**[Cardano Completes First Fully On-Chain Governance Hard Fork in Network History]** Odaily Planet Daily News: On July 18, 2026, at 21:44:51 UTC, Cardano activated the Van Rossem hard fork, upgrading the network to protocol version 11 without any reported downtime. This upgrade, part of the Conway ledger era changes, aims to reduce Plutus smart contract execution costs, enhance ledger security, and introduce new cryptographic tools. Van Rossem includes five Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs), covering BLS12-381 multi-scalar multiplication, on-chain array types, multi-asset value processing optimization, accelerated list operations, and built-in modular exponentiation. Stake pools are now prohibited from reusing the same verifiable random function (VRF) key across the network, requiring each pool to hold a unique key tied to its identity. The upgrade was completed through Cardano's on-chain governance process, with all steps from proposal to activation driven by on-chain voting. Delegated representatives approved the proposal with a 77.63% support rate, stake pool operators showed a 52.7% support rate, and the Constitutional Committee voted 6-0-0-1 in favor. Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA have collectively reached their highest balance since 2023, now controlling over one-quarter of ADA's circulating supply. Moving forward, Cardano plans to advance Ouroboros Leios and aims to achieve a transaction throughput of over 1,000 transactions per second during testing in 2026.