Cardano’s Chang hard fork is almost here: What is it and what to expect?

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As a seasoned crypto investor with a flair for blockchain technology and a knack for spotting promising projects, I find myself increasingly excited about Cardano’s upcoming Chang hard fork. Having navigated through multiple market cycles and witnessed the evolution of various platforms, I can confidently say that Cardano’s journey is one of the most intriguing ones out there.

Cardano is gearing up for the Chang hard fork, paving the way for the Voltaire epoch. This update will incorporate on-chain governance, enabling ADA owners to cast their votes directly on important matters. As a result, the platform will progress towards becoming a more decentralized blockchain network.

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A deep dive into Cardano’s development stages

Cardano’s advancement is structured into stages, referred to as “eras,” which are named after notable figures in poetry, mathematics, or computing. Each era brings forth new functionalities by means of significant updates called hard forks.

    Byron: Launched Cardano’s foundational network, enabling ADA transactions.
    Shelley: Transitioned the network to decentralization with community-driven block production.
    Goguen: Introduced smart contracts and the capability to build decentralized applications.
    Basho: Focused on optimizing scalability and interoperability.
    Voltaire: Will introduce decentralized governance.

Besides the primary stages, periods may encompass several sub-periods, such as Goguen’s sub-eras (e.g., Allegra, Mary, Alonzo), which introduce more specialized characteristics. The Chang hard fork will mark the initial hard fork and sub-era within Voltaire.

What is the Chang hard fork?

Through the Chang hard fork, ADA holders gain the ability to participate in decisions regarding protocol modifications and governance activities. They can choose to assign their voting authority to selected delegates, referred to as Delegated Representatives (DReps).

As a crypto investor, I’m thrilled about the advancements Chang is bringing to Cardano’s smart contract platform. With the introduction of PlutusV3, we’re seeing significant upgrades. This new version incorporates cutting-edge cryptographic primitives that bolster the security and efficiency of our blockchain data and transactions. For instance, the novel BLS12-381 and Keccak-256 cryptographic functions are game-changers, enhancing the dependability and speed of operations such as zero-knowledge proofs and digital signatures. Essentially, these improvements make our blockchain more secure and faster.

In addition, Chang incorporates bitwise tools, which are instruments enabling developers to carry out intricate low-level data modifications within smart contracts. Bitwise tools can streamline the way contracts manage and store information, resulting in quicker execution and lower costs for DApps. These enhancements simplify the process of creating more sophisticated and efficient DApps on Cardano.

The enhancement will further optimize the method used to determine transaction fees in DApps by fine-tuning the settings within the protocol that pertain to reference scripts. These reference scripts aid in minimizing the size of transactions, consequently lowering costs for users and boosting the network’s ability to process more transactions concurrently.

As a network analyst, I’m emphasizing the importance of upgrading to version 9.1 for stake pool operators like myself. This update is crucial to incorporate the latest governance mechanisms and smart contract enhancements. For a smooth hard fork implementation, it’s essential that at least 70% of us in the network upgrade our nodes to version 9.1. The new version was rolled out on July 25, and remarkably, over a third of the network has already adopted it within just 12 days. As of August 5, approximately 63.7% of operators are still using version 8.0, while around 1.3% are on version 9.0, and nearly 35% have successfully updated to version 9.1.

What past hard forks reveal about ADA’s future

Historically, it’s been observed that ADA‘s price typically decreases after major Cardano upgrades, except for the Allegra upgrade which resulted in a massive 133% price increase. This unusual instance of growth gives an average price increase of 9.88% one month post-upgrade, but if we exclude the Allegra hard fork from our analysis, the average change in price shows a decline of approximately -14.74%. This implies that Cardano upgrades generally have a negative impact on ADA’s price over time, with the exception of the Allegra upgrade.

Considering the present market slump, accurately forecasting ADA‘s trajectory post-Chang update proves challenging.

If history repeats itself, there’s a strong possibility that ADA might decrease approximately 15% during the month post-hard fork.

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2024-08-06 13:31