Binance has announced that it will support Cardano’s upcoming network upgrade and hard fork.

Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance disclosed its readiness to support Cardano (ADA) for its Chang hard fork in an announcement on Aug. 30. Ahead of the hard fork, Binance will halt ADA deposits and withdrawals.

The exchange expects a temporary pause to Cardano deposits and withdrawals will take effect on Sept. 1, 2024, at 20:45 UTC. Notably, Sept. 1 is the date Cardano expects to activate its Chang hard fork, which was rescheduled from Aug. 27 due to Binance and other crypto exchanges’ unpreparedness.

What should Binance users note?

According to Binance, the halt to deposits and withdrawals will not impact ADA trading. The exchange will also handle any technical requirements on behalf of its users, meaning Cardano holders don’t have to do anything.

However, the resumption of deposits and withdrawals will only go live once the hard fork is complete and the network is deemed stable.

The Chang hard fork is key to Cardano’s roadmap, with the upgrade being part of the path to the Voltaire era. Voltaire will see Cardano become a self-sustaining ecosystem, with governance improvements including a voting and treasury system.

Chang has elicited a lot of community interest, with anticipation as high as it was ahead of the activation of smart contracts on Cardano via the Vasil hard fork.  

On Aug. 28, the working group for the hard fork, which includes community representatives, Emurgo, the Cardano Foundation, and Intersect, voted for the Chang go-ahead. This follows the earlier delay after exchanges appeared to lag in their preparations.

Per the update, stake pool operators, decentralized applications and exchanges have since reached the expected implementation threshold. 

SPOs were at 92% of readiness, while exchanges had hit the threshold after being only at 46% as of Aug. 23. Exchange readiness was at over 90% while total value locked in dApps stood at 50% readiness.