Cardano Activates Plomin Upgrade, Enhancing Decentralized Governance

According to CoinDesk, Cardano, the layer-1 blockchain established in 2017 by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, has successfully activated its much-anticipated 'Plomin' upgrade. This significant development marks a pivotal shift towards a decentralized governance system within the Cardano ecosystem. With the Plomin upgrade now operational, ADA token holders are empowered to influence Cardano's future direction, including participating in votes on treasury measures and hard forks. The Plomin upgrade follows closely on the heels of the 'Chang' hard fork, implemented just four months prior. The Chang hard fork laid the groundwork for many of the mechanisms that have now come into effect with Plomin. A hard fork represents a major update to a blockchain, rendering previous versions obsolete. The most notable change introduced by Plomin is the full implementation of Delegate Representatives (dReps). These representatives will vote on governance issues on behalf of ADA token holders, a responsibility previously managed by Cardano's founding entities: the Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global (IOHK), and Emurgo. The governance keys and responsibilities held by these entities are now transferred to new Cardano governance groups. Prior to the Plomin upgrade, Stake Pool Operators were required to update their nodes and approve the upgrade with a 51% majority vote. As of this week, approximately 85% of nodes have transitioned to the new version, enabling the network to proceed with the planned changes. Looking ahead, the Cardano community is already addressing a series of new issues to implement. Giorgio Zinetti, CTO of the Cardano Foundation, stated in an interview with CoinDesk, 'In short, we want to make Cardano faster, we want to add some privacy-preserving features, and we want to add more utility for developers. So the development will be what the community wants.'