Cardano is experiencing one of its most important weeks in months, but not all the news is positive. Van Rossem’s upgrade is being progressed through Cardano’s governance process.
Meanwhile, Charles Hoskinson defended EMURGO after Solana announced a high-profile partnership with SBI Holdings, but the Cardano community believes EMURGO should have been theirs.
update
CARDANO’s next hard fork could go live this month
Cardano’s Van Rossem hard fork is currently undergoing on-chain governance voting and could be activated in July 2026.
This upgrade reduces smart contract costs, introduces ZK-enabled cryptography, and marks Cardano’s first hard… pic.twitter.com/lAlfY5DtJX
— MinswapIntern (@MinswapIntern) July 12, 2026
Additionally, the ecosystem’s DRep governance system has become increasingly at odds with its founding bodies, resulting in the cancellation of Cardano Summit 2026.
The core issue in all three situations is the same. Cardano’s new decentralized governance infrastructure is working as intended, and that’s part of the problem.
One vote left to upgrade Van Rossem
van Rossem hard fork update
The hard fork initiation action was approved at the epoch boundary of July 13, 2026 at 21:45 UTC.
Voting results:
DRep: 77.63% / 60%
Once ratified, it will be enacted… pic.twitter.com/GGcQSajRjm
— Intersect (@IntersectMBO) July 13, 2026
Van Rossem’s upgrade has been approved through Cardano’s on-chain governance. Think of it as the difference between a landlord deciding on a renovation or tenants voting themselves.
On-chain voting is close to gaining the necessary approvals from DReps, SPO, and the Constitutional Commission, and Intersect’s Hard Fork Working Group has recommended that the upgrade proceed.
Protocol version 11 improves the performance of Plutus smart contracts and reduces the cost of running DeFi/stablecoin scripts.
It also includes native zero-knowledge proof validation, enhanced node security, VRF key uniqueness, pairing-based cryptographic primitives that enable stronger stake pools, improved ledger consistency, and updates to reference input rules. It also lays the foundation for subsequent scaling and changes in the governance era.
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Hoskinson protects EMURGO but SBI mistake stings
This week, SBI Holdings announced a partnership with Solana to develop an on-chain financial market in Japan, raising questions as to why Cardano passed up this opportunity.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson refuted claims of failure, saying historical ties do not guarantee a commercial deal and neither EMURGO nor the Cardano Foundation are contractually obligated to negotiate. He proposed using Cardano’s treasury to fund a dedicated business development organization to pursue strategic partnerships.
Cardano also failed to participate in the OpenUSD stablecoin initiative, which includes companies such as Ripple and Coinbase. EMURGO’s activity has decreased as it focuses on recovering the SecondFi wallet after a security incident.
The situation is ironic, as Mr Hoskinson is advocating expansion with Treasury funding, despite continued engagement with the ecosystem and difficulty approving large proposals.
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Cardano DRep governance conflict is already drawing blood
(Source: TradingView)
Voltaire’s DRep system for governance rejected several key proposals, including the 14 million ADA request for the 2026 Cardano Summit and the 7.8 million ADA proposal, which was amended after falling short of the required supermajority, leading to the cancellation of the summit.
Additionally, the $32.9 million ADA research fund proposal faced 86.72% opposition due to concerns about bundling, duplication with IOG responsibilities, and lack of detailed milestones. IOG secured approval for six of nine Treasury proposals totaling ADA131.5 million, but faced friction with its largest proposal.
Hoskinson warned that denying research funding could discourage engineers, and urged the Cardano Foundation to encourage active voting among stake pool operators.
Although the governance framework established by CIP-1694 is working as intended, the ongoing impasse has raised concerns about Cardano’s competitiveness.
The ratification of the upcoming van Rossem upgrade could increase the reliability of on-chain governance, but continued governance issues could lead to a major setback for Cardano.
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The post Cardano’s Big Week with Van Rossem Upgrade, SBI Fallout, and DRep Deadlock Definitions appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
