TL;DR
- Cardano is undergoing a quiet reset that combines a low-impact technical hard fork with a political reorganization that brings its five organizations under one structure.
- The network has adopted protocol version 11, a Conway-era hard fork that fixes weaknesses exposed after the November outage and speeds up script execution.
- This upgrade adds strict VRF key checking, new native features in Plutus, and plans to build out our core infrastructure and revive our ecosystem.
Cardano is undergoing a quiet reset that integrates a low-impact technical hard fork and political realignment It aims to integrate the five entities that support the ecosystem. The goal is to fix operational weaknesses, streamline internal governance, and set up a framework that allows the network to compete in monopolistic markets. Ethereum and Solana.
Changes in protocol version 11
The starting point is Migration to protocol version 11, a hard fork within conway era called Avoid applying structural changes to the ledger. The team chose this approach to reduce integration overhead and focus on adjustments such as: Enhance consistency, speed up script execution, and fix issues The fraudulent transactions were discovered after the incident in November. Caused a temporary outage to the Cardano network. Although there was no loss of funds, this episode showed that the network needed clearer rules and more decisive behavior.
The Cardano upgrade introduces a series of separate improvements. ledger Strict checks are applied to VRF keys uniqueness Prevent two pools from using the same hash. Plutus receives the following updates: Eliminate bottlenecks in using reference inputs We also add new native functions that extend the scope of smart contracts. On-chain arrays, optimized multi-asset value operations, modular exponentiation operations, and support For BLS12-381 Through multiscalar multiplication.
With these tools, Enable applications with stronger cryptographic guarantees and improve performance in sensitive areas. Things like deserialization and data matching. If DEXs and lending protocols adopt these features, Reduce costs and improve user experience for complex contracts without redesigning your architecture.
Hoskinson aims to integrate Cardano ecosystem
Charles Hoskinson, on the other hand, Cardano Foundation, Emurgo, IOG, Midnight Foundation, intersect with Under an enforcement agency called the Pentad. The proposal aims to end years of fragmented decision-making and lack of commercial coordination.
The first phase requires five entities to build the core infrastructure. stablecoins, bridges, oracles — Under simple metrics it looks like this: Approve or reject. If that happens, the network will adopt a collaborative strategy to expand the use of DeFi and strengthen metrics that are currently weak. TVL is less than $700 million and daily active addresses are around 20,000.
Cardano is updating itself and aligning organizations. Networks are choosing a model that prioritizes stability, operational clarity, and coordination over large-scale public launches.

