The much-anticipated Chang Hard fork has been published by the Cardano development team.
- Dale Johnston
- Jul 18, 2024
- 3 min read
Author: Aniedi Utah
The much-anticipated Chang Hard fork has been published by the Cardano development team.
Cardano Node 9.0 Front Runs DReps Voting
According to a GitHub post on July 8, the proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain network is well on its way to the release of its newest validator node software, Chang Hard fork.
Source: X
Chang hard fork represents a new age in the peer-reviewed blockchain. According to the Cardano development team, the new software upgrade systemically represents the beginning of the ‘Age of Voltaire’ - the final piece of the puzzle - in its roadmap. This will cascade into the deployment of the long-awaited Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP-1694) which will introduce on-chain governance and the introduction of the Cardano Constitution.
With Chang hard fork, the scientifically-focused PoS network will essentially kickstart a new network state and political arrangement where key development decisions will follow laid-down rules. This will eventually create a new decentralized governance model, essentially enabling a community-driven political ecosystem.
Besides this, Chang hard fork will lead to the launch of the decentralized representatives (DReps) who are decentralized Cardano nodes elected by the network’s token holders. Working in line with the network’s constitution, DReps will play a crucial role in making proposals on the Cardano blockchain based on the set out rules.
Chang hard fork is a crucial piece of development for the Cardano blockchain given its preference for a systematic way of building out a decentralized ledger system as opposed to ‘break things and see what works’ adopted by other smart contract counterparts.
Meanwhile, the newest upgrade at its current stage has not yet enabled DRep voting and on-chain governance activities, but it would play a pivotal role in supporting CIP-1694 in its bootstrapping phase in production environments. Full on-chain governance is expected to go live in Node 10.0 in the coming weeks.
Speaking on the development, Cardano’s founder and CEO Charles Hoskinson revealed in a YouTube video that the hard fork still has to pass the acceptance hurdle. According to the former Ethereum co-founder, 70% of all Canard-based nodes need to vote to upgrade to the new software before the Chang hard fork can be said to be well on its way to production.
Hard Fork? No Problem
For those unfamiliar with the term, a hard fork is a new software upgrade implemented by a blockchain network that is inconsistent with its current technological framework. This incompatibility often leads to a permanent split inadvertently orchestrating a scenario where two networks run in parallel. To combat this scenario, a lot of smart contract networks often pause transactions to allow all nodes to upgrade to the software.
This is not often the case with the Cardano network largely due to its unique design system and its reliance on the Hard Fork Combinator (or HFC). with the HFC, the peer-reviewed blockchain is able to integrate new functionalities on-chain without disrupting the network state or pausing transactions. Most importantly, the previous version and history of transactions are integrated seamlessly, often making hard forks on Cardano a smooth and unnoticeable experience for all involved.
Source: Cardano Pool Tool
At the time of publication, 3% of Cardano nodes have upgraded to the Chang hard fork according to data from Pool Tool. There’s still a 67% threshold requirement to be met before the new upgrade can be well on its way to implementation.
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