The first phase of the Chang era is the beginning of the network’s transition to decentralized governance.
The Cardano network is ready for the Chang hard fork with the latest release of node validator software. The hard fork is part of the transition to the Voltaire era of decentralized network governance.
The latest version of the validator node, Node 9.1.0, is an upgrade of Node 9.0 released on July 8. Besides fixing some bugs, the new node requires the use of the Conway Genesis file on the mainnet, which will enable the crossover to the Chang hard fork. The hard fork can be implemented when 70% of validators have upgraded to the new node.
Validators are upgrading fast, with 11% upgraded at the time of writing, but an observer noted that scripts and tooling remain to be upgraded. The Intersect Cardano user group commented that the upgrade will bring about a “significant transformation” of the Cardano ecosystem:
