IOG names Serokell and AlwaysTrue for Cardano engineering work

The Nov. 5 announcement assigns Serokell the consensus work and AlwaysTrue the developer experience (DevX) initiative. Engineers are expected to move with their existing work, although individual transitions follow separate schedules. IOG described the teams as taking their “final steps into autonomy” in a post promoting an X Space hosted by Matthew Capps.

Serokell previously worked with IOHK before Cardano’s 2017 mainnet launch, helping build its first node and an initial implementation of the Ouroboros proof-of-stake protocol. The consensus team maintains the software nodes use to select which chain to follow, as well as the hard-fork machinery for transitions between network eras. At AlwaysTrue, Robertino Martinez will continue leading DevX, an initiative proposed by IOG and ratified by delegated representatives this year. Its remit includes documentation, libraries, tools, examples and deployment support.

Consensus code will remain in IntersectMBO’s public GitHub repositories. AlwaysTrue’s developer tools will remain open source under the Apache 2.0 license. IOG says funding will continue during handovers, with treasury-backed work approved through proposals and on-chain votes by delegated representatives, or DReps. Payments are tied to verified milestones and administered through Intersect.

The shift follows earlier transfers: Plutus began moving to Midgard Labs on Oct. 1, after a Sep. 17 announcement; Daedalus wallet maintenance went to Se7en Labs, Mithril to Teragone, and platform engineering, quality assurance, cryptography, performance and tracing to ICAN Group. IOG says it will continue protocol research and development while specialist partners take on defined engineering responsibilities. In a Sep. 15 note, BlockPQR said it continued ledger, formal specification, node engineering and block-producing infrastructure work, with IOG retaining primary responsibility for the related initiatives and milestones.