Cardano Post-Plomin Hardfork: Key Security Alert Issued

The Cardano network has completed the Plomin hard fork, which introduced on-chain governance. The mainnet hard fork governance action was successfully enacted on Jan. 29 at 9:44 p.m. UTC, as intended and defined by the governance action mechanisms.

The most major development brought to Cardano by Plomin is the implementation of Delegate Representatives (dReps), who will vote on governance matters on behalf of ADA holders.

Following the success of the Plomin hard fork, ADA holders will continue to accumulate staking rewards. However, as stated in CIP-1694, they may be unable to withdraw them unless they transfer their ADA voting powers to a DRep or a predetermined voting option.

Like staking with stake pool operators, the staked ADA never leaves the holders’ wallet, and delegating imposes no new spending or selling constraints because there is no additional cost or risk, but it allows ADA holders to help shape the future of Cardano.

Security alert issued

In a recent tweet, Intersect, a member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, noted that as Delegation to DReps is now live, security remains essential.

Intersect urged the ADA community to stay safe when delegating, while offering key guidelines they could follow to protect themselves.

First, they should never share their wallet’s seed phrase or private keys, as no legitimate entity will ever request them. They should also be aware that official entities, such as Intersect, IOG, the Cardano Foundation and Emurgo, will never DM them first.

Second, ADA holders should use official sources when delegating; they should always verify URLs and platforms, such as GovTool, to ensure authenticity.

Third, ADA holders should be cautious of scams, as bad actors may attempt to exploit delegation; they should ignore unsolicited messages and be wary of fake accounts. If they stay vigilant, they can protect their ADA.

Also, knowing the costs might be crucial to function accordingly in Cardano’s new era of governance — registering a wallet for the first time (either for staking or delegation) requires a 2 ADA deposit to the network. Future delegations should only incur a nominal network fee. Users might register as a DRep to vote on behalf of themselves or others; a 500 ADA deposit is required by the network.