The Cardano hard fork that activated the Conway ledger era on September 1, 2024, switching on the first batch of on-chain governance features from CIP-1694: protocol parameter changes, hard-fork-initiation, and Info governance actions.
Later Conway-era hard forks built on that foundation. Plomin (January 2025) enabled the remaining governance actions such as treasury withdrawals and constitution updates, and van Rossem (July 2026) was the first hard fork proposed and ratified entirely through the on-chain process Chang introduced. The next one, Dijkstra, moves Cardano into a new ledger era.
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- Conway EraThe Cardano ledger era that brought on-chain governance under CIP-1694 to mainnet.View term
- PlominThe Conway-era hard fork on January 29, 2025 that turned on the remaining CIP-1694 governance actions.View term
- van RossemThe Conway-era hard fork on July 18, 2026 (protocol version 11) that added new Plutus builtins and was the first Cardano upgrade ratified entirely through on-chain governance.View term
- CIP-1694The Cardano Improvement Proposal that defines Cardano's on-chain governance system, introducing DReps, the Constitutional Committee, and formal governance actions.View term
- Hard ForkA network upgrade that changes the blockchain's rules in a way older software versions no longer understand; every node has to update before the change takes effect.View term
- Hard Fork InitiationA CIP-1694 governance action type that schedules and triggers a Cardano hard fork by on-chain vote.View term
- VoltaireThe fifth roadmap phase of Cardano development, focused on governance and treasury management.View term