Cardano announces revolutionary upgrade: Phalanx protects against hacker attacks!

Cardano announces revolutionary upgrade: Phalanx protects against hacker attacks!

On October 31, 2025, Input Output, the company behind the Cardano blockchain, announced a significant upgrade called “Ouroboros Phalanx.” Now in its final testing stages, this upgrade aims to resolve issues related to grinding attacks and improve the efficiency of the blockchain.

Cardano is considered one of the leading proof-of-stake blockchains. Block production randomly selects who gets the best block, which has potential risks. Control over more than 20 percent of ADA tokens could allow attackers to manipulate the randomness of block voting by quickly testing different “random seeds.” This could lead to delays in transactions, censorship of blocks and, in the worst case, double spending.

Security measures by Ouroboros Phalanx

To counter these threats, the Phalanx upgrade introduces a Verifiable Delay Function (VDF) that increases security and decentralization. This function requires real time and significant computational effort, making it no longer possible for attackers to manipulate the randomness of leader election cost-effectively.

A particularly important feature of the upgrade is the way the randomness for block production is developed over two epochs, i.e. around 10 days. This not only offers greater security, but also faster transactions and better decentralization of the platform.

Phalanx is implemented through a hard fork because the underlying protocol changes cannot be easily adapted. This is seen by the community as a necessary step to continue positioning Cardano as a secure and powerful blockchain platform.

According to u.today, Cardano users can expect these upcoming improvements in security and efficiency, which could pave the way for new applications and capabilities on this advanced blockchain.