Cardano will delay the highly anticipated Chang hardfork to September 1, 2024, according to the latest update. Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson confirmed the delay in a post on X, mentioning that while the Chang upgrade is ready, the new date will allow Binance and other platforms more time to prepare for the hardfork.
Hoskinson reassured the community by stating, “The magic of deadlines is that people who aren’t taking upgrades seriously suddenly say damn we got to get moving. When they get moving, we converge quickly. It looks like Binance and a few others need more time to get their houses in order, so the rocket is going to wait on the pad, another epoch for the weather to get better. Next Chang HF window, September 1st."
What is the Chang hardfork?
Chang is an update that will bring Cardano’s Voltaire era into operation, introducing decentralized governance mechanisms and on-chain voting.
What is next?
A recent update on the state of preparedness for Cardano’s Chang hard fork highlighted a potential mainnet launch on August 27, 2024. However, the team also set August 23 as the date for the “final go/no-go decision.”
This decision comes as Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) had reached the threshold of 80% upgrade to the 9.1.0 version, but exchanges and decentralized applications had not. The readiness of exchanges, especially major ones like Binance, is crucial for successful integration.
Cardano now has to wait for these exchanges to move to the 9.1.0 version of the blockchain network’s software. Despite this delay, Hoskinson assures that “nothing” will stop the Chang hardfork from happening.
Per data on the Chang upgrade readiness page, 83% of SPOs are on 9.1.0 while exchange liquidity is currently at 46%. The desired threshold is 85%.
Cardano estimates reaching the above mark would have the next hard fork date at September 1, 2024.
