Intersect officially announces Chang Upgrade #1, a landmark achievement in Cardano's journey towards decentralized governance

• Intersect, the member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, today announces the initiation of the first Chang upgrade, achieved through the collective efforts of Cardano’s community.
• Initiated today, the changes will take effect on-chain after the next epoch, on September 1st at 21:45 UTC.
• This moment marks the technical initiation of Cardano’s final roadmap era, Voltaire, a moment set to revolutionize the blockchain's governance structures via the deployment ofCIP-1694.
• The first stage of a two-step upgrade, the #2 Chang upgrade will take place approximately 90 days after completion, allowing time for DReps - responsible for voting on governance actions – to register on mainnet. 

1st September 2024: Intersect, the member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, is today announcing Cardano’s entrance into the much-anticipated #1 Chang upgrade process. A dedicated community working group, facilitated by Intersect, has now agreed that satisfactory acceptance parameters have been met to trigger the transformation. This milestone moment in the Cardano blockchain’s evolution represents a significant leap forward in Cardano's ongoing journey toward fully decentralized governance as the Cardano community becomes central to the ecosystem’s decision-making and evolution. 

This first upgrade marks the start of the technical bootstrapping process, laying the groundwork for Cardano's future developments. The hard fork working group, which has been reviewing the progress made alongside the desired thresholds and the status of downstream components, has been preparing for this moment for the last 10 weeks - readying the ecosystem, raising the required governance actions, and signing off for a hard fork. It is the last of its kind before ada holders take the reigns.

This moment proves revolutionary for the ecosystem as it brings the final stage of Cardano’s decentralization timeline, known as Voltaire, into play. The upgrade is named in honor of Phil Chang, who sadly passed away in 2022. Phil was an early leader in Cardano governance at Cardano developers Input | Output, and his thinking contributed significantly to the early design of Voltaire. 

Jack Briggs, Director at Intersect, commented “This upgrade is the accumulation of two years of consultation working hand-in-hand with 1,000s of people engaging in workshops, committees and testing governance features in the SanchoNet governance testnet. CIP-1694, the technical specification for Cardano’s on-chain governance, remains the most engaged Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) in the history of the CIP process. The Chang Upgrade is not just a technical advancement, it embodies the Cardano community’s commitment to evolving the blockchain for the greater good.”

Jack went on to say “these upgrades enhance Cardano’s decentralization, marking a new frontier for the blockchain and all its participants. The upgrades will introduce minimum-viable-on-chain decision-making to all ada holders. It’s a huge milestone in Cardano’s development and a significant event in blockchain governance more widely.” 

Approximately 90 days from now, with approval from the Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC) and Stake Pool Operators (SPOs), Cardano will enter its #2 Chang upgrade, a period that will see CIP-1694 move out of its technical bootstrapping phase and into one of active participation. It will see the activation of advanced governance features, including the role of decentralized representatives (DReps) and governance tooling to enable mass participation. These enhancements will fully transition Cardano to a community-driven decision-making model. 

Once Chang upgrade #1 is complete, DReps can start to register on the mainnet and gather delegation in anticipation of Chang upgrade #2. Keep an eye out on Intersect’s development updates page here for further details ahead of this final transition.