The official “Cardano Improvement Proposal,” CIP-1694, outlines a new community governance structure and establishes three user-driven governance bodies: the Constitutional Committee, Delegate Representatives (dReps), and Stake Pool Operators (SPOs). Going forward, Cardano’s three founding entities—the Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global (IOHK), and Emurgo—will no longer hold the keys to trigger chain upgrades or “hard forks.” Instead, that responsibility will be delegated to a new governance group.