Cardano's van Rossem hard fork awaits stake pool and committee votes as epoch 640 winds down

Cardano's next hard fork, named van Rossem, was still short of the votes needed to ratify with roughly 12 hours left in epoch 640, according to a July 3 status update from Intersect, the member-based organization that stewards Cardano's development. The update was reshared by the Cardano Foundation.

Under Cardano's on-chain governance, a hard fork must clear separate voting thresholds from three bodies: delegated representatives (DReps), stake pool operators (SPOs), and the constitutional committee (CC). As of the update, one of those three had crossed its bar. DReps stood at 66.57% against a 60% threshold — cleared. SPOs were at 43.75% against the 51% they need — not yet there. On the constitutional committee, one member had voted (recorded as "constitutional") with six still to vote.

Intersect flagged a procedural catch for stake pool operators: on hard fork votes, SPOs must explicitly vote yes, no, or abstain. An operator who does nothing is auto-abstained, and per Intersect that auto-abstain "will count as a NO vote." In other words, silence works against ratification — which puts weight on the gap between the 43.75% recorded and the 51% required.

Intersect also reported technical and market-readiness figures: 89% of blocks were being produced on node version 11, and it put "exchange readiness by liquidity" at 80.21%. The hard fork working group, per the same update, has voted to formally recommend ratification. All of these figures come from Intersect itself; none were independently confirmed in the material available here.

Key facts

• DReps: 66.57% in favor vs. 60% threshold — met (Intersect, July 3).
• SPOs: 43.75% vs. 51% threshold — not met; auto-abstain counts as a "no" (Intersect).
• Constitutional committee: 1 vote cast, 6 outstanding (Intersect).
• 89% of blocks produced on node v11; 80.21% "exchange readiness by liquidity" (Intersect).
• Hard fork working group has voted to recommend ratification (Intersect).
• Timing: ~12 hours left in epoch 640 as of 09:45 UTC, July 3, 2026 (Intersect).

The real-world read

This is a single-source snapshot from an interested party. Intersect coordinates Cardano's development and the hard fork working group it cites recommended ratification, so the update is not a neutral scorekeeper — it is a stakeholder reporting progress toward an outcome it favors. Treat the readiness percentages accordingly: "80.21% exchange readiness by liquidity" is Intersect's own metric and framing, not an audited figure.

The substantive tension the numbers show: DReps are over the line, but SPOs are well below theirs, and the auto-abstain-as-no rule means the true hurdle is higher than the raw 43.75% suggests. Whether van Rossem ratified in epoch 640 or slipped to a later epoch was not confirmed in this material — the update is a mid-vote status, not a result. We could not corroborate any figure against a second source.

Opinion, and whose

Intersect's hard fork working group has formally recommended ratification. That is a recommendation from the body shepherding the change, not an independent endorsement or a prediction of the final tally.

Sources

• Intersect (@IntersectMBO), reshared by the Cardano Foundation (@Cardano_CF), July 3, 2026 — the sole source, via Nitter. Provided all vote percentages, thresholds, node and exchange-readiness figures, the working group's recommendation, and the SPO auto-abstain rule. Note: a project-affiliated stakeholder reporting on a governance vote it supports; figures are self-reported and uncorroborated here.

Not financial advice.