According to U.Today, Cardano has unveiled Plan 529, marking a pivotal step towards the forthcoming Plomin hard fork upgrade. This development follows the decision by the hard fork working group to name the intra-era hard fork after Matthew Plomin, a committed Cardano community member and cofounder of the Cardano USDM stablecoin, who passed away in November. Previously referred to as the Chang 2 hard fork, this initiative is now set to proceed under the new designation.
Intersect, a Cardano member-based organization, has outlined that Plan 529 encompasses the necessary preparations for the mainnet hard fork governance action, which is scheduled to be initiated during epoch 529. The hard fork working group has recently confirmed that the requirements for safely advancing the mainnet hard fork governance action have been fulfilled. The anticipated date for this action is during mainnet epoch 529, commencing on December 20 at 9:44 p.m. UTC.
The announcement of Plan 529 allows the Cardano community to organize its final preparations with minimal time between submitting a governance action and its enactment, although this is considered highly unlikely. By initiating the action in epoch 529, the earliest possible date for the Plomin mainnet hard fork enactment is January 4, 2025. This timing avoids festive and holiday periods, providing the ecosystem ample time to complete final preparations.
Following the bootstrap governance rules, Plan 529 offers an optimal opportunity for Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) and the Intersect Community Council (ICC) to vote on ratifying the hard fork in January 2025. The ratification and enactment could occur anytime between January 4 and January 29, 2025. Additionally, Intersect has informed the Cardano community about a minor node release, version 10.1.3, which addresses Issue #4772.
