The Cardano development team has recently unveiled the latest version of its validator node software, known as “Node 9.0.” This release is a crucial step towards the upcoming Chang hard fork, as stated by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson in a YouTube video. The software was officially released at around 7 pm UTC and is capable of supporting the 9.0 hard fork boundary on mainnet and long-running testnets.
Hoskinson had previously announced the imminent release of the software in a YouTube video, mentioning that it would be available “next week.” He also mentioned that the signal for mass upgrades would likely come on Monday or Tuesday. In order for the hard fork to take place, at least 70% of nodes will need to vote in favor of upgrading to the new software.
The Chang hard fork is a significant step towards achieving fully decentralized governance on the Cardano network. It marks the beginning of the “Age of Voltaire” on Cardano’s roadmap, which will bring about major changes to the network’s political system. These changes have been outlined in Cardano Improvement Proposal 1694 (CIP 1694), which aims to introduce Delegate Representatives (DReps) elected by Cardano tokenholders. These representatives will draft a Cardano Constitution, which will serve as the supreme governing law of the network. Once the Constitution is drafted and approved, DReps will propose further changes to the network in accordance with its provisions.
While Node 9.0 does not yet enable DRep voting and all governance actions, it does support the bootstrap phase of CIP-1694 in production environments. The full voting protocol will be provided in version 10.0 of the software.
As of now, exchanges and stake pools have not yet prepared for the Chang hard fork, according to the block explorer Cardanoscan. However, Hoskinson expects the hard fork to commence on Monday or Tuesday, indicating that the process will likely begin on July 8-9.
It is worth noting that the fork was initially expected to occur in June, but this deadline has already passed. Cardano implemented another node upgrade on June 26 to address a distributed denial-of-service attack on the network.
In conclusion, Cardano’s release of Node 9.0 brings the Chang hard fork one step closer, paving the way for fully decentralized governance on the Cardano network.