Cardano’s community is rippling with enthusiasm after the project’s co-founder Charles Hoskinson hinted at the launch of the Chang hard fork after an ill-fated delay in Q2.
Chang, an upgrade expected to usher in community governance, is seen as the next big leap for Cardano in the quest to achieve true decentralization. In the Voltaire era, Chang is one part of the puzzle that aims to modify Cardano into a period of self-sustenance with developers keen on rolling out a voting and treasure system.
Originally scheduled for the second quarter of 2024, the hard fork has seeped into the second half of 2024, sparking whispers of a lengthy delay. However, Hoskinson took to X (formerly Twitter) to clear the air on the hard fork, which is set to introduce Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) 1694.
In an AMA session on X, Hoskinson updated community members on the status of several Cardano initiatives, jumping head-first into the progress of the Chang fork. According to Hoskinson, things have fallen in place for the hard fork to go live, and Chang is “basically there” for the taking.
His statements hinted at a potential launch date in mid-July, barring any unforeseen roadblocks along the way. The outspoken founder noted that the leap to Chang has been in the works for nearly two years, with the end in sight for developers after a series of unintended headwinds.
“It’s been a long last few years and we got jammed up in a few things but we’ve managed to unjam those things as an ecosystem,” said Hoskinson. “Governance in particular has taken us about two years to get all the pieces of CIP 1694 together.”
In his words, the network is “fork-ready” for code implementation in the coming days, and investors are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospects of a rally from the hard fork.
Alongside the talk of decentralization, Cardano’s community is bracing for a price surge in the same mold as the Alonzo hard fork from 2021, which sent ADA to an all-time high of $3.10 in 2021. Analysts are already drawing similarities between the two hard forks, including the profound nature of their functionalities, delays, and potential for price surges.
In the lead-up to the widely anticipated hard fork, ADA has largely traded sideways, climbing by 2% over a 24-hour period. However, pundits are describing the lull as the “calm before the storm” leading up to frenetic market activity.
