What to Know
- Cardano submitted van Rossem hard fork proposal for mainnet governance review.
- Preview and Preprod upgrades completed before mainnet approval process began.
- Stakeholders could approve upgrade by June, enabling Dijkstra preparations.
Cardano’s van Rossem hard fork has officially entered the mainnet governance process following the submission of a hard fork initiation action. The development brings the network closer to the Dijkstra era, which is expected to introduce Leios and other scalability improvements.
The submission marks the latest step in a months-long preparation process involving developers, governance participants, and infrastructure operators. Moreover, it signals that Cardano is approaching another significant protocol upgrade following extensive testing across its development networks.
According to details shared by Cardano contributors, progress toward the van Rossem hard fork continued throughout May and June on both the Preview and Preprod test networks. During that period, the ecosystem focused on two governance actions, including a Plutus Cost Model parameter update and the hard fork initiation proposal.
Developers first enacted the Plutus Cost Model update on the Preview network. The test environment then upgraded to protocol version 11 on May 8. That transition followed the release of Cardano-node-11.0.1 and db-sync-13.7.0.5 earlier in the month.
Additionally, the Preprod network implemented the same parameter update on May 16. The successful deployment allowed teams to evaluate performance and stability before moving the proposal to the mainnet.
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Mainnet Approval Timeline Begins to Take Shape
Following the successful test network upgrades, developers submitted the Plutus Cost Model parameter update to the Cardano mainnet on May 26. DReps and Constitutional Committee members later ratified the proposal on June 13. The update is scheduled to take effect on June 18 at 21:45 UTC. Consequently, attention has now shifted toward the van Rossem hard fork governance action currently under review.
Several potential ratification dates have already emerged. Current timelines point to June 23 and June 28 as possible review milestones. Additional dates under consideration include July 3, July 8, July 13, and July 18. If stakeholders approve the proposal without delays, the hard fork could become active as early as June 28. However, later implementation dates remain possible depending on governance participation and voting outcomes.
The governance action is scheduled to expire on July 18 if approval does not occur before that deadline. Beyond the immediate upgrade, van Rossem serves as an important bridge toward Cardano’s next development phase. While the hard fork introduces technical improvements of its own, it also prepares the network for the Dijkstra era. As a result, the outcome of the current governance process could play a key role in determining when Leios-related advancements begin reaching the Cardano mainnet.
The submission of the van Rossem hard fork initiation action moves Cardano into the next stage of its upgrade process. With governance review now underway, stakeholders will determine the timeline for an upgrade that supports the network’s broader roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.
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