Intersect, a membership-based organization within the Cardano ecosystem, has officially announced… It was announced The Chang Hard Fork on the Cardano mainnet is scheduled to take place on September 1, 2024, at 21:45 UTC. The hard fork represents a major milestone in Cardano’s evolution towards a fully decentralized ecosystem.
The decision to implement the Chang Hard Fork was reached during a comprehensive meeting that included key stakeholders from the Cardano ecosystem, Intersect, Emurgo, the Cardano Foundation, and Input|Output. “The group unanimously voted to initiate a hard fork known as Chang #1, which will go live on the Cardano mainnet on September 1,” Intersect announced on Thursday, August 28 via X.
The Changpeng hard fork announcement comes after extensive deliberations and evaluations within the Hard Fork Working Group. Last week, the hard fork was postponed as exchange liquidity remained a concern with only 28% of exchanges having upgraded to the required version, with the target set at 85%. Now, as the group’s latest bulletin reveals, there is a majority readiness across the Cardano ecosystem.
Staking pool operators are reported to have 92% stake availability, indicating stable readiness for several days before the hard fork. Exchanges are showing over 90% liquidity availability, indicating strong support for the upcoming transition. The total value locked in decentralized applications (DApps) is over 50%, indicating a strong adoption rate among app developers and users.
Furthermore, no serious issues have been raised, which increases confidence in the smooth progress of the hard fork. The hard fork working group has committed to being on standby to closely monitor the transition.
Commenting on the significance of the Chang hard fork, Intersect wrote: “This represents the first major, irreversible step in Cardano’s journey from being one of the most decentralized blockchains to a fully decentralized ecosystem where ADA holders make all decisions about the future of the chain.”
Cardano Chang Hard Fork Overview
The Chang Hard Fork is designed to propel Cardano into the so-called Voltaire Era, enhancing the platform’s governance capabilities in stages. The first stage of the upgrade introduces a set of governance features that kick-start the technical bootstrapping phase as outlined in Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) 1694.
This phase is of utmost importance as it lays the foundation for the next and final phase of the upgrade, which will unleash the full governance features on the chain, including full participation of delegated representatives (DReps) and the implementation of various types of governance actions.
The governance restructuring is significant because it transforms the ledger into the Conway era, marking the establishment of a foundation for decentralized decision-making. The upgrade removes previously specialized governance support for protocol parameter updates and multi-signature (MIR) certificates. Instead, two new fields will be added to regular transaction bodies to accommodate governance and voting actions. This allows any Cardano user to submit a governance action, a democratic step forward that enhances user participation and control over network decisions.
Every proposed governance action under the new system will require ratification by at least two of the three newly introduced governance bodies: a constitutional committee, DReps, and SPOs. This multi-level ratification process is designed to ensure that all actions are rigorously vetted, reflect the collective will of the community, and adhere to a well-defined set of on-chain rules.
At the time of publishing this report, ADA was trading at $0.3556.
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