Cardano Activates Van Rossem Hard Fork to Optimize Smart Contracts
The Cardano network activated the Van Rossem hard fork on July 18, 2026, upgrading to protocol version 11, part of the Conway ledger era changes, with no downtime.
The upgrade includes five Cardano Improvement Proposals, introducing BLS12-381 multi-scalar multiplication, on-chain array types, and optimizations for multi-asset value processing, reducing the operational costs of Plutus smart contracts and enhancing ledger security; staking pools are prohibited from reusing the same VRF key, with each pool required to bind a unique key.
On-chain governance completed the upgrade, with a delegate support rate of 77.63%, and a staking pool operator support rate of 52.7%, while the constitutional committee voted 6-0-0-1. Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA saw their total balance rise to the highest level since 2023, controlling over a quarter of the circulating supply.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Cardano has previously pushed for hard forks through on-chain governance, such as the 2021 Alonzo introducing Plutus smart contracts, followed by iterations in the Basho and Voltaire eras, gradually transitioning from a research-focused network to a scalable production environment, with the Van Rossem continuing this path.
Funds and resources are mobilized through on-chain voting and staking pool participation, with governance participants driving technical parameter optimizations to reduce contract execution costs, motivated by enhancing network competitiveness and attracting more DeFi and application developers, focusing resources on cryptographic primitives and performance optimizations.
Similar to Ethereum's multiple Dencun upgrades that reshape Layer 1 status by lowering gas fees, Cardano is currently in a transition phase from governance refinement to high throughput, with the Ouroboros Leios test aiming for over 1000 transactions per second.
Essentially, this is a technological substitution: replacing the existing high-cost execution paths with built-in efficient cryptographic tools and data structures, driven by on-chain consensus for parameter upgrades, lowering the barrier for developers and reshaping the network's economic model.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
The approval rate of governance votes determines the speed of technological substitution, rather than market speculation.
Cost reduction precedes scale expansion, with efficiency being the long-term pricing power.
Unique key binding minimizes trust, while reuse amplifies systemic risk.