Cardano launches Van‑Rossem upgrade, enabling on‑chain governance as ADA price stays flat

On 18 July 2026 Cardano activated the Van‑Rossem hard‑fork, moving the network to protocol version 11. The upgrade introduces on‑chain governance, allowing ADA holders to vote directly on decisions, and reduces costs for Plutus smart contracts. A first governance vote saw a major stakeholder use over 72 million ADA to reject a Treasury payout to the Builder DAO, citing falling total value locked and unclear success metrics.

Despite the technical improvements, market reaction has been muted. ADA trades around $0.16, roughly 95 % below its all‑time high of $3.10, with a 53 % loss in 2026. Large wallets (10‑100 million ADA) have increased holdings, and about 30 million ADA moved into whale wallets in a week, but price resistance remains near $0.173‑$0.18. Upcoming upgrades such as Ouroboros Leios aim to boost throughput to 1 000 tps later in the year, pending test results.