Cardano’s Chang hard fork launching tomorrow: Here’s what to expect

The Chang hard fork, Cardano’s highly anticipated upgrade, is set to go live later this week following confirmation from Intersect, a member-based organization in the Cardano ecosystem.

The upgrade is part of Cardano’s roadmap to empower its community and improve the network’s democratic governance structure. As the major milestone is just hours away, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about Chang’s hard fork, what it will do, and what investors should expect from ADA’s price actions.

Chang’s hard fork: “The era of Voltaire is about to arrive”

Since its launch in 2017, Cardano has gone through four distinct eras, including Byron, Shelley, Goguen, and Basho, each focusing on specific features and improvements to the blockchain platform.

After the Basho era, Cardano is moving towards the It was Voltairewhich he describes as “the final pieces needed for the Cardano network to become a self-sustaining system.”

For the Voltaire era, Cardano aims to become a fully decentralized blockchain where ADA holders can directly participate in the decision-making process and contribute to the development of the network.

Chang’s upcoming hard fork is the first step in the transition to the Voltaire era. Technically, it is an upgrade to the blockchain that introduces radical changes to its protocol. For the hard fork to take effect, all nodes, or all computers running the blockchain, must be upgraded to the new software.

What will Chang’s hard fork do for the network?

As part of its goal of achieving community-driven governance, Cardano’s Chang hard fork is expected to introduce a number of advanced governance features. Additionally, the upgrade will also aim to improve Cardano’s scalability and security.

Chang’s hard fork is Divided into two partsThe first focuses on establishing the necessary governance frameworks and the second will enhance those frameworks with more advanced features.

Part 1: A transition towards community governance

The initial upgrade will kick off the technical bootstrapping process, which has been in the works for several weeks. It involves a working group reviewing progress and ensuring the ecosystem is ready for the hard fork.

During this phase, the hard fork will introduce the Cardano Interim Constitution, a temporary governance structure to guide Cardano’s transition to full community control, and the Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC), a temporary governance body that will oversee initial governance actions and uphold the principles of the interim constitution.

The ICC will have the power to veto proposals through on-chain voting. The first phase aims to lay the groundwork for the transition to decentralized governance, where ADA holders will begin to have a say in decision-making processes.

Part 2: Full decentralization

The second phase is expected to be implemented about three months after the first, likely in Q4 2024. The goal is to enable fully decentralized governance.

During this phase, the upgrade will introduce a new governance body called Delegated Representatives (DReps), which will facilitate decentralized decision-making and represent the interests of ADA holders.

This phase will also involve the implementation of on-chain voting mechanisms, allowing ADA holders to propose and vote on governance actions directly. Cardano aims to fully transition to a community-driven decision-making model during this phase.

In addition to decentralized governance, Chang’s hard fork also seeks to improve Cardano’s scalability, increasing transaction throughput from around 250 transactions per second (TPS) to over 1,000 TPS. It will implement advanced security protocols to protect against common threats.

When exactly will the Chang hard fork occur?

In June, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said that Cardano would soon… Enter the Voltaire era after the launch of Node 9.0A month after Hoskinson’s statement, Cardano launched Node 9.0, clearing the way for Chang’s hard fork.

The Chang hard fork was initially postponed due to concerns over exchange liquidity, but has now been rescheduled with the majority of the ecosystem ready.

Intersect confirmed that the Chang hard fork is scheduled for September 1, 2024 at 21:45 UTC. The decision to implement the hard fork was made through a unanimous vote by key stakeholders including Intersect, Emurgo, the Cardano Foundation, and Input Output (IOHK).

The hard fork working group also confirmed that sufficient preparation has been achieved in several sectors of the Cardano ecosystem:

• Staking pool operators (SPOs) demonstrated a high level of readiness: over 90% of exchanges were also prepared.
• Decentralized applications (DApps) have shown strong adoption, with over 50% of the total value locked.
• No serious problems have been reported.

If all goes according to plan, the Chang hard fork will be released later this week.

Binance said in a advertisement On August 30, the exchange platform will temporarily stop deposits and withdrawals of ADA tokens during the upgrade process.

Another major exchange, Bitget, is also in the process of upgrading its systems to Support the update.

Will the hard fork affect ADA holders?

The Chang hard fork is not expected to directly impact ADA holders. If you only hold ADA in a wallet, you do not need to take any special action before or after the hard fork. Your ADA balance and transaction history will remain intact.

For ADA holders who are staking their tokens, the hard fork may have some indirect effects:

• Staking Rewards: Improvements in network scalability and performance could potentially lead to higher staking rewards over time.
• Decentralization: By enabling community governance, the hard fork aims to further decentralize the network. This can improve the security of ADA staking by reducing the risks associated with staking in a single pool.

What should we expect from ADA price action?

According data According to TradingView, ADA rose more than 140% less than two months ago Alonzo hard fork launched in September 2021. However, the crypto asset suffered a major setback after the upgrade, likely due to the overall market crash.

The Vasil hard fork, which went live on the mainnet in September 2022, had a moderate impact on the price of ADA due to the prevailing bear market conditions. The upgrade did not result in significant price appreciation, data shows.

With its focus on redefining Cardano governance, Chang’s upcoming hard fork is expected to attract more developers, users, and investors to the ecosystem, potentially boosting the value of ADA.

However, historical data suggests that a hard fork alone does not guarantee a price increase. The price of ADA will ultimately depend on several market factors and the overall adoption and usage of the Cardano network.

ADA is currently trading near $0.35, registering a slight increase over the past 24 hours.

Share this article