Cardano has successfully activated the V11 (van Rossem) hard fork on its mainnet, marking one of the blockchain’s most significant network upgrades to date.
The upgrade went live on July 18, 2026, officially transitioning Cardano from Protocol Version 10 to Protocol Version 11. Intersect, the member-based organization that supports Cardano’s development and governance, confirmed the successful activation after months of ecosystem-wide preparation and coordination.
Meanwhile, on-chain data from Cardanoscan shows that the upgrade took effect as the network moved from epoch 643, which ran Protocol Version 10, to epoch 644, where Protocol Version 11 became active.
Intersect Highlights Ecosystem-Wide Collaboration
Following the successful deployment, Intersect praised the efforts of the Hard Forking Working Group, which coordinated the upgrade across the Cardano ecosystem.
According to the organization, the group worked closely with stake pool operators (SPOs), decentralized application (DApp) teams, developers, exchanges, and other ecosystem partners across multiple test and production networks. This extensive collaboration ensured the hard fork was activated safely and seamlessly without disrupting network operations.
Furthermore, Intersect emphasized that the successful transition reflects months of planning, testing, and coordination among technical teams and ecosystem participants.
Notable Features of V11 Upgrade
Beyond its governance milestone, the van Rossem hard fork delivers several important technical improvements.
Most notably, Protocol Version 11 is expected to reduce the execution costs of smart contracts, making decentralized applications more efficient while lowering operational expenses for developers building on Cardano.
As a result, developers can deploy and run smart contracts more cost-effectively, potentially improving the overall user experience across the Cardano ecosystem. In addition to immediate performance improvements, the V11 hard fork introduces foundational infrastructure for Cardano’s next major scalability upgrade—Ouroboros Leios.
For context, Leios is designed to dramatically increase Cardano’s transaction throughput while preserving the network’s core principles of security and decentralization. By activating Protocol Version 11, Cardano now has the technical framework required to integrate future Leios enhancements as development advances.
Leios Testnet Already Live Ahead of Mainnet Rollout
The activation of V11 comes shortly after Cardano launched the Leios testnet last month.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson previously revealed that the protocol is expected to reach the mainnet before the end of the year.
Unlike traditional blockchain architectures that rely on a single slot leader to collect, order, and process transactions sequentially, Ouroboros Leios separates transaction propagation from block sequencing. It achieves this by introducing parallel transaction processing alongside multiple specialized block types.
This architectural redesign aims to solve the blockchain trilemma by significantly improving scalability without sacrificing security or decentralization. Once fully implemented, Leios is expected to substantially increase Cardano’s transaction capacity while maintaining the network’s robust security guarantees and decentralized consensus model.
DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author’s personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.
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