Key facts
- Cardano's van Rossem hard fork has been activated on the mainnet.
- The upgrade moves the network to Protocol Version 11.
- This upgrade aims to lower smart contract execution costs.
- It also prepares the network for the Ouroboros Leios scalability upgrade.
- The van Rossem hard fork is Cardano's first governance-driven hard fork.
Cardano has activated its van Rossem hard fork, upgrading the mainnet to version 11. This upgrade is expected to reduce smart contract execution costs and establish the foundation for Ouroboros Leios, a significant scalability enhancement anticipated later this year. The network transitioned from Protocol Version 10 to Version 11 during epoch 644, according to on-chain data. Input Output stated that the upgrade includes improvements to Plutus and its cost model, paving the way for the Dijkstra era hard fork, which will introduce Ouroboros Leios. Ouroboros Leios aims to substantially increase Cardano's transaction throughput while maintaining the security of its Ouroboros proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Notably, the van Rossem upgrade represents Cardano's first governance-driven hard fork, differing from previous upgrades coordinated by Input Output.