The Cardano development team has recently released the latest version of their validator node software, known as “Node 9.0”. This release is a crucial step in the development process for the upcoming Chang hard fork, as confirmed by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson in a YouTube video. The software was made available at approximately 7 pm UTC on July 8. According to the release notes, this version of the node software is capable of supporting the 9.0 hard fork boundary on both the mainnet and long-running testnets, such as PreProd.
In a video released the day before the software’s launch, Hoskinson stated that the release was imminent and would be available “next week”. He also mentioned that the signal for mass upgrades will likely come on Monday or Tuesday. To initiate the hard fork, it is necessary for 70% of the nodes to vote in favor of upgrading to the new software, as explained by Hoskinson.
The Chang hard fork is the first step towards achieving fully decentralized governance on the Cardano network. It marks the beginning of the “Age of Voltaire” on Cardano’s roadmap, which entails significant changes to the network’s political system.
These changes have been detailed in Cardano Improvement Proposal 1694 (CIP 1694). According to this proposal, Chang will eventually enable the election of Delegate Representatives (DReps) by Cardano (ADA) tokenholders. The elected 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 continue to propose network changes in accordance with it.
Although Node 9.0 does not currently support DRep voting and other governance actions, these functionalities will be introduced in version 10.0. However, the software does facilitate the bootstrap phase of CIP-1694 in production environments.
As of now, exchanges and stake pools have not yet prepared for the Chang hard fork, according to the Cardanoscan block explorer.
In the YouTube video, Hoskinson mentioned that the hard fork is expected to begin on Monday or Tuesday, indicating a start date of July 8-9. It is worth noting that Hoskinson had previously anticipated the hard fork to take place in June, but that deadline has already passed. Additionally, Cardano implemented another node upgrade on June 26 to mitigate the impact of a distributed denial-of-service attack.