Cardano's (ADA) Much-Anticipated Chang Hard Fork Faces Delays as Exchanges and SPOs Finalize Preparations

Originally slated for August 27, 2024, the hard fork represents a significant milestone in Cardano's roadmap, promising to enhance the network's scalability and security.

Cardano's Chang Hard Fork: Not ‘Here’ Yet Despite Earlier Signals

Cardano’s (ADA) highly anticipated Chang hard fork has been a hot topic of discussion in the blockchain world. Initially scheduled for August 27, 2024, the hard fork is a critical milestone in Cardano’s roadmap, promising to improve the network's scalability and security. But as of the latest developments, the hard fork is not exactly “here” yet—despite some earlier signals of imminent deployment.

Binance, Critical Exchanges Reach Advanced Readiness for Chang Hard Fork

For a successful hard fork, it is essential to ensure that key stakeholders are fully prepared. This includes cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets. To transition smoothly, they need to be fully ready for the hard fork.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has confirmed its readiness for the Chang hard fork. This news comes at a critical juncture as the exchange readiness has now reached a crucial stage. Just four hours ago, Binance joined the league of exchanges that are fully prepared for the upgrade, as indicated on Cardanoscan, a reliable block explorer.

But Binance isn’t alone in this preparation. The number of exchanges signaling their readiness has quickly increased this week, jumping from 31 to 37. However, this process has encountered some hiccups.

They pushed the hard fork, which was originally set for August 27, to September 1 because several exchanges, including Binance, which handles 15.73% of Cardano’s liquidity, were not fully prepared for the hard fork.

On August 24, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, announced the delay, explaining that they needed more time to ensure that all major exchanges were fully prepared. At that time, only 64% of exchanges had confirmed their readiness, while the remaining 36% were either still updating or yet to begin the process.

Currently, 17% of exchanges are still updating their nodes, with HTX (formerly Huobi) leading this group, accounting for 7.25% of Cardano’s liquidity. Bitget follows with 4.13%. On the other hand, 11 exchanges, representing 19% of the total, have not yet begun preparations. The Lithuanian-based exchange P2B, which holds 3.21% of liquidity, is the most significant among them.

Wallet Providers, SPOs Show Strong Support for Cardano’s Chang Hard Fork

Beyond exchanges, the upcoming hard fork has also garnered comprehensive support from wallet providers, both hardware and software. Major hardware wallets like Ledger, Trezor, and Keystone, as well as light wallets like Lace, Nami, and Begin, have signaled their readiness for the Chang hard fork.

Furthermore, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), the development company behind Cardano, has been at the forefront, ensuring the ecosystem's preparedness. On August 20, IOHK announced an important update to the Daedalus wallet, further solidifying the groundwork for the Chang hard fork.

Meanwhile, Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) have also shown overwhelming support, with 92% already indicating their readiness for the upcoming hard fork.