Cardano’s eUTXO model enables smart contract parallelism, introduces new risks

Cardano , a leading proof-of-stake blockchain platform developed by Input Output Global, utilizes the extended unspent transaction output (eUTXO) model to track value and execute smart contract transactions. Unlike traditional account-based systems, Cardano’s model relies on the concept of unspent outputs, where each transaction consumes existing outputs and produces new ones. This process is governed by Plutus scripts, Cardano’s smart contract programming framework, which determines whether a specific output can be spent. The eUTXO model, introduced with Cardano’s Alonzo upgrade in September 2021, expands on the conventional UTXO approach by attaching programmable logic and optional data directly to outputs.