Cardano has submitted a governance proposal to start the Van Rossum hard fork on its mainnet. On June 17, blockchain outlet U.Today reported that the proposal is a key milestone toward moving into the Dijkstra era.

Van Rossum is a hard fork carried out within the same era. It introduces some new features and lays the groundwork for the next major phase, Dijkstra. Dijkstra is the stage that ultimately introduces Leios to the Cardano mainnet.

The process was carried out on preview and preproduction test networks in May and June 2026. The preparations were divided into a proposal to update Plutus cost model parameters and a proposal to start the hard fork.

The Plutus cost model parameter update was first applied to test networks. The preview test network went through the update on April 17 and the early May release of Cardano Node 11.0.1 and db-sync 13.7.0.5, before hard forking to protocol version 11 on May 8. The same update proposal was implemented on the preproduction test network on May 16.

The Plutus cost model parameter update proposal was then submitted to the mainnet on May 26. DReps and CC members ratified it on June 13, and its implementation time was set for 2145 UTC on June 18, 2026.

Possible dates for ratifying the proposal to start the Van Rossum hard fork are June 23 and 28, and July 3 and 8, 13 and 18. If it is approved quickly, the hard fork could be implemented as early as June 28. Other possible implementation dates are July 3, 8, 13, 18 and 23.

The Van Rossum hard fork governance proposal submitted to the mainnet expires on July 18.