Bitrabo Editorial
Charles Hoskinson, the brain behind the Cardano blockchain, has given the green light to the addition of Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) 69 to the upcoming Chang hard fork. This update was announced through X, underscoring the importance of adapting to community feedback and meeting the demands of the Cardano Foundation (CF).
Hoskinson elaborated on the decision-making process and its implications: “I observed the increasing requests for CIP-69. I held discussions with the IOI delivery team, who in turn engaged with the Intersect team. There appears to be significant community interest in it, and the CF has also been advocating for the inclusion of CIP-69 in Chang.”
Despite the last-minute addition, the Cardano founder believes there won’t be a major delay, stating, “I don’t anticipate a substantial postponement in the delivery of Chang. Nonetheless, it’s crucial to recognize that making off-roadmap changes can be disruptive and introduce additional risks. Nevertheless, the development teams are committed to integrating CIP-69 into Chang.”
CIP-69, predominantly authored by developers within the Cardano ecosystem, seeks to simplify interactions within Cardano’s Plutus smart contracts by standardizing input arguments across different script types: spending, certifying, rewarding, and minting.
The main change proposed involves removing the datum argument, often associated with locking validators. Instead, validators will only require a redeemer and the script context for execution, with datums being accessible through the ScriptContext or through an extension in the TxInfo’s Spending constructor.
This proposal tackles a critical design constraint known as the “mutual dependency issue,” where two validators must know each other’s hash. This has posed a significant obstacle to the development of secure and efficient decentralized applications (DApps) on Cardano, limiting design possibilities and adding complexity to dApp architectures.
Cardano’s Chang Hard Fork
The Chang hard fork, set to take place in Q2 this year, signifies a major milestone in the Cardano roadmap, heralding the start of the “Voltaire” governance era. This era emphasizes a shift towards decentralized governance structures, providing the community with more influence over the development and funding of projects in the ecosystem.
Chang consists of two key upgrades. Chang Upgrade Number 1: Commences the rollout of governance features, starting with the technical bootstrapping phase outlined in SIP 1694. This phase is essential for establishing the foundational governance mechanisms.
Chang Upgrade Number 2 advances these mechanisms beyond the bootstrapping phase and introduces comprehensive on-chain governance capabilities, such as delegated representative participation and treasury withdrawals. This empowers the Cardano community not just to vote on proposals but also to finance them, bolstering the ecosystem’s sustainability and responsiveness to user needs.
Hoskinson also emphasized the necessity for changes in the roadmap development process post-Chang: “Following Chang, the entire process for formulating and approving a roadmap between hard forks must be revamped to incorporate the ability to utilize CIP-1694’s info action to endorse a candidate roadmap. Various working groups at Intersect are deliberating on this, and I encourage projects and community members to engage in discussions to ensure their preferences and recommendations are reflected in the new process.”
At the time of reporting, ADA was trading at $0.452.