Intersect, the organization overseeing the Cardano blockchain’s development, issued an urgent call for decentralized application projects on the blockchain to hasten their preparations for Chang Upgrade #1. 

According to an Aug. 17 statement by Intersect shared with crypto.news, more than 80% of stake pool operators on Cardano (ADA) have already moved to the latest validator node, 9.1.0. However, crypto exchanges and decentralized apps on the blockchain also need to upgrade to node 9.1.0 and report their progress. 

In its statement, the organization said that the success of the upgrade depended on exchanges meeting a target of 85% liquidity on the new node.

The Chang upgrade is set to introduce on-chain governance to the Cardano ecosystem. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson previously highlighted the significance of the upgrade, describing it as a pivotal step toward establishing a “decentralized civilization” for millions of users.

As crypto.news previously reported, the Chang upgrade will usher in the Voltaire era, which is expected to move the network closer to a fully decentralized system.

The blockchain has already undergone several upgrade eras, each named after influential poets (i.e., Byron, Shelley, Goguen, and Basho). The upcoming Chang upgrade will allow holders of the ADA token to vote on protocol changes. Furthermore, the upgrade is expected to bring improvements to smart contracts, especially with the introduction of the PlutusV3 cryptographic primitive to secure data on the network.

So far, the Cardano token has not shown much reaction to Intersect’s exhortations. It is currently trading at $0.3345, a 0.8% improvement over the last 24 hours.

Across 30 days, the current ADA price still reflects a 21% drop — a 24% improvement year to date.

At the end of July, ADA caught a break after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shelved allegations that ADA was an unregistered security, in its ongoing legal battle with Binance.