Cardano nears van Rossem hard fork as 93% of blocks run v11

Cardano's van Rossem hard fork is one Constitutional Committee vote from ratification, with 93% of epoch blocks already running Protocol Version 11.

"Adoption has steadily increased, with 93% of current epoch block production occurring on Protocol Version 11," Intersect, the Cardano development collective, said in a July 13 update. The Hard Fork Working Group has formally recommended ratification.

On-chain voting shows DRep support at 76.81% against a 60% threshold, while SPO backing stands at 52.76%, above the 51% requirement. Four of seven Constitutional Committee members have voted, leaving one more approval or abstention needed. Exchange readiness has reached 84.15% of tracked liquidity. The governance action expires July 18, with possible enactment dates on July 18 and 23.

The upgrade refines Plutus smart contracts and strengthens on-chain governance — the latest step in a process that placed decision-making power with ADA holders after the Plomin hard fork in January. ADA changed hands at $0.17 late Friday, down 73.3% over 12 months, with the SEC's review window for a spot ADA ETF opening Aug. 9.

The intra-era hard fork to Protocol Version 11 targets enhanced Plutus performance, improved ledger consistency and stronger node security, according to Intersect. Cardano developers released node version 9.0.2 as a hotfix on July 9 to patch script-verification and governance-stability issues — a mandatory update for stake-pool operators preparing for the transition.

Whale wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million ADA increased their share of circulating supply to 38.13% from 37.66% in late June, Santiment data shows, even as daily transaction volume settled at a 45-day low of roughly 17,400. Annualized volatility stands at 64.7%. The 50-day moving average sits at $0.18 and the 200-day at $0.26, both above current levels, while the relative strength index is neutral at 47.2.

Beyond the hard fork, Cardano's ecosystem continues to expand. Midnight, the privacy-focused sidechain, announced a partnership with Monument Bank to tokenize as much as 250 million pounds in retail deposits using zero-knowledge proofs. Hoskinson also confirmed July 10 that preparations for a "Cardano Political Party" are underway, giving the community a structured platform for lobbying and governance outreach. Cardano logged 233 GitHub commits in a seven-day window, about 6.2% of all commits across major Layer-1 blockchains.

The gap between Cardano's technical momentum and ADA's market price remains wide. The token has lost 83% from its August 2025 high of $1.01, and analysts surveyed by KuCoin place ADA between $0.17 and $0.27 by December 2026. The SEC's Aug. 9 decision window on Grayscale's spot ADA ETF filing — and whether the agency approves or delays — will likely determine whether the next leg is a breakout or a consolidation.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.