Cardano, a leading proof-of-stake blockchain platform, is nearing a critical milestone in its development.
According to founder Charles Hoskinson, the network is approaching the fifth and final stage of its roadmap, known as "Voltaire."
This phase focuses on transforming Cardano into a self-sustaining ecosystem with its own governance system.
The Voltaire phase centres around the upcoming "Chang" hard fork, scheduled for June 2024. This upgrade will introduce two key features.
First, it lays the groundwork for decentralised voting and on-chain governance actions within the Cardano network.
Second, it finalises the implementation of various governance functionalities, including a treasury system for funding projects.
Hoskinson believes that the Chang hard fork represents a significant leap forward for Cardano and potentially the entire blockchain industry.
He envisions a future where Cardano evolves into a "decentralised civilisation" with millions of users participating in its governance.
This system would be empowered by a sophisticated on-chain voting mechanism, annual budgets allocated from a community treasury, and the collective wisdom of its participants.
Despite the optimism surrounding the Voltaire phase, Cardano's native token, ADA, has experienced a lacklustre performance in 2024.
Notably, ADA fell out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation earlier this year.
This decline suggests that the market is yet to be fully convinced by Cardano's progress, despite the upcoming Voltaire upgrade.
Some cryptocurrency influencers have criticised Cardano for lacking strong fundamentals.
Hoskinson, however, maintains that there's a significant disconnect between these criticisms and the reality of Cardano's ongoing development.
Cardano's development activity continued apace last week, even as the price of its native token, ADA, took a tumble.
This divergence between development and market sentiment highlights the ongoing efforts to build the Cardano ecosystem, even in the face of short-term price fluctuations.
An analysis of data from Santiment by AMBCrypto revealed that while the number of contributors to Cardano's development activity remained high last week, the overall development activity itself dipped.
This suggests that while there are many developers working on Cardano, the intensity of their work may have lessened slightly compared to the previous week.
Despite the dip in overall activity, Input Output Global (IOG), the company behind Cardano, released its weekly development report, showcasing the progress made by various Cardano teams.
The report highlighted several key achievements:
The report also provided updated statistics on the Cardano blockchain, showcasing its continued growth.
The total number of transactions on the blockchain has now surpassed 91 million, and the number of native tokens has exceeded 10 million.
Additionally, there are now over 171 projects that have been launched on the Cardano blockchain.
While development activity remained healthy, the price of ADA exhibited significant volatility. The token surged to a high of $0.4881 on 7 June, but this uptrend was short-lived.
Soon after, the price reversed course, with bears driving the price down sharply.
The price correction for ADA was accompanied by a shift in on-chain metrics. AMBCrypto's analysis of Santiment data revealed that Cardano's MVRV ratio, which indicates the average profit held by investors, dropped due to the price dip.
Additionally, the velocity of ADA, which measures how often a token is used in transactions within a specific timeframe, also declined on 7 June.
This suggests that ADA was being used less frequently in transactions during that period.
Despite the decline in price and velocity, Cardano's network activity remained robust.
The number of daily active addresses on the network actually increased, indicating that there was still a significant amount of activity happening on the blockchain itself.
An examination of ADA's daily chart by AMBCrypto revealed that technical indicators were pointing towards a potential further decline in price.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) displayed a bearish crossover, which is a technical signal often interpreted as suggesting a potential downtrend.
Additionally, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) also registered a sharp drop, suggesting that the token may be oversold and due for a correction.
These technical indicators, combined with the recent price drop, suggest that there may be further downside risk for ADA in the near future.
However, the continued development activity on the Cardano blockchain suggests that the long-term fundamentals of the project remain strong.
The founder of Cardano is not a big fan of how the media portrays his blockchain network.
In a recent post, Hoskinson argued that there's a big gap between what Cardano can actually do and how it's perceived by the public.
According to Hoskinson, even though Cardano has made a lot of progress lately, media outlets and crypto influencers keep saying it's a failure.
He doesn't like this narrative and pointed to some recent improvements within the Cardano ecosystem, such as an upcoming hard fork.
Hoskinson strongly believes that Cardano will not only survive but also thrive and offer real solutions to problems.
He was quite critical of the media, calling their coverage "pathetic" and showing a lack of effort in understanding Cardano.
"Cardano is here to stay, and it's a force to be reckoned with that will drag this industry forward, even if it has to, to solve important issues in the real world, whether they're economic, political, or social."
To address what he sees as biased reporting, Hoskinson is thinking about creating a special organisation focused on fair reporting in the crypto world.
This organisation would be a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) funded by the Cardano Treasury, which is basically Cardano's own pool of money.
Looking to the community for support, Hoskinson started a poll to see if people would back the idea of using Cardano Treasury funds for this DAO.
The results so far are leaning towards "yes" with 70% approval, and the voting will continue until 13 July.
This isn't the first time Hoskinson has had to defend Cardano. The network has been criticised for not keeping pace with competitors like Ethereum and Solana.
People have also complained that the price of Cardano's token, ADA, hasn't been doing well.
Earlier this year, a Forbes article even listed Cardano as a "zombie chain," basically saying its value comes mostly from Hoskinson's fame rather than anything else.
To make things worse, Cardano hasn't seen much adoption in decentralised finance (DeFi). In fact, trading volume on Cardano's decentralised exchange (DEX) is only about 0.04% of the total DeFi market.
The Cardano blockchain is on the cusp of a major transformation with the impending Chang hard fork.
This highly anticipated upgrade marks the dawn of the Voltaire era, a period defined by the network's transition into a fully decentralised governance system.
Before diving into the specifics of the Chang hard fork, it's important to understand the concept of a hard fork in the blockchain world.
A hard fork occurs when a significant change is made to a blockchain protocol, rendering older versions of the software incompatible with the new one.
This essentially creates a permanent divergence in the blockchain, resulting in two separate chains: the original chain and the new chain that adheres to the updated protocol.
The Chang hard fork paves the way for the implementation of CIP-1694, a groundbreaking proposal that rewrites the rulebook for Cardano's on-chain governance.
CIP-1694 empowers ADA holders, the native token of the Cardano blockchain, to actively participate in the network's governance by:
CIP-1694 grants ADA holders the ability to propose changes to the Cardano protocol directly on the blockchain. This could encompass anything from altering network fees to introducing new functionalities.
ADA holders will be able to vote on the proposed governance actions submitted by others. The voting power of each individual will be directly proportional to the amount of ADA they hold.
CIP-1694 goes beyond simply allowing ADA holders to submit proposals and vote. It envisions a multi-layered governance structure designed to ensure efficient and secure decision-making. This structure incorporates the following key elements:
These committees will be responsible for safeguarding the core principles of the Cardano blockchain and ensuring that proposed changes adhere to the network's long-term vision.
ADA holders who don't wish to actively participate in the voting process can delegate their voting rights to trusted representatives. These representatives will then cast votes on behalf of their delegators.
SPOs play a critical role in the Cardano network by validating transactions and securing the blockchain. CIP-1694 grants SPOs the authority to ratify user-submitted governance actions, adding an extra layer of security and validation to the governance process.
The Chang hard fork signifies a monumental shift in Cardano's power dynamics. Currently, a set of seven Genesis keys controls critical system parameters and facilitates hard forks.
These keys are held by Cardano's founding entities, including IOG, Emurgo, and the Cardano Foundation.
For a successful upgrade to occur, at least five of the seven key holders must reach a consensus.
This system, while ensuring a degree of control during the network's early stages, raises concerns about centralization.
The Chang hard fork addresses this concern by permanently burning all seven Genesis keys.
This effectively decentralises decision-making on the Cardano blockchain, entrusting the future of the protocol entirely to the Cardano community.
By relinquishing control, the founding entities demonstrate their commitment to Cardano's long-term vision of a self-governing and sustainable blockchain ecosystem.
The Cardano Foundation, a non-profit organisation fostering the Cardano blockchain technology, has joined forces with Argentina's Entre Ríos province.
This collaboration, formalised with a signed agreement, aims to spearhead blockchain adoption across the region.
Entre Ríos was chosen as a pivotal jurisdiction to lead this initiative. The initial phase focuses on developing digital identity solutions and expanding access to Web3 knowledge.
This partnership signifies a significant push towards modernising and digitising processes within Entre Ríos, leveraging the power of decentralised technologies offered by Cardano.
Cardano's upcoming Voltaire phase with the Chang hard fork promises a significant step towards a fully decentralised and self-governing blockchain network.
The introduction of on-chain governance and a treasury system empowers ADA holders to actively participate in the future of Cardano.
While Cardano's price performance in 2024 has been lacklustre, the project's continued development activity and the potential for increased adoption due to its focus on real-world solutions suggest a promising future.
With the upcoming update and its focus on community governance, Cardano has the potential to reclaim its position as a top cryptocurrency.
Charles Hoskinson addressed the negative sentiment surrounding Cardano, stating it stems from the network's transition into the Voltaire era, which aims to decentralize governance and address long-standing issues. He emphasized that Cardano's transparency and unique governance set it apart from other blockchains, reinforcing its commitment to innovation, privacy, and long-term growth.
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