Crypto: Hoskinson develops a new language for Cardano

Charles Hoskinson is personally developing a new programming language for Cardano with Lucas Rosa, one of the creators of Aiken. The project must combine transaction intentions, proof-carrying data and Groth16 proofs. For this new crypto brick, no name, public code or launch schedule has yet been communicated.

Hoskinson himself takes over the keyboard on Cardano

Charles Hoskinson doesn’t just oversee the project. He claims to participate directly in the development of language. The announcement comes as Cardano is already accelerating its technical work. A few days earlier, Hoskinson explained that the Leios upgrade was expected to complement much of the network architecture, including higher throughput and new scaling capabilities.

This time, the project concerns more crypto applications built on top of Cardano. Hoskinson works with Lucas Rosa, co-creator of Aiken, one of the primary languages ​​used to develop validators on the network. He describes their project as the first of its kind to bring together intents, proof-carrying data and Groth16 evidence.

The language, however, still does not have a public name. No code repositories were submitted either. Hoskinson did not indicate a testnet, release date or first application using the technology. The project therefore remains at an early stage.

Crypto transactions described by their result

The concept of “intent” changes the way of requesting an operation from a blockchain application. Today, a transaction may require several specific steps. With an intention-based system, the user mainly indicates the result they want to obtain.

A trader could for example ask: exchange one token for another only if the final price respects a given limit. He would not necessarily have to define all the intermediate steps himself.

Proof-carrying data adds another layer. Information can travel with cryptographic proof attesting that a calculation or a series of rules has been respected. The application that receives the result then checks the proof instead of reproducing the entire calculation.

Groth16 should be used for this verification. This cryptographic proof system produces compact and quick-to-check proofs. Cardano is already strengthening its crypto toolbox. In May, the network tested five new Plutus primitives, notably to improve performance and the possibilities offered to developers.

The new language could go further by directly integrating several of these logics into the way applications are built. For now, however, Hoskinson has not explained how this technology will integrate with Cardano’s existing architecture.

Cardano already has several languages

The new project is not arriving on empty ground. Cardano has been using Plutus, its historic environment for smart contracts, for several years. Aiken is a more recent alternative, with syntax and tools designed to simplify the work of developers.

Contracts written in multiple Cardano languages ​​typically end up compiled to UPLC, the format executed by nodes during validation. Hoskinson has not yet indicated whether his new language will follow exactly the same path.

He also hasn’t explained whether he aims to replace Aiken or Plutus. Nothing in his announcement allows us to confirm this at the moment. The ecosystem also has Compact, used on Midnight. This privacy-focused blockchain already occupies an important place in Hoskinson’s strategy, notably thanks to zero-knowledge proofs and applications manipulating private data. The new language therefore shares some ideas with technologies already present in the Cardano crypto ecosystem, while adding a strong orientation towards intentions and evidence attached to data. Hoskinson promises a “first of its kind” approach. It now remains to see the code.