Cardano Governance

Cardano is no longer governed by a company. Since CIP-1694 (Cardano Improvement Proposal No. 1694, the proposal that defined the current system), the protocol is decided by its community, on-chain, vote by vote. This page is your entry point to understanding how it works — and how to take part.

What Cardano governance is

Every decentralized network faces the same question: who decides? Parameter changes, protocol upgrades, treasury spending — all of it needs an answer. On Cardano, that answer comes from ADA holders, through an on-chain governance system defined by CIP-1694. There’s no foundation approving things quietly: there’s a chain that records every vote.

Who decides: the three actors of CIP-1694

• Constitutional Committee: reviews whether governance actions comply with the Cardano Constitution. It’s the system’s handbrake.
• DReps (Delegate Representatives): vote on proposals on behalf of those who delegate their vote to them. This delegation is independent of where your stake is. Anyone can become a DRep, or choose one they trust.
• Stake pools (SPOs): also vote as governance actors. By choosing where to delegate your stake, you also choose which pool votes for you at this layer — a decision separate from choosing a DRep.

What can be voted on: governance actions

CIP-1694 doesn’t leave the door open to anything — it defines specific categories of decisions. These are the six main ones (plus a non-binding seventh that is almost never counted):

• Protocol parameter change: adjustments to values that govern the network — transaction fees, block size, and other configurable parameters. Does not include hard forks.
• Treasury withdrawal: a request for funds from Cardano’s treasury to finance projects, development or community initiatives.
• Hard fork initiation: triggers a non-backward-compatible network upgrade — requires software already released beforehand.
• New constitutional committee and/or threshold and/or terms: changes who sits on the constitutional committee, how many votes it needs to act, or how long its terms last.
• Constitution or proposal-policy update: modifies the constitutional text or the rules for submitting proposals, recorded on-chain.
• Motion of no confidence: declares the current constitutional committee unsupported by the community, forcing its replacement.

Not every body votes on every action — each type has its own combination and its own approval threshold:

*If the parameter is a “security” parameter (block/transaction size, fees, govActionDeposit, etc.), SPOs also vote, at 51%.

Every action requires ratification by at least two of the three bodies — but not all three vote on all of them. SPOs only take part in specific types (no-confidence, committee changes, hard forks and security parameters); the constitutional committee reviews anything touching the Constitution, but doesn’t vote on its own continuity; and DReps are the ones who take part most broadly, in practically every category. It is, literally, a system of checks and balances.

The Cardano Constitution

The Constitution orders the system: it defines governance’s principles, rules and limits. In a sense, it’s the text that keeps “decentralized” from becoming “chaotic.” We translate and explain it in Spanish, section by section.

→ Read the Cardano Constitution (in Spanish)

How to take part with your ADA

1. Stay informed: follow active votes and what’s under discussion.
2. Delegate your vote: from compatible wallets (like Eternl) you can delegate your voting power to a DRep, without moving your ADA out of your wallet.
3. Or take part directly: register as a DRep and vote on governance actions yourself.

Prefer to delegate your vote to my DRep? I vote as Rodrigo-[CHIL], representing the Spanish-speaking community in Cardano’s global governance.

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What CHIL does in governance

• We vote as a stake pool on governance actions, and explain every decision to our community — no fine print.
• We produce Spanish-language content about CIP-1694, the Constitution and every milestone of the process.
• We support people making the jump from delegating stake to delegating a vote — two separate decisions, two ways to take part.

Keep learning

• The Cardano Constitution — the ordering text, in Spanish.
• How to delegate to CHIL — the first step: stake.
• Blog — governance, stake pool and community analysis and news.

Educational content. Governance mechanisms evolve; always cross-check with official Cardano documentation.