2025-01-30
Cardano has officially activated its
highly anticipated Plomin hard fork, marking s transition toward full
decentralized governance.
The upgrade grants ADA token holders
the power to vote on critical blockchain decisions, shifting governance away
from Cardano’s founding entities.
With the Plomin upgrade, ADA holders
can now delegate their voting power to Delegate Representatives (dReps), who
will vote on key governance actions such as protocol parameter changes,
treasury fund allocations, and future hard forks.
This change represents a major step
toward on-chain governance, reducing the control previously held by the Cardano
Foundation, Input Output Global (IOHK), and Emurgo—the blockchain’s original
governance entities.
The Plomin hard fork follows the Chang
upgrade, implemented four months earlier, which introduced many of the
governance mechanisms now in effect.
Before Plomin, stake pool operators
were required to update their nodes and approve the hard fork with a 51%
majority.
As of January 22, approximately 78% of
Cardano’s network nodes had upgraded to the latest version, allowing the
upgrade to proceed. By this week, the number had increased to around 85%,
further cementing the network’s readiness for decentralized governance.
According to a January 23 report from
Emurgo, a voting member of Cardano’s Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC),
the Cardano Foundation had also officially voted in favor of the Plomin
upgrade.
With the hard fork now live, ADA
holders will play an active role in shaping Cardano’s future, influencing
decisions on treasury management and future protocol developments.
The transition to decentralized
governance aligns with the network’s long-term vision of creating a self-sustaining
blockchain ecosystem without reliance on a central governing body.
The Plomin hard fork reinforces Cardano’s
commitment to decentralization and community-driven development.
