Key facts
- Cardano's Van Rossem hard fork has been activated, moving the network to protocol version 11.
- This is the first major Cardano upgrade ratified entirely through on-chain governance.
- The upgrade lowers Plutus smart contract execution costs.
- It includes new cryptographic tools and a security fix for stake pools.
- Van Rossem is a prerequisite for the Ouroboros Leios scalability upgrade.
Cardano has activated its Van Rossem hard fork, transitioning the network to protocol version 11 with zero downtime. This marks the first major upgrade to be ratified entirely through on-chain community governance, without direction from Input Output, the founding development company. The fork's primary goal is to lower Plutus smart contract execution costs, making it cheaper for developers to run complex applications. It also bundles several technical improvements, including new cryptographic tools for faster digital signature verification and a security fix requiring each stake pool to use a unique cryptographic key. The upgrade is a technical prerequisite for the upcoming Ouroboros Leios overhaul, which aims to significantly increase Cardano's transaction throughput, potentially by 30 to 65 times current levels. The Van Rossem upgrade was approved by DReps (77.63%), stake pool operators (52.7%), and the Constitutional Committee, meeting their respective thresholds.