Cardano is experiencing one of its most important weeks in months, and not all the news is positive. The van Rossem upgrade is progressing through the Cardano governance process.
Meanwhile, Charles Hoskinson defended EMURGO after Solana announced a high-profile partnership with SBI Holdings, which the Cardano community said should have belonged to them.
UPDATE
CARDANO’S NEXT HARD FORK COULD BE DELIVERED THIS MONTH
The Van Rossem hard fork of Cardano is currently undergoing on-chain governance voting and could be activated in July 2026.
The upgrade lowers smart contract costs, introduces ZK-compatible cryptography, and marks the first hard… pic.twitter.com/lAlfY5DtJX
— Mintern (@MinswapIntern) July 12, 2026
Additionally, the ecosystem’s DRep governance system is engaged in an increasingly contentious standoff with the founding entities, leading to the cancellation of the 2026 Cardano Summit.
The central problem in all three situations is the same: Cardano’s new decentralized governance infrastructure is working exactly as expected, and that is part of the problem.
Van Rossem upgrade is one vote away
van Rossem hard fork update
The hard fork initiation action was ratified at the epoch boundary on July 13, 2026 at 9:45 p.m. UTC.
Voting result:
After ratification, promulgation will now be… pic.twitter.com/GGcQSajRjm
– Intersection (@IntersectMBO) July 13, 2026
DReps: 77.63% / 60%The van Rossem upgrade is being ratified through Cardano’s on-chain governance. Think of it as the difference between a landlord deciding to renovate and tenants voting on their own.
On-Chain Voting is close to getting the required approvals from DReps, SPOs, and the Constitutional Committee, and Intersect’s Hard Fork Working Group has recommended proceeding with the upgrade.
Protocol version 11 improves the performance of Plutus smart contracts and reduces execution costs for DeFi/stablecoin scripts.
It also includes pairing-based cryptographic primitives that enable native zero-knowledge proof verification, improvements to node security, VRF key uniqueness and stake pool hardening, as well as improved ledger consistency and updated reference entry rules. It also lays the foundation for further changes in scaling and governance.
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Hoskinson defends EMURGO but Miss SBI stings
This week, SBI Holdings announced a partnership with Solana to develop on-chain financial markets in Japan, raising questions about why Cardano missed this opportunity.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has refuted claims of failure, saying historical ties do not guarantee commercial deals and that neither EMURGO nor the Cardano Foundation are contractually obligated to negotiate. He suggested using Cardano’s treasury to fund a dedicated business development organization to pursue strategic partnerships.
Cardano also missed out on the OpenUSD stablecoin initiative, which includes companies like Ripple and Coinbase. The reduction in EMURGO activity is due to the focus on recovery from the SecondFi wallet security incident.
The situation is ironic, as Hoskinson advocates for Treasury-funded expansion when it is difficult to get large proposals approved, despite continued engagement in the ecosystem.
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Cardano DRep governance standoff has already drawn blood
(SOURCE: TradingView)
The DRep system for Voltaire governance rejected several key proposals, including a request for 14 million ADA for the Cardano 2026 summit and a revised proposal for 7.8 million ADA that fell short of the required supermajority, leading to the summit’s cancellation.
Additionally, a proposed 32.9 million ADA research fund faced 86.72% opposition due to concerns about bundling, overlap with IOG responsibilities, and lack of detailed steps. While IOG won approval for six of nine cash proposals totaling 131.5 million ADA, the largest requests encountered friction.
Hoskinson warned that rejecting research funding could deter engineers, prompting the Cardano Foundation to encourage active voting among stake pool operators.
The governance framework established by CIP-1694 is working as intended, but the current impasse raises concerns about Cardano’s competitiveness.
The upcoming ratification of the van Rossem upgrade could boost the credibility of on-chain governance, but lingering governance issues could lead to significant setbacks for Cardano.
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The post Van Rossem Upgrade, SBI Fallout and a DRep Standoff Set Cardano’s Pivotal Week appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
