Cardano delays Chang hardfork for Binance, other CEX upgrades

Cardano will postpone the highly anticipated Chang hardfork to September 1, 2024, according to the latest update.

Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson confirmed the delay in a post on X. He said that the Chang upgrade was ready and that the new date would give Binance and other platforms more time to prepare for the hard fork.

“The magic of deadlines is that people who weren’t taking upgrades seriously suddenly say, ‘Oh, shit, we need to move.’ When they do, we quickly merge. Binance and a few others seem to need more time to get their houses in order, so the rocket will wait on the ramp for another period of weather improvement. The next Chang HF window is September 1.”

Charles Hoskinson.

What is the Chang hardfork?

Chang is an update that will usher in Cardano’s Voltaire era, introducing decentralized governance mechanisms and on-chain voting.

What’s next?

The latest update on the ecosystem’s readiness for Cardano’s Chang hard fork highlighted a possible mainnet launch on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. However, the team also set August 23 as the date for the “final go/no go decision.”

This is because while Stake Pool Operators have reached the 80% upgrade threshold to version 9.1.0, exchanges and decentralized applications have not. Aside from SPO readiness, the issue of exchange liquidity is key. Major players in this space include Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.

Cardano now has to wait for these exchanges to upgrade to version 9.1.0 of its blockchain software. Despite this delay, Hoskinson assures that “nothing” will stop the Chang hardfork.

Nothing will stop the Voltaire upgrade. We have an elected government that must seize power. The rocket is not leaving the pad. We just have to wait for the weather to improve.

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 23, 2024

According to the data on the Chang upgrade preparation page, 83% of SPOs are on 9.1.0, and the exchange liquidity is currently at 46%. The desired threshold is 85%.

Cardano estimates that the next hard fork date will be September 1, 2024, if the above target is achieved.