Cardano Activates Plomin Hard Fork, Transitioning to Fully Decentralized Governance

Cardano has achieved a major milestone with the activation of the Plomin hard fork, marking its transition to fully decentralized governance. The Cardano Foundation confirmed the successful upgrade, granting ADA holders significant voting rights on key blockchain decisions, including parameter changes, treasury withdrawals, and hard forks.

The approval process for Plomin met three key criteria last Friday: at least 85% of stake pools upgraded to a compatible Cardano node version, over 51% of stake pool operators (SPOs) voted in favor, and more than 67% of the Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC) confirmed the upgrade’s compliance with Cardano’s constitution.

With this hard fork, the seven governance actions outlined in Cardano Improvement Proposal CIP-1694 are now enabled. This includes treasury withdrawals, constitution proposals, and votes of no confidence. Additionally, only accounts delegating to a decentralized representative (DRep) can now withdraw staking rewards, reinforcing Cardano’s decentralized structure.

The governance action was submitted on-chain on December 20, officially placing the Cardano treasury under the control of ADA holders. The Cardano Foundation had previously confirmed their support, deeming the upgrade constitutional.

Despite the landmark transition, ADA’s price dropped over 5% in the past 24 hours, trading at approximately $0.91 at the time of reporting, according to The Block.

The Plomin hard fork represents a significant step toward Cardano’s long-term vision of a self-sustaining, decentralized blockchain ecosystem. With enhanced community governance, ADA holders now have a direct role in shaping the future of the network.