Coming soon to Cardano: Chang Hard Fork

The roadmap for building the Cardano network was initially planned with five “eras.” Each era is marked by new functionality, which is introduced via a hard fork update. The upcoming Chang hard fork is significant because it brings us to the final, “Voltaire” era. Voltaire is supposed to bookend the initial scope set for Cardano and put in place a mechanism for deciding and managing the technology going forward. Voltaire is Cardano governance. Voltaire takes Cardano out of initial development mode into a mature self-sustaining public blockchain platform.

First, let’s dig into the road to Chang.

The Road to Chang

Key Milestones:

Byron Era (2017): Cardano’s initial launch phase, focusing on basic transactions.

Shelley Era (2020): Introduction of staking and decentralization. This milestone also included a smaller later upgrade, the Mary hard fork, to bring NFTs and Native Tokens to the chain.

Goguen Era (2021): Smart contracts capability was added with the Alonzo upgrade.

Basho Era (2022): The Vasil hard fork brought improved scalability and performance. This is also the stream of work covering Partner Chains and Hydra.

For a full history of cardano hard forks, see https://cardano.org/hardforks/

Chang Hard Forks

Chang Hard Fork 1 and 2: The Chang Hard Fork is really two updates, Chang 1 and Chang 2. These updates are the technical on-chain implementation of CIP-1694, which aims to move Cardano’s governance from the 3 founding entities to all staked Ada holders, ensuring more robust and decentralized decision-making processes.

Chang 1 will turn on a set of governance features to Cardano. With it, the chain enters the technical bootstrapping phase as described in CIP-1694. During this time: The Interim Constitutional Committee can vote to change protocol parameters. The Interim Constitutional Committee, together with a sufficient SPO vote can initiate a hard fork. In addition to the two actions above, only info actions will be available.

Chang 1 Hard Fork is expected to happen end of August or early september… provided that: 75%+ of staked ada are to nodes with software version 9.1 installed. The top 10 DApp by Total Value Locked have signal readiness Top exchanges have signal readiness

You can see a live readiness tracker and follow along at https://docs.intersectmbo.org/cardano/cardano-hardforks-and-upgrades/chang-upgrade/chang-1-dependencies-and-timeline

Chang 2 will transition the network out of the technical bootstrapping phase and unlock the full features of CIP-1694 on-chain governance. These features include full DRep participation and all types of governance actions.

When both Chang 1 and Chang 2 are live, Ada holders will get to register to vote on Cardano Governance actions, or delegate their vote. This is similar to how you delegate your stake to Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) that then use that stake to secure the network and process transactions. Like with staking, delegating your governance power to a DRep will neither lock up nor remove your Ada from your wallet. Your governance delegation will remain liquid and you will be able to transfer or sell your Ada as if you were not delegating.

Conclusion

The Chang Hard Forks are a pivotal moment in Cardano’s journey. They mark a transition from the foundational development phases to a mature, self-sustaining blockchain ecosystem. Through its systematic and research-driven approach, Cardano has not only adhered to its initial roadmap but has also set a standard for how blockchain technologies can evolve with stability and community governance at the core. As we approach the Chang updates, we are not just witnessing technical enhancements or feature integrations; we are seeing the empowerment of every Ada holder to shape the future of the Cardano network. This democratization of decision-making is the true realization of blockchain’s potential—offering a decentralized, transparent, and participant-driven future. The Chang Hard Forks, especially with the full implementation of CIP-1694, herald a new era where Cardano is no longer just a participant in the cryptocurrency space but a leading architect of how blockchain governance can and should function. Welcome to the Voltaire era!