- Community members have finally adopted the Cardano Constitution, another huge milestone in its decentralized governance agenda.
- Cardano’s journey toward community government secured key intra-ecosystem backers.
The Cardano Foundation has announced a transition from the Interim Constitution to the Cardano Constitution. The Interim Constitutional Committee (iCC) confirmed the recent development, noting that the action has been “deemed constitutional.”
A New Constitution for Cardano
The iCC, tasked with reviewing protocol changes on Cardano, said it had completed an assessment of the Constitutional transition. The Cardano community received the news with excitement and positive projections on how it can enhance its broader ecosystem.
They emphasized that the Constitution marks Cardano’s move towards a more structured, long-term governance model. Hence, many are watching how the new changes might impact the community.
The Interim Constitution, introduced on June 21, 2024, was a minimal framework for initiating on-chain governance. However, its very nature required an eventual replacement. During the December 2024 convention in Argentina and Kenya, 95% of Constitutional delegates supported the transition. Following the requirements set by CIP-1694, the Cardano community submitted a governance action on January 30 for the new framework.
In contrast to the Interim Constitution, the Cardano Constitution expands governance structures and formalizes key provisions. Firstly, the Cardano Constitution provides a structured process for electing a permanent Constitutional Committee with defined terms and responsibilities.
Under the new Constitution, the Cardano community will elect the committee solely. This will ensure that members of the community plays a key role in governance decisions. In addition to this, it will help prevent any single entity from exerting disproportionate influence over the blockchain’s future.
Another key provision of the Cardano Constitution is defining specific rules and guardrails essential for the blockchain’s security and stability. Furthermore, the new Constitution will specify voting mechanisms, stakeholder roles, and governance procedures, rectifying any likely clarity challenges in advance.
In addition, the new Constitution incorporates direct feedback from global workshops to ensure a more representative and inclusive governance model.
Previously, we explored that the Constitutional shift positions Cardano to expand its Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem and optimize its Treasury management system.
The Role of Chang and Plomin Hard Forks
The Chang Hard Fork, effective September 1, 2024, was crucial in enabling the Cardano Constitutional transition. As highlighted in our previous post, it transitioned Cardano’s centralized governance structure into a token-based decentralized governance system.
Following the upgrade, Cardano advanced decentralized governance with the launch of the Plomin hard fork. As explained in our last article, Plomin’s activation fulfills Charles Hoskinson’s long-term vision of entrusting the network’s governance entirely to its community.
Six entities within the Cardano ecosystem strongly supported the Plomin hard fork. These include the Cardano Foundation and Input Output Global, the development firm led by Charles Hoskinso. Other key backers are EMURGO, Intersect, the Cardano Atlantic Council, and the Cardano Japan Council.
