Cardano completes van Rossem upgrade, launches Dijkstra era development

Protocol advancements and technical rollout

Cardano enacted the van Rossem intra-era hard fork to Protocol Version 11 on July 18. This upgrade brought enhancements to Plutus performance, improved ledger consistency, and increased node security. Project participants stated that the update has laid a solid foundation for the forthcoming Dijkstra era, which will introduce additional protocol improvements to the network.

The upcoming Dijkstra era will feature the implementation of Ouroboros Leios, designed to further advance Cardano’s consensus mechanism and scalability. Intersect communicated that preparations for this new phase are now underway, shifting the project’s primary focus to planning and community-inclusive governance in the lead-up to the next major hard fork.

Mini dictionary: Intersect, a Cardano-focused member-based organization, facilitates governance, technical development, and community engagement across Cardano’s ecosystem.

With the van Rossem upgrade complete, project contributors are moving toward the Dijkstra era, setting priorities in both technical development and governance processes, while inviting broader participation from the Cardano community.

Community governance and future plans

Intersect highlighted the ongoing planning activities for the Dijkstra era, emphasizing that the project is defining a process to enable the community to influence the scope of future protocol upgrades beyond Dijkstra’s initial implementation. The organization reported that Product Committee representatives and ecosystem contributors are actively collaborating to shape these hard forks.

The phased rollout of the Dijkstra era will introduce new features such as Nested Transactions, Linear Leios, and Peras. The Haskell node team aims to deliver the first two stages—Nested Transactions and Linear Leios—to Cardano’s mainnet by the end of 2026. This staggered approach is designed to incrementally unlock new capabilities and ensure network stability throughout the evolution of the protocol.

Constitutional amendments, which govern key aspects of Cardano’s operations, are expected to take place after the Dijkstra hard fork’s completion. However, Intersect encourages early community input and debate to allow for comprehensive feedback before any formal adoption.

Constitutional Committee and next hard fork naming

Voting has commenced on a new parameter update, alongside the ongoing on-chain Constitutional Committee election. Community members now have access to the Constitutional Amendment Portal, which has entered alpha testing, allowing them to participate in potential governance changes.

Intersect also noted that, following a previous working group decision, the next hard fork after Dijkstra is set to be named after Alexander Esgen. An alternative proposal, to name the hard fork after Fabian von Bergen, has been submitted through an on-chain Info action and is open for community feedback. The organization aims to involve the Cardano community as much as possible in these significant naming and governance decisions.

Intersect is encouraging active feedback from stakeholders regarding the next hard fork’s name, reflecting a commitment to collaborative governance and transparency in Cardano’s development cycle.