The founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, recently announced the activation of the much-awaited Plomin hard fork. He acclaimed this as the advent of “the most robust blockchain government across the globe”. In a stream titled “Welcome to the Plomin Era”, Hoskinson illustrated the decade-long journey of the network. He also elucidated how the new governance would shape Cardano’s future.
Since its inception in 2015, Cardano’s journey has been a testament to the relentless efforts of many people spread across the world. Engineers, translators, stake pool operators, and other community members have tirelessly worked behind the scenes making significant contributions to Cardano’s development. They’ve carried out activities ranging from document editing at odd hours to organizing meetups across numerous continents.
Charting The Future of Cardano
In the Plomin era, the first block was produced by a stake pool operator known as “Barry Barry”. Hoskinson used this instance to highlight the community-centric nature of the network. Drawing attention to the Plomin hard fork, he shed light on the integral role it plays in granting the Cardano community a voice in all main decisions.
The three cornerstones of this system are the Constitution, the budget, and the roadmap. Previously, these were solely defined by the central entities governing Cardano. With the change, these proposals will be debated, put forth, and eventually validated on-chain by Delegated Representatives (DS), the Constitutional Committee, and ADA holders. Hoskinson highlighted the importance of on-chain approval for the Cardano Constitution, encouraging community members to decide its fate through the upcoming votes.
The budget, with an estimated treasury of about $1.5 billion worth of ADA, stands as an up-and-coming collective decision of importance. Multiple budget proposals are predicted to be submitted. The power to merge or refine these proposals into a final approach lies with the Plomin governance framework, the community representatives, and the Constitutional Committee.
The new roadmap prepared by Input Output in conjunction with the technical steering committee and other contributors will also be subject to an on-chain process. Hoskinson described it as “a roadmap instead of the roadmap”, asserting that the final decision ultimately lies in the hands of the Cardano user base.
In the journey towards achieving complete decentralization, Hoskinson believes that Cardano has now “surpassed Bitcoin” in the Edinburgh Decentralization Index (EDI). This has made Cardano the “most decentralized cryptocurrency project in the world”. Hoskinson considers this a significant achievement, representing Cardano’s success in outgrowing and transcending its founder, while still keeping him involved.
Looking Ahead
Hoskinson envisions the forthcoming focus areas that would keep Cardano at the forefront of innovation. Despite shifting away from a top-down development approach, Input Output plans to continue working on new protocols like Minotaur and multi-resource consensus. They also aim to channel resources towards the development of emerging voting mechanisms to enhance Cardano’s decentralized governance model.
Hoskinson reiterated the commitment to “bank the unbanked” through their RealFi initiatives. He shared plans of introducing Midnight this year as a partner chain aimed at maintaining privacy, regulatory compliance, and fostering mainstream adoption. He also expressed a personal ambition to encourage a shift in Bitcoin towards a DeFi functionality. He explained how Cardano’s technology, inspired to a large extent by Bitcoin, could assist “awakening the sleeping giant” by providing Bitcoin with an avenue into decentralized finance.
Hoskinson recognizes that the journey ahead might not be smooth, with varying priorities held by different stakeholders like the newly empowered DS, the Constitutional Committee, and the project’s core entities. However, he believes that through workshops, negotiations, and thoughtful discussions, they would be able to overcome these challenges.
FAQs
What is the Plomin hard fork?
The Plomin hard fork refers to a major update in the Cardano network that enables a fully functional tripartite government, granting the community a say on all major decisions.
How does the Plomin hard fork impact Cardano’s governance?
Post the Plomin hard fork, the three pillars of governance – the Constitution, the budget, and the roadmap – are no longer determined solely by the core bodies behind Cardano. Proposals for these will be debated and ultimately validated by the Delegated Representatives, Constitutional Committee, and ADA holders.
What is the “Midnight” that Cardano plans to introduce?
Midnight is a partner chain that Cardano aims to introduce in the current year. It’s focused on upholding privacy, ensuring regulatory compliance, and promoting mainstream adoption.
