Blockchain platform Cardano is set to provide tools for developers, end users and businesses to execute smart contracts in financial agreements through a new suite of products.

Fast Facts:

  • The company’s product suite, named Marlowe, includes Marlowe Build and Marlowe Play for developers, through which smart contracts can respectively be built and tested, and Marlowe Run for end users to execute financial agreements on the blockchain using customizable, open-source templates.
  • “We seek to empower people to create their own financial instruments and set up agreements with anyone with whom they want to interact,” wrote Shruti Appiah, a product manager at Input Output Hong Kong, one of the companies behind the Cardano project, in a recent blog post.
  • Marlowe for end users will be deployed in stages this year. “Marlowe will run first of all on the Cardano blockchain, but it is blockchain-agnostic so could run on other blockchains to reach an even broader audience in the future,” Appiah wrote.
  • Cardano is in the midst of its “Alonzo” upgrade, expected to be complete by the end of August, which will bring smart-contract functionality and enable decentralized finance applications on the blockchain.