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Following
ADA Cardano activates the van Rossem hard fork, and the main network upgrades to protocol version 11.
Cardano has successfully activated the van Rossem hard fork. After it took effect at the border of the New Era on July 18, its main network was officially upgraded to protocol version 11.
Overview
After governance approval pushed the van Rossem hard fork forward, Cardano activated version 11 of the protocol. This upgrade optimizes Plutus costs and also prepares Cardano for the introduction of the Ouroboros Leios protocol and higher throughput in the future. Van Rossem is Cardano's first hard fork to be approved by on-chain governance, marking an important milestone in governance.
Intersect confirmed that after weeks of testing, infrastructure updates and governance voting, the hard fork has been successfully implemented. The upgrade was approved on July 13 by Cardano's entrusted representative, pledge pool operators and the Constitutional Council. Governance records show that the proposal requires an upgrade to version 11 of the agreement. Intersect reported that when required thresholds were met, DRep support was 77.63%, and SPO support was 52.7%.
van Rossem is a hard fork of the era, so Cardano is still in the Conway era and only updates parts of the agreement. The upgrade introduces new Plutus features and cost model adjustments that are designed to reduce execution costs for certain smart contract operations. It also includes technical updates designed to improve Plutus performance and other parts of the network.
Before the main network is activated, testing has been conducted on the Preview and Preprod testing networks. The Preview network migrated to protocol version 11 in May, while the upgrade of the Preprod network was completed in June after developers resolved tool compatibility issues. The mainnet proposal was submitted after the testing and preparation phase in June.
Dijkstra and Ouroboros Leios are coming soon
The van Rossem hard fork is also ready for Cardano's next planned agreement upgrade. Input Output said: "In addition to Plutus improvements and cost model enhancements, this upgrade also lays the foundation for the next upgrade-a hard fork in the Dijkstra era-that will bring Ouroboros Leios to Cardano."
Leios is a proposed upgrade to Cardano's Ouroboros proof-of-stake system that aims to improve transaction throughput while maintaining the existing security model. Development work is still in progress. According to the latest Cardano weekly report, the Consensus team continues to stabilize the Leios testnet, releasing two new prototype versions, and working on changes to improve block authentication rates.
Leios is part of Cardano's broader protocol development roadmap.
On-chain governance controls the upgrade process
van Rossem is also the first hard fork promoted through the Cardano Network Voltaire on-chain governance system, rather than relying on the early coordination model led by the founding development team. Cardano said the final approval and implementation of the upgrade rests with the DRep, the SPO and the Constitutional Council after the technical team completes the required preparations.
This process follows Cardano's broad transformation to community-led decision-making. The same system also produced different results for funding proposals. The community rejected a 7.8 million ADA funding request for the 2026 Cardano Summit, leading to the cancellation of the event. At the same time, other treasury funds supported the development of the agreement, including Leios, Hydra and Mithril.
With van Rossem now activated, Cardano is running on version 11 of the protocol, while development of Dijkstra and Ouroboros Leios continues. The network has not yet announced the final launch date for Leios's main network, but recent ecosystem reports have scheduled the planned expansion and upgrade for later 2026.
