Cardano activates Van Rossem hard fork, governance upgrade

The Cardano blockchain has successfully activated its Van Rossem hard fork, a technical upgrade that marks a historic shift in how the network governs itself. The upgrade, which moved the mainnet to Protocol Version 11, was enacted on July 18, 2026, and represents the first time a Cardano hard fork has been proposed, debated, and ratified entirely through its on-chain governance system rather than by its founding developers.

This governance milestone saw the upgrade approved by three separate bodies within Cardano's Voltaire governance framework. Delegated representatives, who vote on behalf of ADA holders, approved the measure with 78.97% support. The Constitutional Committee unanimously found the proposal compliant with the network's constitution. Stake pool operators, who run the network's infrastructure, provided the narrowest margin of approval at just over 53%. The activation followed a ratification vote on July 13 and required that at least 85% of stake pools by active stake upgrade their node software beforehand, a threshold that was exceeded.

Technically, the Van Rossem hard fork is an intra-era upgrade, meaning it keeps Cardano within its current Conway governance era...