consistency in data presentation.
The compiler in the new version will now issue a warning if a record constructor is destructured without using named fields.
Overall, developers can easily measure and optimize the performance of smart contracts on Cardano. Also, the update improves the Aiken ecosystem as feedback will become transparent and more precise benchmarking capabilities.
Institutional Interest Fuels ADA Optimism
The community enthusiastically welcomed the institutional interest in ADA in the broader Cardano ecosystem.
One of the leading asset managers, Grayscale, filed on February 10 to list a Cardano exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the New York Stock Exchange.
ADA reacted positively to the news of Grayscale’s filing, as many market participants embraced the token.
Analysts consider Grayscale’s move to trigger more institutional interest in ADA, which might eventually impact value in the long term.
ADA Price Outlook
ADA price was trading up by 8.92% at $0.7624 as of this writing. In earlier trading, the positive sentiments of Grayscale’s filing had pushed the coin to a high of $0.8159.
Many investors had anticipated the coin would breach the $0.90 level in a move for ADA to retest $1. However, that is yet to occur.
Despite ADA’s resistance, investors remain bullish on the token. In the last 24 hours, trading volume has surged by 105.66% to $1.69 billion.
Market observers opine that ADA holders are engaging in intense accumulation with hopes of a price surge. However, they pointed out that sustaining the current community interest remains crucial for ADA to climb high.
