Tag: blockchain upgrade

  • Cardano Holds $0.163 Support as ADA Aims for Key $0.20 Breakout

    Cardano Holds $0.163 Support as ADA Aims for Key $0.20 Breakout

    Cardano’s ADA is trading near $0.163, holding a critical support level even as broader market weakness weighs on sentiment. The token slipped 2% in the latest session, mirroring a downturn across the crypto market as Bitcoin hovered around $64,000. Despite the price pressure, Cardano’s development roadmap—including a planned speed upgrade—continues to draw attention from analysts and investors.

    Governance and Speed Upgrade Draw Attention

    Charles Hoskinson, Cardano’s founder, highlighted the network’s governance model as a key differentiator from Bitcoin. He argued that Bitcoin’s ‘frozen in time’ governance creates a vulnerability greater than quantum computing, contrasting it with Cardano’s on-chain voting system, which could enable a coordinated shift to quantum-resistant cryptography. Meanwhile, Hoskinson reiterated that a planned network upgrade could deliver a 60-fold speed increase, strengthening Cardano’s long-term development narrative. However, these fundamentals have not yet translated into price action, as short-term momentum remains constrained by macro headwinds.

    ADA Holds the First Major Downside Target

    According to crypto analyst More Crypto Online, ADA has stabilized near $0.163, which coincides with the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement and marks the first major downside target on the chart. Holding this level offers short-term support, though a confirmed reversal is still pending. The wave structure suggests a completed A-B-C correction and a potential wave two bounce, but the larger corrective phase could still produce further losses. The key question is whether ADA can reclaim $0.20 before sellers push the token toward $0.092. A move above $0.20 would strengthen the case for a wave four bounce, potentially targeting $0.23 and $0.314.

    Key Levels Define ADA’s Next Move

    ADA faces its first major resistance at $0.20. A clear break above that level would provide the first technical sign that the recent low may hold. The next resistance points sit at $0.23 and $0.314, though reaching them would likely require broader market recovery and supportive Cardano developments. If volume remains low, ADA could continue moving between $0.16 and $0.18, maintaining a neutral short-term structure. The bearish scenario begins with a loss of $0.163, which could expose the $0.092 Fibonacci extension—nearly 40% below the current area.

    ADA remains within a multi-year downtrend that began after its 2021 peak above $3.00. The present move still forms part of that wider correction. As long as ADA stays below $0.20, the third wave may continue extending. Traders are therefore closely watching $0.163 for support and $0.20 for confirmation of a trend reversal.

    Conclusion

    ADA is holding near $0.163 as wider market weakness limits momentum despite Cardano’s governance claims and planned speed upgrade. A move above $0.20 could support targets at $0.23 and $0.314, while losing current support may expose $0.092. Market participants should closely monitor these levels before assessing ADA’s next direction.

  • Cardano’s Van Rossem Hard Fork Goes Live After Full On-Chain Governance Approval

    Cardano’s Van Rossem Hard Fork Goes Live After Full On-Chain Governance Approval

    Cardano activated its van Rossem hard fork on July 18, 2026, after final approval came through its decentralized on-chain governance system. The upgrade took effect at the boundary of epoch 644, moving the network to Protocol Version 11. It stayed within the Conway ledger era, making van Rossem an intra-era hard fork. This marked a significant milestone as one of the first major blockchain upgrades executed entirely through binding on-chain votes.

    Governance Bodies Back the Upgrade

    The hard fork received approval on July 13 from all three governance groups required under Cardano’s post-Chang framework. DReps backed the action with 77.63% support, clearing the 60% threshold. Stake pool operators also approved the upgrade, with their support reaching 52.7%, just above the 51% requirement. The Constitutional Committee completed the process with six approvals; the rule required five committee votes, and one member did not vote.

    Cardano’s Governance Model Enters a New Phase

    The activation marked a major test for Cardano’s governance structure. The system emerged through the Chang and Plomin upgrades, which gave ADA holders, stake pool operators, and the Constitutional Committee formal roles in protocol decisions. Earlier Cardano upgrades relied more heavily on founding entities or temporary governance structures. Van Rossem differed because the network authorized the change through its own on-chain process.

    Intersect, Cardano’s member-based ecosystem organization, coordinated the upgrade process. It convened a Hard Fork Working Group that included Input Output, the Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, Midnight, infrastructure providers, and other contributors.

    Testing, Technical Changes, and Market Tone

    The group focused on testing and readiness rather than final authority. Cardano ran checks across SanchoNet, Preview, and Preprod before activation. Preview moved to Protocol Version 11 on May 8. Preprod followed on June 10 after developers fixed compatibility issues affecting tools such as Ogmios and Kupo.

    Van Rossem introduces targeted changes to Plutus smart contracts, ledger consistency, and node security without changing transaction structure. It expands built-in functions across Plutus V1, V2, and V3. The upgrade also adds more efficient case expressions for basic types, arrays, optimized multi-asset value operations, modular exponentiation, and improved list handling. Additional changes cover BLS12-381 cryptographic operations and stronger uniqueness protections for stake pool verification keys. A separate Plutus cost-model update passed on June 18, which prepared pricing for the new functions before activation.

    ADA traded at $0.165 on Monday after a mild recovery in the previous week. Even so, the token remained below its 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day exponential moving averages. Price action also stalled after the early-July rebound. Sellers continued to defend lower Fibonacci retracement levels from the April-to-June decline. The RSI stayed just under 50, while MACD held only slightly above zero. Funding rates turned positive on Friday and stood at 0.0061% on Monday. However, the long-to-short ratio remained at 0.90, showing bearish positioning in derivatives markets.

    Conclusion

    Cardano activated the van Rossem hard fork through its on-chain governance system after approval from DReps, stakeholder operators, and the Constitutional Committee. The upgrade moved the network to Protocol Version 11 and added Plutus and security improvements while ADA traded with mixed market signals.