Cardano only has a few days left to avoid a serious governance problem. The network must validate the arrival of four new members to the Constitutional Committee before September 1. For now, votes remain far from the required thresholds. If nothing changes, only three members would remain in office. Crypto transactions would continue as normal, but several governance decisions could remain blocked.
In brief
- DReps show 41.7% support while 67% are necessary.
- Staking operators only reach 12% out of a threshold of 51%.
- The vote expires on September 1 and four seats must be renewed.
Crypto Cardano still lacks a lot of votes
However, Cardano has just successfully completed its first fully governed on-chain hard fork. A month later, this governance meets a much less comfortable test. The vote concerns four new members of the Constitutional Committee. These candidates have already won the election organized by Cardano. It now remains to officially install them.
The DReps must approve the action at 67%. They reached 41.7% as of August 25. So 25.3 points are missing. The situation seems even more complicated among Stake Pool Operators. Their support reaches 12%, compared to the necessary 51%.
Difference: 39 points. The figures are progressing despite everything. On August 17, DReps support was around 32.46%. Among SPOs, it did not exceed 1.95%. The votes are coming. Not fast enough yet.
Three members could be left alone
The problem comes from the timing of the mandates. Four current members of the Constitutional Committee must leave. The four elected officials must normally take their place. If the vote expires without validation, the committee drops from seven to three members. The expected minimum reaches five. Cardano or its crypto would not stop, however. Blocks would continue to be released and users could still send their ADA cryptos or use the network’s applications.
It’s governance that would get stuck. Certain decisions require the approval of the Constitutional Committee before their ratification. With only three active members, they could no longer take this step.
Cardano already knows the very concrete consequences of a vote that misses its threshold. In June, the community refused to fund the Cardano Summit 2026. This time, it is not a budget for a crypto conference.
It is part of the institutional mechanism of the network. Solutions would remain available. A new action could notably serve to complete the committee. Info Actions and certain update procedures would remain possible. But we would have to start again.
The next hard fork could also wait
The vote comes at a busy time for Cardano and its crypto ADA. The network is already preparing for its next big technical evolution, the Dijkstra era. Several works are scheduled to enter gradually, including Nested Transactions, Linear Leios and Peras.
Governance must accompany this timetable. Intersect warns that a break in the continuity of the Constitutional Committee could slow down the road to Dijkstra. Not necessarily cancel it.
The difference matters. Cardano designed its system to prevent a single company or a single personality from deciding for the network. DReps, SPO and Constitutional Committee each have specific responsibilities.
It also involves gathering enough votes when the schedule requires it. The network has already learned this with several rejected budgets this year. He is now discovering it with his own institutions. Voting remains open until epoch 653, September 1. The delegations can still move between now and then and the thresholds remain achievable.
The differences are simply big. And behind this vote is already the next hard fork of Cardano, with three important technical developments in preparation. Cardano therefore has a few days. 41.7% among DReps. 12% among SPOs. September 1st will do the counting.
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