Cardano Achieves Decentralized Governance Milestone with van Rossem Hard Fork Ratification

The Cardano network has achieved a major milestone in its governance process with the ratification of the van Rossem hard fork. This upgrade, set to be enacted on July 18, marks the first time that a hard fork was initiated and ratified entirely through decentralized governance, without top-down orchestration by founding entities like Input Output or the Cardano Foundation.

The van Rossem hard fork advances Cardano to Protocol Version 11, introducing new built-in functions to the Plutus smart contract platform and reducing smart contract execution costs. The upgrade was first submitted on June 16 during Epoch 637, with ratification taking roughly four weeks.

The governance process involved the Hard Fork Working Group, led by Intersect MBO, coordinating technical and procedural logistics alongside Input Output, the Cardano Foundation, and Emurgo. Delegated Representatives (DReps) played a crucial role in voting on behalf of ADA holders who delegated their voting power, with 68.57% approval for the Plutus cost model by June 13.

The van Rossem hard fork is designed to lay groundwork for the Dijkstra era, which will bring Leios, a scaling solution that promises to significantly increase Cardano's throughput. This upgrade is seen as a significant step towards more resilience and adaptability in the blockchain's development process.