Cardano (ADA) rolled out its highly-anticipated Plomin upgrade on Wednesday, shortly after its competitor, Ethereum (ETH), launched its Pectra update last week. With the upgrade now in effect, ADA holders are granted increased governance as they can now vote on key decisions which shape the future of the network, such as treasury proposals and hard forks. Activating dReps The Plomin upgrade comes just four months after Cardano introduced the Chang hard fork, which laid the groundwork for the changes implemented on Wednesday. The most notable change introduced is the full activation of Delegate Representatives (dReps), who will now vote on governance matters on behalf of ADA token holders. Prior to this, the governance was primarily controlled by three founding entities, namely the Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global (IOHK), and Emurgo. Moving forward, the control previously held by these groups will be transferred to new Cardano governance organizations. Improving Cardano Before the Plomin upgrade, Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) were required to update their nodes and secure a 51% approval vote for the upgrade. By this week, approximately 85% of the nodes had adopted the new version, allowing the network to proceed with the changes. Looking ahead, the Cardano community is already focusing on addressing a new set of challenges. In short, the goal is to make Cardano faster, introduce privacy features, and enhance utility for developers, said Giorgio Zinetti, CTO of the Cardano Foundation.
