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Cardano is preparing for the Chang hard fork, a highly anticipated update expected by the end of July 2024. This event has generated considerable excitement in the crypto community, especially given the significant price increase that followed Cardano’s previous hard fork in 2021.
Chang’s hard fork for Cardano represents a crucial transition into the Voltaire era, marking the final stage of its roadmap to create a fully decentralized blockchain ecosystem. After this update, Cardano will no longer be managed by the development company Input Output Global (IOG). instead, it will be completely managed by its community members.
Recently, the Cardano Foundation, in partnership with Cardanoscan, launched a tracking page to monitor readiness for this major upgrade. The Chang hard fork is pivotal because it initiates the Cardano governance model, paving the way for minimum viable governance by the community.
Will this upgrade be crucial? Cardano ecosystem?
Before a brief overview of the Chang hard fork, let’s understand what a hard fork is.
What is a hard fork?
Compared to a soft fork, a hard fork implies a significant change in the blockchain protocol, often resulting in permanent deviations from the previous version.
During a hard fork, the new protocol is not backwards-compatible, meaning that nodes running an older version of the software will not be able to validate transactions or blocks that conform to the new rules. This can result in two different blockchains, each with its own version of the transaction history.
Want to learn more about rigid forks? Click here.
About Chang Hard Fork
Scheduled for Q2 2024, the Chang hard fork will introduce minimum viable community governance on the Cardano blockchain, enabling a constitution-governed community consensus.
This key event will initiate the establishment of Cardano’s governance throughout 2024, unfolding in three main phases:
- Presentation of Delegate Representatives (DReps). An important component of Cardano’s future community management. DReps will act as an elected representative, with users transferring their ADA instead of voting on a traditional ballot. DReps enrollment is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2024.
- Cardano Constitution Convention. This gathering will bring together management representatives selected from various workshops around the world throughout 2024 in Buenos Aires. Here they will draft the Cardano Constitution, laying the foundation for community-led governance.
- The vote. To conclude the year 2024, the Cardano community will vote on the ratification of the first draft of the Cardano Constitution. If approved, this constitution will form the basis for decentralized community governance processes, shaping the future direction of the Cardano blockchain.
Charles Hoskinson’s views on this improvement
Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, announced that the network’s upgraded node 9.0 is ready for launch and is critical to the upcoming Chang hard fork.
Named after early Cardano supporter Phil Chang, this hard fork requires at least 70% of Cardano validators to update their nodes. The Chang hard fork will significantly change Cardano’s ownership structure, transferring control from the Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, and Input-Output Global (IOG) to the community, thus turning ADA into a governance token.
This shift is an important moment in Cardano’s journey from a static and federated system to a dynamic, decentralized system with advanced staking and smart contract capabilities.
After the Bashot and Gauguin eras, the hard fork will usher in the Voltaire era, which introduced scalability and smart contract features. Hoskinson sees this change as a testament to Cardano’s maturity and best approach to governance and decentralization. It will enable ADA holders to vote on changes and manage the project’s treasury, similar to the Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) used in DeFi protocols.
Historical Cardano Price Movement During Alonzo Hard Fork. Will history repeat itself?
Market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock recently highlighted a significant historical trend in a post on X (formerly Twitter), stating that Cardano is set to undergo a Chang hard fork upgrade this month.
The report notes that ADA experienced a remarkable 130% price increase before the 2021 upgrade of its previous hard fork, Alonzo, which saw the cryptocurrency jump from $1.35 to $3.10. Alonzo’s hard fork, which took place on September 12, 2021, introduced smart contract capabilities to the Cardano network via Plutus, enabling the deployment of decentralized applications (dApps). ADA hit an all-time high of $3.10 on September 2, 2021, just ten days before Alonzo’s update.
Anticipation surrounding the introduction of smart contract functionality has driven the value of ADA significantly higher, more than doubling in less than four weeks. As Cardano now prepares for Chang’s hard fork, the network is about to enter the final phase of its development roadmap, known as the Voltaire Era. This era aims to provide the necessary components for the Cardano network to achieve self-sustainability.
Bottom line
The upcoming development of Cardano in 2024 will definitely revolutionize the blockchain technology landscape. The project is set for significant growth and innovation with the upcoming Cardano upgrade and its ambitious roadmap, including the Chang hard fork.
As Cardano progresses through its modernization roadmap and expands its ecosystem, it solidifies its status as a leading blockchain platform. 2024 could be a pivotal period for Cardano, a significant leap towards enhanced scalability, governance and decentralized innovation.
Related Read: How to buy Cardano (ADA) in India? [2024]
Stay tuned for more updates on the Cardano ecosystem.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not legal tender and is currently unregulated. Please ensure that you carry out a sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information presented in this section does not represent any investment advice or the official position of WazirX. WazirX reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or amend this blog post at any time and for any reason without prior notice.
