The Cardano Constitution becomes the center of attention as the road to the Cardano Constitutional Convention approaches its destination.
The Cardano blockchain network is transitioning completely to a fully distributed governance structure, whereby the community will be responsible for maintaining and upgrading the network according to its needs.
With a global base of members and stakeholders, the Constitution aims to be a foundational document that clearly outlines the principles and rules the community must uphold for Cardano to be a distributed blockchain truly.
Let’s examine this important document in more detail and consider its role in governing Cardano.
What is the Cardano Constitution?
Once ratified and enacted, the Cardano Constitution will outline the different governance mechanisms, institutions, and responsibilities of all the members within the Cardano ecosystem.
Like the Constitution of any nation, it will serve as the cornerstone that guides and anchors all of the other processes and developments Cardano will need moving forward.
The Cardano Constitution has yet to be formally drafted and presented for ratification by the community. In its place, there is an interim Cardano Constitution that is part of the first Chang Hard Fork upgrade and can be viewed here. It is a temporary document that will serve to bootstrap Cardano’s governance era and help in the transition to the enactment of the official Cardano Constitution.
The expected timeline is for the Constitution to be drafted and presented by delegates at the Cardano Constitutional Convention for a community vote.
To reach that point, the community is hosting a series of constitutional workshops around the world with the support of Intersect to gather various opinions and insights that should be included in the draft.
Related reading:
- What is the Cardano Constitutional Convention?
- More about the interim Cardano Constitution and Constitutional Committee
- Getting started with Intersect
How will the Cardano Constitution be drafted?
The drafting of the Cardano Constitution will be the culmination of a process that started more than a year ago, it began with CIP-1694 and in-person CIP-1694 workshops. CIP-1694 is a Community Cardano Improvement Proposal outlining the on-chain tools, features, and other governance-related focuses needed to govern Cardano effectively.
Intersect, a member-based organization supporting the distributed governance of the Cardano blockchain, has organized dozens of global workshops in different countries to discuss matters related to the Constitution. These are ongoing in the latter half of 2024.
Once the workshops have concluded, all their feedback will be collected so every community member can access it. These important insights will be used to draft the first version of the official Constitution later at the Cardano Constitutional Convention in Buenos Aires, Argentina (December 2024).
Feedback from these workshops can be found here.
These workshops will also discuss the choice of local delegates for the convention. These delegates will then participate in workshops at the Convention to prepare the Constitution’s first presentation.
How will the Cardano Constitution be approved?
After a series of workshops at the Convention, the final draft of the Cardano Constitution should be ready for the community to ratify. The entire Cardano community will have time to review it and process the information contained in the document.
The community will come together to either approve the document or reject it.
If approved, the text of the Cardano Constitution will be hashed and added to the Cardano network. Every stake pool in the network will have a copy of the Constitution, and the hash will be made public so everyone can review it.
There are different stages to the Cardano Constitution:
- Interim Constitution: In Q2 2024, the interim Cardano Constitution was published for community review and is included in the genesis files during the first Chang Hard Fork upgrade. The interim Constitution outlines essential rules to ensure Cardano maintains stability during the transitional period to full community governance.
- Draft Constitution: In Q2 of 2024, the drafting process was finalized, and the final version will be ratified later in the year. The draft is the primary input to global community workshops throughout 2024. With community input, the Draft Constitution builds upon the essential guardrails described in the interim into a more detailed set of principles and rules.
- Ratified Constitution: The goal is for the final version of the Constitution to be ratified at the Cardano Constitutional Convention, which is composed of community delegates and voted on by ADA holders. It is to be ratified using on-chain mechanisms to show democratic consent. The final version of the Constitution will set forth principles and rules for Cardano but will be the version suggested by the community through a year-long consultation process.
Read more: What is the interim Cardano Constitution?
Follow EMURGO for more Cardano governance information
To receive more information on Cardano governance and Intersect, follow EMURGO on X and LinkedIn for blogs, announcements, events, and other related content.
About EMURGO
- Official Homepage: emurgo.io
- X (Global): @EMURGO_io
- YouTube: EMURGO channel
- LinkedIn: @EMURGO_io
Disclaimer
You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained herein shall constitute a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by EMURGO to invest.
