The Chang #1 Hard Fork on September 1, 204, marks a key milestone for Cardano, initiating a new governance era. The first phase introduces an Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC) to oversee governance with limited powers, while Stake Pool Operators retain approval rights for protocol changes. The second phase, Chang Upgrade #2, expected in 90 days, will fully activate on-chain governance per CIP-1694. As Cardano enters the Conway era, the new Delegated Representatives (DReps) role is vital for governance, allowing ada holders to influence decisions. Early DRep registration requires a 500 ada refundable deposit.

Las Vegas hosted the RareEvo blockchain conference from August 15-17, attracting projects and community members from Cardano and other blockchain ecosystems. Highlights included keynotes from Charles Hoskinson, a live Hydra Doom demonstration, and an interview with presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Hydra team showcased Cardano’s layer 2 solution by running one local game of Doom with 35 transactions per second, processing over 86 million transactions by August 19. RareEvo proved to be a significant event, demonstrating Cardano's scalability and innovation potential. More insights and impressions can be found by searching #rareevo24 on X.

Cardano is strengthening its presence in Argentina through key initiatives, including developer workshops, the ADN event, and discussions with government officials. The ALBA program at UTN is advancing blockchain education, and a recent workshop led by IOG culminated in a graduation event attended by Charles Hoskinson. The ADN event showcased blockchain innovations, while government talks explored blockchain's potential in Argentina. Additionally, Cardano's first community-driven Constitutional Workshop was held in Argentina. These activities highlight Cardano's commitment to local engagement and blockchain innovation. The Cardano Foundation also launched the SSI Wallet Alpha Program, inviting users to test and contribute to its development.

The Cardano Foundation participated in Project Catalyst Fund 12, where 258 projects received funding, highlighting the community-driven development of the Cardano ecosystem. Cardano-node 9.0.0 was released, adding on-chain governance, Plutus v1 reference scripts, and enhanced smart contract security. EMURGO announced the relaunch of the USDA stablecoin under Encryptus. Cardano Ambassador Lloyd Duhon discussed future governance innovations, including DReps and the Voltaire era. Additional updates include the release of Cardano Wallet v2024-07-19, support for Cardano Native Tokens by Tangem, and the launch of Cardano Codex 2024.

Community voting for Catalyst Fund 12 is active, with 4,800 wallets casting over 180,000 votes, representing 1.6 billion ada. Voting ends on July 11, 2024, at 11:00 AM UTC. The Cardano Foundation published a beginner’s guide to blockchain on July 3, covering its basics, history, types, applications, and regulatory landscape. The “A Spotlight on Stake Pools” series features C3ETH, a pool focused on community and decentralization in the eastern hemisphere. The latest Developer Blog features an interview with Daniel Friedman, CEO of zenGate Global, discussing their platform Palmyra, which tokenizes commodities for transparency in trading. Other news includes confirmed global Constitution Workshop locations, the tentative agenda for the Cardano Summit 2024 in Dubai, Cardano’s adoption of the IBC Protocol for interoperability, and the latest Catalyst newsletter and Essential Cardano development update.

The Interim Constitution was released on June 21, 2024, serving as a temporary document until the Final Constitution is ratified by ada holders by early 2025. Drafting of the final constitution will involve global workshops and a Constitutional Convention. The Interim Constitutional Committee election ended on June 24, 2024, with results expected on June 26 after an audit. The Aiken team reports surpassing 1 million Mainnet transactions with Aiken smart contracts, contributing to 25% of all smart contract traffic. MinSwap completed its final audit on their new Aiken-based implementation, anticipating increased activity. A new full-time engineer, Riley, joins the team, with new libraries and features like property-based testing and backpassing being showcased in projects like Merkle-Patricia Forestry and Fortuna.

Today, June 10, 2024, is the final day to register for the Interim Constitutional Committee, which will uphold the interim Constitution during the Chang upgrade. The committee includes representatives from IOG, the Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, Intersect, and three community seats. Charles Hoskinson confirmed Cardano Node v9’s release this month, preceding the Chang Hard Fork. The “Spotlight on Stake Pools” series features Dmytro Stashenko of STAT stake pool. Other Cardano news includes updates from Vietnam Blockchain Week, MAV growth, and the Crypto Valley Conference.

On May 23, 2024, Cardano’s SanchoNet achieved a historic milestone by initiating its first hard fork using CIP-1694 governance. Intersect seeks community input for drafting the Cardano Constitution with workshops worldwide. The Cardano Foundation introduced the MACS algorithm for efficient coin selection on UTxO blockchains at the IEEE conference. Other news includes updates from Dr. Lars Brünjes, CNTools, RealFi, leaderlogs, Catalyst Working Group, and SanchoNet.

The Project Catalyst Fund12 proposal submission phase ended on May 13, 2024, with over 1200 proposals. Cardano Use Cases and Open categories can adjust proposals until May 16, with Community Review until June 6. Cardano Partners category proposals are due by June 6. The Cardano Foundation partnered with the Dubai Blockchain Center to launch a certification program on Cardano’s blockchain technology. Genius Yield’s Developer Blog highlights their Cardano-based DEX project. Other updates include #CardanoGirls, Cardano Builder Fest recap, governance actions, DRep Pioneer Program, and Cardano Summit 2024 early bird tickets.

The Cardano Foundation, with Blink Labs, dcSpark, Sundae Labs, and TxPipe, launched PRAGMA, an open-source association for blockchain software development, aiming to support Cardano projects. The “Spotlight on Stake Pools” features ZW3RK, led by Haskell expert Moritz, contributing to the Cardano ecosystem. Ambassador Stories highlights Tim Brückmann, a marketing expert behind IAMX. Other news includes BuilderFest in Toulouse, DRep and Fund12 Workshops, a Cardano Foundation survey on SPO activities, Frederik Gregaard’s discussion on Cardano’s Interim Constitution, and IOG’s X Space on decentralization and cross-chain interoperability.