Key Takeaways
Cardano’s Van Rossem hard fork entered its first live governance-driven activation stage on the Preview network, making an upgrade to Node v11.0.1 essential for all network participants to continue operating after the fork. The move is a critical step toward a mainnet launch of Protocol Version 11.
"With the Node v11.0.1 now fully released and mainnet hard fork ready, Intersect issues an upgrade alert to the Cardano ecosystem participants," the member-based organization said in a May 11 tweet. The group coordinates development across the ecosystem.
The alert was necessary because the prior node version, v10.7.1, cannot function beyond the Protocol Version 11.0 hard fork boundary, according to Intersect. The new node software was released in a prerelease version at the start of May before its full release. A related governance action to update the Plutus cost model was submitted on the PreProd network, with enactment targeted for May 21.
The mandatory upgrade is a key technical step for the mainnet hard fork, which is designed to improve Plutus smart contracts and activate on-chain governance. Despite the progress, Cardano’s ADA token has not seen a significant price reaction, trading at $0.278, up 11.88 percent over the past week but still trading sideways between $0.22 and $0.31. While the Relative Strength Index (RSI) shows a slight advantage for bulls, the price remains below key resistance levels.
The lack of a major price move for ADA, even with significant technical upgrades, contrasts with the capital flowing to newer projects. For instance, the Pepeto presale has raised $9.9 million as it heads for a major exchange listing, drawing capital that might have otherwise gone to large-cap tokens like Cardano. Analysts have noted that even a full recovery for ADA to a projected maximum of $1.33 in 2026 would represent a roughly 5x return, a figure that may not be enough for investors seeking life-changing gains.
Other layer-1 blockchains are also pushing major upgrades. Solana's Alpenglow upgrade recently entered community validator testing, with a mainnet launch projected for late Q3 or early Q4. That upgrade aims to make Solana's network significantly faster, which analysts previously suggested could help its SOL token rally.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
