Cardano Hard Fork Vote Nears Completion Amidst Custody Expansion

Cardano's hard fork vote is nearing its final stage as the long-awaited Van Rossem upgrade inches closer to reality. The stake pool operators have reached 43.37 percent of the required 51 percent, but all other prerequisites are already met.

Crypto Finance, a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse, has added Cardano to its regulated digital-asset vault, alongside assets like Bitcoin and Ether. Clearstream, the custody arm of Deutsche Börse, oversees assets worth 22 trillion euros, and this move is seen as a strong signal for institutional players.

The listing is a structural positive, not an immediate price catalyst, according to analysts. However, the addition of Cardano to the custodian's vault could help bridge the trust gap left by a recent security incident at SecondFi, a Cardano wallet provider.

SecondFi was hacked, resulting in 145 million ADA being moved. A white-hat hacker returned 129 million coins, leaving net losses of 16 million ADA - worth about $2.7 million at current prices. The founder's organisation EMURGO temporarily withdrew from a governance committee called Pentad to lead the cleanup.