AI · Decrypt
Cardano Triggers Hard Fork With First Community-Voted Upgrade
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Cardano has hard forked, implementing the Van Rossem upgrade over the weekend and transitioning the network to protocol version 11.
Key facts
- Cardano, which trades as ADA,has been flat for three days, hovering around the $0.1662 mark at a $6 billion market capitalization
- RSI—a momentum score from 0 to 100, where above 70 signals overbought and below 30 means oversold—reads 48.8, which is considered neutral
- Whales holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA tokens pushed their balances to the highest level since 2023, per Santiment data
- The next target is Ouroboros Leios —Cardano's planned overhaul of how it processes transactions, targeting 30 to 65 times current throughput with a stated goal of exceeding 1,000 transactions per
Summary
Cardano activated the Van Rossem hard fork on July 18, reaching protocol version 11 with zero downtime. It's the network's first major upgrade ratified entirely through on-chain community governance, without any centralized company directing the process. The fork lowers Plutus smart contract execution costs and bundles five technical improvements, including new cryptographic tools and a security fix requiring every stake pool to use a unique cryptographic key. It’s not the first time Cardano has executed a hard fork—but it is the first time it’s done so without the intervention of the blockchain’s founding development company, Input Output.