Cardano mainnet wallet ships as IOHK reveals audit results

By Will Heasman

Cardano's new mainnet wallet, Daedalus 1.0.0, has officially launched today, per an update from IOHK. The wallet, which has been in development since September 2017, brings several new features to the Cardano ecosystem, including background blockchain synchronization and heightened security.

Unlike Cardano's previous 'light' wallets—so-called because they don't carry the full ledger—Daedalus is a full node wallet. This means that a full copy of the Cardano blockchain will download alongside the new wallet. As such, Daedalus will independently validate every single transaction in its history. According to developers, this provides maximum security as it negates centralized intermediary servers.

Daedalus also enables background blockchain synchronization. A recent update video from Cardano founder and IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson revealed that syncing now takes around an hour—compared to the previous benchmark of 9-14 hours.

Another novel addition comes in the form of what the devs call "unlimited accounting." Being a "hierarchical deterministic wallet," Daedalus allows the end-user to generate several public/private key pairs via a single seed or mnemonic—allowing for the management of multiple wallets at once.

The UX has also been overhauled, with Daedalus including a newsfeed as well as a customizable interface.

IOHK reveals potential Byron vulnerabilities

The release of Daedalus follows the ubiquitous rollout of the Byron reboot of Cardano's blockchain. A recent third-party security audit commissioned by IOHK revealed 11 potential vulnerabilities in the blockchain. Having resolved the exploits, IOHK chose to publish them in the name of transparency.

Among the main offenders, IOHK listed a potential "theoretical Denial of Service (DOS) attack risk, as well as a security problem with Daedalus that requires the use of the CSP configuration.

"It is vital that the blockchain industry lives up to its own vision of open and decentralised systems when it comes to the process of building blockchains," said Hoskinson. "Companies must not prioritise secrecy and speed to market over security because vast sums of money and even lives will depend on the software we produce. The industry must open its software development up to third-party audit and share knowledge of vulnerabilities for the benefit of the wider industry as well as user confidence."

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