Intersect, a major membership organization dedicated to the Cardano ecosystem, has announced the official timeline for the upcoming Chang hardfork via X. This update is crucial in the continued development of the Cardano network, aimed at improving protocol efficiency and governance mechanisms.

Cardano Chang Hard Fork to be rolled out on August 27

Intersect’s announcement indicates that the Chang hard fork working group has convened to assess progress against established readiness thresholds, in addition to considering community feedback and sentiment. “The group is pleased to formally propose the first set of dates for the Chang #1 hard fork on production mainnet; the target mainnet hardfork is Tuesday, August 27th, with a final go/no-go decision scheduled for early Friday, August 23rd,” the announcement reads.

In terms of readiness, the group has achieved significant milestones, most notably with Stake Pool Operators (SPOs), 80% of which are now on version 9.1.0, reaching the desired threshold for SPOs. Liquidity, however, remains a concern, with only 28% of exchanges having upgraded to the required version, out of a target of 85%.

Despite this, the group noted an upward trend in readiness across various components of the ecosystem. “SPO readiness was confirmed last week, the exchange liquidity metric is good and improving, and we have received positive readiness updates from many leading DApps,” Intersect said.

In preparation for the hard fork, an extensive schedule of governance actions and signatures is required, starting four days before the hard fork. The working group emphasizes the critical nature of this phase and urges all stakeholders to complete their preparations. “The time to upgrade is now! If there is a specific reason or dependency that prevents your upgrade from being achieved, we need to know NOW,” the announcement reads.

The preparations also notably include a pre-production hard fork scheduled for August 22. This will serve as a final test and adjustment before the actual implementation.

In response to the impending hard fork, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson expressed his anticipation and strategic importance of this upgrade. In a social media post, Hoskinson noted: “Are you prepared for Chang? Rocket is on the path. Governance is coming.”

To accommodate the upcoming changes, Input Output, the development company behind Cardano, has already released a new version of the Daedalus wallet. The update to Daedalus 6.0.0 is essential for the upcoming Chang hard fork. “Daedalus 6.0.0 is a mainnet release required to survive the upcoming Chang hard fork and operate in the Conway era. It is mandatory for all Daedalus users to upgrade to this version,” the company communicated via X.

Chang Upgrade: Rollout in 2 Phases

The Chang Upgrade marks a significant evolution for Cardano, aimed at establishing a minimum viable on-chain governance system as defined by CIP-1694. The first phase, Chang Upgrade #1, introduces governance features to the blockchain, kicking off what is described as the technical bootstrapping phase in accordance with CIP-1694.

The second phase, Chang Upgrade #2, ensures that these deployments fully activate the extended features of CIP-1694, including expanded DRep (Delegation Representatives) participation and a broader range of governance actions, effectively exiting the bootstrapping phase.

At the time of going to press, ADA was trading at $0.3580.

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