Cardano network team has carried out the first stage of the Chang hardfork

What’s new? The team of the Cardano Layer 1 (L1) blockchain, developed in 2017 by Ethereum network co-founder Charles Hoskinson, held the first phase of the Chang hardfork on September 1, aimed at transitioning the ecosystem to fully decentralized governance. With the Chang upgrade, holders of ADA native tokens will be able to determine the project’s development vector by selecting managers and voting on suggestions for improvements.

Material by CoinDesk

What else is known? Part of the hardfork is the network improvement proposal number CIP-1694, it describes a new community governance structure and establishes three user-led governance bodies: the Constitutional Committee, Delegate Representatives (dReps), and Stake Pool Operators (SPOs).

In the future, Cardano’s three founding organizations, Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global (IOHK), and Emurgo, will no longer hold the keys to make upgrades, this responsibility will be handed over to new governance groups.

The first phase, which has already been launched, creates an interim Constitutional Committee to temporarily oversee the governance of Cardano. The committee’s authority to make changes to the blockchain code is limited at this stage, as the rest of the ecosystem governance model is still in its formative stages.

The second phase of the hardfork is due in 90 days, and that is when the powers of the new governing bodies will be expanded.

Chang is a major milestone in Cardano’s roadmap, this upgrade marks the beginning of the so-called Voltaire era, a phase aimed at achieving full decentralization that has been underway since Cardano’s inception.

“I would say it is the biggest event in Cardano history, and it really makes us different from many other chains. I think we are the largest layer 1 with on-chain governance. There are some smaller players, like Tezos and Polkadot, who already have on-chain governance. But if there was a leaderboard, real decentralized layer-1s, we would be number one,” said Cardano Foundation CTO Giorgio Zinetti.

ADA ranks 12th overall cryptocurrency by market capitalization at $11,9 billion and is trading at $0,3336, having lost 2,6% overnight. The weekly drop was 12,3% and the asset has lost 44% since the beginning of the year.