Serokell will take on the development and maintenance of Cardano’s consensus implementation as part of Input Output’s ongoing effort to decentralize the network’s core engineering.
The transition brings Serokell back to a project it helped build nearly a decade ago. The handover will take place in stages, with development continuing throughout and coordination remaining open through Intersect.
What Serokell is taking on
Cardano’s consensus layer implements Ouroboros, the proof-of-stake protocol that governs block production and chain selection.
It determines which stake pools can produce blocks, how nodes choose between competing chains, and how the network moves between protocol eras. The hard fork combinator allows Cardano to introduce protocol upgrades without restarting the blockchain.
Serokell will take on the development and maintenance of the Haskell-based consensus implementation, including the Ouroboros consensus libraries and their integration with the Cardano node.
The work is essential to the network’s reliability and continued development.
Returning to Cardano
Serokell’s involvement with Cardano began in 2016, when IOHK selected the company to develop Cardano Settlement Layer.
Working alongside IOHK engineers and researchers, Serokell helped turn the original Ouroboros research into a working implementation and build Cardano’s first node.
The project covered the protocol core, networking, a command-line client, and an early block explorer developed with IOHK engineers.
Cardano Settlement Layer launched in September 2017. Serokell continued working on mainnet performance and reliability through early 2018.
Nine years later, Serokell is returning to consensus engineering.
Our connection to Haskell has continued throughout that time. Today, Serokell funds a full-time team working on the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (GHC), the compiler used to build Cardano’s node.
Bringing consensus development into the same organization will give the engineers working on the protocol access to expertise in the compiler and language infrastructure their code depends on.
Read more about our original involvement in the Cardano Settlement Layer case study.
Continuing development in the open
The transition is part of Cardano’s broader effort to distribute core engineering responsibilities across independent organizations.
Development will continue throughout the handover. The consensus code will remain in public repositories under the IntersectMBO GitHub organization, with planning coordinated openly through Intersect.
Our immediate priority is to maintain continuity in consensus development and support the existing engineering roadmap.
We’ll share technical updates, milestones and progress through the Serokell blog and our X account, giving DReps, stake pool operators, developers and the wider Cardano community a way to follow the work.
For further details, read Input Output’s announcement.
