The highly anticipated Cardano Constitutional Convention, a milestone event for the Cardano blockchain network and its global community, successfully concluded to mark its trailblazing journey toward fully decentralized governance.
Over three days in early December, the Cardano Constitutional Convention was held across two continents – in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Nairobi, Kenya – and also broadcast via a livestream for the community. The Cardano Constitutional Convention was the culmination of more than a year of global workshops, discussions, and educational initiatives aimed at empowering the community to shape Cardano’s future governance. Through these various efforts, the community provided detailed feedback which helped to draft the first-ever Cardano Constitution.
For those who were unable to attend or view the highlights from the event, this blog will recap the 5 biggest takeaways from the Cardano Constitutional Convention and discuss the next steps ahead for the Cardano blockchain network.
Road to the Cardano Constitutional Convention
The start of Cardano’s path toward fully distributed governance can be traced back to the release of CIP-1694, a Cardano Improvement Proposal put forth by the community detailing proposed governance policies, features, bodies, and more.
This kickstarted the process of discussing a Minimum Viable Government that could support community decision-making abilities for the network and was also accompanied by a series of global workshops supported by Intersect to enable the community to further discuss and debate the proposals made in CIP-1694 and guide the development of the Cardano Constitution.
The idea behind the Cardano Constitution is to formally outline the different governance mechanisms, institutions, and responsibilities of all the community members within the Cardano ecosystem. Similar to the Constitution of a sovereign nation, it serves as a cornerstone to guide and anchor all of the other processes and developments related to the Cardano network.
This led to the planning of the first Cardano Constitutional Convention to bring selected community delegates and other key community stakeholders together to draft and present an official Constitution for community ratification.
Related reading:
- What is CIP-1694?
- Why is decentralized blockchain governance important?
- What is the Cardano Constitution?
Here are five highlights to consider.
#1 – Cardano Governance Will Be an Ongoing Topic
There were several scheduled talks and workshops in both Argentina and Kenya for the Cardano Constitutional Convention.
Speakers focused on how governance-related matters will consistently need to be discussed and developed to uphold the future sustainability of Cardano. There is much community work needed on new governance tools and educational resources, and to further expand Intersect to onboard more community members that can provide an active voice in many different governance-related tasks.
#2 – Cardano Constitution Draft is Approved
Source: https://x.com/IntersectMBO/status/1864735393079525883/photo/1
Delegates to the Cardano Constitutional Convention gathered in both cities to discuss the different aspects of the drafting of the Constitution. Taking into account feedback from various global workshops in their respective local communities, each delegate brought their own viewpoints.
There were 450 attendees with 63 elected delegates. They were separated into groups during the following days to discuss and debate the aspects of the Constitution drafting. Each helped improve the draft text before being presented as a whole for approval.
On the final day of the delegate debates, the Constitution draft text was put to a delegate vote. The result was that the draft was approved by 95% of the delegates.
There were no abstentions from the final vote, giving the draft an overwhelming approval margin. This cleared the draft for the signing ceremony and then to hand it over to the DReps (delegate representatives) for an on-chain vote for ratification.
Read more: Explaining DReps, SPOs, and the Constitutional Committee
#3 – Signing of the Cardano Constitution Draft
Source: https://x.com/IntersectMBO/status/1864274151847973013/photo/1
On December 6, all of the delegates in Argentina got together at the University of Buenos Aires for the official signing ceremony. Each of the delegates would sign the approved Constitutional draft.
It started with Charles Hoskinson providing the first signature.
Afterward, the delegates each signed the draft with their alternate as witnesses. This finalized the delegates’ approval of the Constitutional draft, which was made public during the event.
Source: https://x.com/InputOutputHK/status/1865163496712773827
#4 – Chang Hard Fork to Implement Second Upgrade to Network
With the Cardano Constitution draft having been signed and approved by the delegates, one of the major next steps for the Cardano network is to implement the second part of its Chang Hard Fork, which will give DReps and the community voting power for governance proposals. This is crucial as the Cardano Constitution has to be ratified by the global community and voted on-chain.
Once Chang Hard Fork Part 2 is implemented, the community will have the ability to vote on the Constitution and finalize the ratification process. The date for the hard fork is expected sometime soon.
Read more: What is the Chang Hard Fork?
#5 – Cardano Community to Vote on Ratification of the Constitution Draft
If the timetable holds, the general on-chain vote will happen during the first months of 2025. This will be the final hurdle to having a finalized and official Cardano Constitution ready and working for the entire community.
To prepare, anyone can read the approved Constitutional draft.
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