Cardano Edges Toward Next Hard Fork: Key Milestones and Upcoming Dates
Cardano's next protocol upgrade is steadily moving from concept to reality, as fresh data from Intersect — the member-based organization supporting the Cardano ecosystem — points to meaningful progress on multiple fronts.
The most significant recent development came when the van Rossem hard fork initiation governance action was formally submitted on the Cardano Mainnet during epoch 637 on June 16. This submission officially kicked off the on-chain governance process for what is classified as an intra-era hard fork upgrade.
According to Intersect's latest update, ecosystem readiness has advanced considerably. On the infrastructure side, block production figures for node version 11 held steady, ticking up to 87% during epoch 639. On the exchange side, several major platforms confirmed operational readiness this week, pushing the liquidity-weighted readiness metric to 77.37% — a notable jump that signals growing institutional confidence in the upgrade.
Voting progress tells a similarly encouraging story, though the finish line has not yet been crossed. As of the most recent count, the van Rossem hard fork initiation action has secured 62.76% DRep approval, 31.59% SPO approval, and one constitutional vote from the Constitutional Committee, with six of its seven members yet to cast their ballots. In practical terms, this means the DRep approval threshold of 60% has already been exceeded. SPOs still need to surpass the 51% mark, and the Constitutional Committee requires four additional votes to meet the required five-out-of-seven threshold.
Based on the current governance timeline, ratification could occur as early as June 28 or alternatively on July 3. If those windows are met, the corresponding enactment dates would fall on July 3 or July 8, respectively, meaning the upgrade could be live on Cardano's mainnet within days.
Beyond the hard fork itself, Cardano's broader development pipeline has been notably active. This week saw the public launch of the Musashi Dojo testnet — the first public testing environment for Ouroboros Leios, Cardano's long-anticipated scaling solution. Leios originated as a research paper from Input Output Research approximately a year ago and has now evolved into a live prototype accessible to the public, marking a major step in Cardano's scalability roadmap.
Additionally, the Mithril workstream is entering a new phase, with Teragone taking on coordination responsibilities through Intersect. Teragone brings specialized cryptography expertise to the project, ensuring both technical depth and continuity in development.
Looking slightly further ahead, the RealFi Phase 1 Testnet is scheduled to go live on July 6. This launch represents the first public milestone toward next-generation stablecoin infrastructure built on the Cardano blockchain — an area with significant implications for the network's real-world financial utility.
With multiple governance thresholds nearly cleared, exchange readiness climbing, and several high-profile testnet launches underway, the coming weeks could prove to be among the most consequential in Cardano's recent history. Observers and ADA holders alike should keep a close eye on the voting dashboards and official Intersect communications as the ratification window approaches.
