Cardano Glossary

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21 terms

Chang
The hard fork on September 1, 2024 that activated the Conway era and brought CIP-1694 governance live on Cardano.Governance
CIP
A formal proposal that describes a change, standard, or feature for Cardano; CIPs are the canonical way ecosystem rules and conventions are debated, refined, and adopted.Governance
CIP-1694
The Cardano Improvement Proposal that defines Cardano's on-chain governance system, introducing DReps, the Constitutional Committee, and formal governance actions.Governance
Committee Minimum SizeAdvanced
The protocol parameter that sets the minimum number of seated Constitutional Committee members required for the committee to be operational; below this floor, any governance action that needs committee approval stalls until the seats are refilled.Governance
Constitution
The foundational document defining Cardano's governance principles, rules, and guardrails.Governance
Constitutional Committee
A governing body in Cardano's governance system that votes on the constitutionality of governance actions, serving as a check alongside DReps and stake pool operators.Governance
Conway Era
The Cardano ledger era that brought on-chain governance under CIP-1694 to mainnet.Governance
DRep
A representative that ada holders delegate their on-chain voting power to, so the DRep votes on governance actions on their behalf; like choosing someone to represent your interests in parliament.Governance
DRep Activity Period
The protocol parameter that sets how many epochs a DRep can go without casting any vote before they are marked inactive and their delegated voting power stops counting until they vote again.Governance
Governance Action
A formal proposal submitted on-chain for the Cardano community to vote on.Governance
Governance Action Lifetime
The protocol parameter that caps how many epochs a governance action can stay open for votes before it expires unresolved.Governance
Governance Tools
Applications that turn CIP-1694 governance from a protocol specification into something a community can actually use, registering as a DRep, delegating voting power, browsing live proposals, and casting votes.Governance
Hard Fork Initiation
A CIP-1694 governance action type that schedules and triggers a Cardano hard fork by on-chain vote.Governance
Info Action
A CIP-1694 governance action type that records a community vote on a piece of information without enforcing any on-chain change.Governance
Plomin
The Conway-era hard fork on January 29, 2025 that turned on the remaining CIP-1694 governance actions.Governance
Project Catalyst
Cardano's innovation and treasury funding platform where ada holders propose, discuss, and vote on projects to receive funding from the Cardano treasury.Governance
SanchoNet
A Cardano testnet that hosted CIP-1694 governance trials before the Chang hard fork brought governance to mainnet.Governance
Treasury
An on-chain fund that accumulates a portion of transaction fees and monetary expansion.Governance
Treasury Withdrawal
A CIP-1694 governance action that proposes taking funds out of the on-chain treasury and paying them to a specified stake address.Governance
Voltaire
The fifth roadmap phase of Cardano development, focused on governance and treasury management.Governance
Voting ThresholdsAdvanced
The set of protocol parameters that define what percentage of votes is required from each governance body (DReps, SPOs) to ratify each governance action type.Governance