Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, announced that the blockchain is approaching its "most significant milestone in history" with the upcoming Chang fork, which will usher in the "Age of Voltaire."

In a social media post on June 9, Hoskinson stated:

"It appears that June will be the month when Cardano Node reaches version 9.0. This indicates that Cardano is ready for the Chang fork, pending 70 percent of the Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) installing the new node. Following this, a hard fork will propel Cardano into the Age of Voltaire."

**Age of Voltaire**

The Chang upgrade is crucial for Cardano, as it introduces essential tools and infrastructure to support the "Age of Voltaire."

This era will add the final components needed for the network's self-sustainability. It enables network participants to propose improvements to Cardano, which will be voted on by stakeholders using the existing staking and delegation system.

Additionally, Voltaire introduces a treasury system to finance future network development, pooling a portion of all transaction fees for development projects decided through the voting process.

Once the voting and treasury systems are in place, Cardano will be fully decentralized, no longer managed by IOHK. The community will then lead and develop Cardano from its secure, decentralized foundation.

Hoskinson remarked on the update, saying:

"This is the most significant milestone in Cardano's history and for the blockchain industry as a whole. Cardano will become a decentralized civilization spanning the globe with millions of participants. We'll have the most advanced blockchain governance system, annual budgets, a treasury, and the collective wisdom of our community to guide us."

**Impact on ADA**

While Hoskinson emphasizes the technological advancements brought by the upgrade, many Cardano holders are more concerned about its effect on ADA’s price.

This year, ADA has struggled among large-cap digital assets, occasionally dropping out of the top 10 digital assets by market capitalization over the past month.

Many traders see its current price of $0.4376 as undervalued, but the price performance of competitors like Solana and Ethereum has increased anxiety about the project.

However, Hoskinson remains confident that Cardano’s strong fundamentals will lead to positive growth for the digital asset.