Cardano's "Plomin" Upgrade: ADA Holders Gain Decentralized Governance

Cardano, a layer-1 blockchain launched in 2017 by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, has successfully activated its highly anticipated "Plomin" upgrade. This significant event marks the ecosystem's transition towards a decentralized governance system, allowing ADA token holders to shape Cardano's future by voting on treasury measures and hard forks.

The Plomin upgrade, which follows the "Chang" hard fork implemented four months ago, introduces full implementation of Delegate Representatives (dReps). These dReps will vote on governance issues on behalf of ADA token holders, replacing the responsibilities previously held by Cardano's founding entities. Before the upgrade, Stake Pool Operators needed to upgrade their nodes and approve the upgrade with a 51% vote. As of this week, roughly 85% of nodes were with the new version, enabling the network to proceed with the changes.

With the Plomin hard fork now live, Cardano's blockchain transitions to a decentralized governance structure. This upgrade introduces multiple critical changes, including enabling all seven governance actions outlined in the Cardano Improvement Proposal CIP-1694. These actions include treasury withdrawals, new constitution proposals, and votes of no confidence. Additionally, it activates decentralized representative (DRep) and stake pool operator (SPO) voting on applicable governance actions.

The Cardano Foundation has confirmed that the Plomin hard fork was officially approved last week after meeting all necessary thresholds for such a transformation during the network's interim governance period. The results showed that at least 85% of stake pools had elevated to a Cardano node version capable of processing the rules associated with the new protocol version. In addition, more than 51% of stake pool operators voted in favor of the upgrade, and over 66% of the Interim Constitutional Committee found that the hard fork was constitutional.

Looking ahead, the Cardano community is already tackling a series of new issues to implement. Giorgio Zinetti, CTO of the Cardano Foundation, stated in an interview with CoinDesk that the development will focus on making Cardano faster, adding privacy-preserving features, and increasing utility for developers. The community will determine the direction of these developments.