Cardano enters community governance era: Van Rossem hard fork decided by token holder vote

Odaily Odaily reported that the Cardano network completed the Van Rossem hard fork upgrade on July 18, upgrading the mainnet protocol version to 11 (Protocol Version 11). This upgrade not only brings performance optimizations for smart contracts but also marks the first time a protocol upgrade on Cardano has been led by the community governance system, rather than being directly driven by the founding team.

Previously, Cardano's hard forks were mainly coordinated by core organizations such as the engineering firm Input Output (IOG) responsible for development. However, the Van Rossem upgrade was entirely completed through Cardano's on-chain governance system for proposal, discussion, and voting. It became the first major upgrade autonomously approved by network participants since Cardano entered the Voltaire governance era.

According to on-chain data, the Cardano mainnet has been upgraded from version 10 in epoch 643 to version 11 in epoch 644, officially activating at 21:44 UTC on July 18. The upgrade received final approval on July 13, requiring passage by three parties: representative bodies, the Constitutional Committee, and Stake Pool Operators.

Among them, DReps (Delegated Representatives), who participate in governance voting on behalf of ADA holders, passed the proposal with a 78.97% support rate, exceeding the 60% requirement; all seven members of the Cardano Constitutional Committee confirmed the upgrade complies with constitutional requirements; and Stake Pool Operators, responsible for running network infrastructure, approved the upgrade with a 53.02% support rate.

The Van Rossem upgrade primarily includes technical improvements such as optimizing the Plutus smart contract platform, reducing smart contract execution costs, and enhancing ledger validation rules. This upgrade also paves the way for the future Dijkstra era hard fork and the Ouroboros Leios scalability solution.

Ouroboros Leios aims to enhance the processing capacity of Cardano's proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It is expected to launch in 2026 and could significantly increase network transaction throughput while maintaining security.

For ordinary ADA users, this upgrade will not bring noticeable operational changes. Wallets do not need updating, and transfer methods and fees remain the same. However, in the long run, the Plutus optimization may reduce operating costs for decentralized applications (DeFi, NFTs, etc.), providing lower-cost infrastructure for ecosystem development.

Cardano stated that the greatest significance of Van Rossem is not just the technical upgrade but the shift in governance model — the future direction of the network will be decided by community votes, rather than being entirely controlled by the founding team. This means ADA holders now truly possess governance rights to participate in protocol evolution for the first time. (CoinDesk)