Charles Hoskinson Disbands Criticism, Says 1.35.3 Code Tested for Months

Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson has responded to critics who claim that the Vasil hard fork is being rushed after a critical bug was identified in version 1.35.2, which was supposed to be used for the upgrade.

Hoskinson noted that everyone, including the network’s stake pool operators (SPOs), has thoroughly tested the code for months. He added that the vulnerability in 1.35.2 was removed in version 1.35.3, released earlier this week after the bug was found.

Hoskinson: Retesting 1.35.3 Code Will Only Hurt Devs

Hoskinson stated that the Cardano community could decide to postpone the launch of Vasil for a few months and test the code again, which has already been “a dozen times.” He, however, argued that retesting the code would not benefit DApps developers who have been waiting for the upgrade for almost a year.

We of course could as a community delay the launch of Vasil for a few months to retest code that’s already been tested a dozen times and is already running. Is that worth it to all the DApp developers who have been waiting for this update for almost a year now?

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 19, 2022

Some dissatisfied Cardano enthusiasts quickly fired back at Hoskinson. One user stated that Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), the blockchain research and engineering company that developed Cardano, has been quiet about the ”catastrophic death” in 1.35.2, and out of the blue, SPOs are being asked to upgrade to the latest version.

Hoskinson replied, arguing that the company was not quiet about it. He noted that the reason for 1.35.3 was the issue found on the testnet, adding that respinning another testnet provides no value for the vulnerability. Instead, it will only cause unnecessary delays that would hurt DApp developers.

We didn’t keep quiet about it. The entire reason 1.35.3 was cut is literally because of the issue on the testnet. Going through respinning another testnet provides no value for this bug. Just terrible unnecessary delays that hurt DApp developers

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 19, 2022

When Will Vasil Go Live?

The Vasil hard fork is a highly anticipated network upgrade supposedly designed to enhance Cardano’s scalability and overall usability while making the blockchain more attractive for smart contracts and decentralized applications.

The upgrade was initially expected to go live earlier this year but was postponed several times due to vulnerabilities and other issues. It is still unclear when Vasil will be implemented. However, Hoskinson noted that, in the end, the nodes running the network would ultimately decide when to initiate the hard fork, not him, considering that Cardano is a decentralized blockchain.