Cardano 헌법은 2024년 동안 Cardano 커뮤니티의 광범위한 협의를 거쳐 제안된 최종 헌법으로, 임시 헌법(Interim Constitution)을 대체하기 위해 만들어졌음.

임시 헌법은 2024년 6월 21일 도입되어 Chang Hard Fork를 지원하고 최소한의 거버넌스 틀을 마련하는 임시 조치였음.

임시 헌법의 부록 II에 따라 최종 헌법은 2025년 1월 31일까지 온체인에 제출되어야 했음[4].

최종 헌법 초안은 2024년 7월부터 10월까지 52개국에서 63회의 워크숍을 통해 1,400명 이상의 참여자가 의견을 나누고, 헌법 대의원과 대체 대의원을 선출해 공식 헌법 회의에서 95%의 압도적 찬성으로 2024년 12월 5일 승인받았음[3][4].

이 헌법은 CIP-1694(Cardano Improvement Proposal 1694)를 기반으로 하며, 이는 Cardano를 탈중앙화된 Voltaire 시대로 전환하는 거버넌스 모델을 제시함.

CIP-1694는 헌법위원회, 대의 대표(DReps), 스테이크 풀 운영자(SPOs)로 구성된 거버넌스 구조와 헌법 및 재무 관련 거버넌스 행동을 승인하는 투표 메커니즘, 온체인 거버넌스 실행을 포함함[5].

Cardano Foundation은 2024년 7월 29일 초안과 11월 20일 개정안을 바탕으로, 비기술적 사용자도 이해하기 쉽도록 헌법 내용을 명확히 하고 접근성을 높인 제안서를 발표했음[1][2].

최종 헌법의 온체인 업데이트를 위해서는 Plomin Hard Fork가 완료되어야 하며, 헌법 업데이트 거버넌스 행동은 활성 투표 지분의 75% 이상 찬성과 임시 헌법위원회의 긍정적 헌법성 평가를 받아야 함[3].

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**주석**
- CIP-1694: Cardano Improvement Proposal 1694, Cardano 거버넌스 모델을 정의한 개선 제안서
- DReps: Delegated Representatives, 대의 대표
- SPOs: Stake Pool Operators, 스테이크 풀 운영자
- Hard Fork: 블록체인 프로토콜의 주요 업그레이드
- 온체인 거버넌스: 블록체인 네트워크 내에서 직접 실행되는 거버넌스 방식

CIP-1694는 카르다노 블록체인의 자율적이고 분산된 의사결정 기반을 마련한 중요한 개선 제안서임.
이 제안서는 모든 에이다(ADA) 보유자가 온체인 투표를 포함한 거버넌스에 참여할 수 있도록 하는 최소 기능의 온체인 거버넌스 프레임워크를 2022년 11월 18일 처음 발표했음[1][2].

CIP-1694는 다음과 같은 주요 내용을 포함함:
- 에이다 보유자, 대리 대표(DReps), 헌법 위원회, 스테이크 풀 운영자(SPOs)로 구성된 3자 거버넌스 구조 도입
- 누구나 제안을 제출하고, 투표하며, 변경 사항을 실행할 수 있는 투명하고 민주적인 프로세스 보장
- 거버넌스 규칙과 원칙을 명시하는 헌법 제정 요구
- 투표권은 보유한 에이다 수에 비례하는 ‘1 lovelace = 1표’ 방식 적용[2][5]

CIP-1694의 완전한 구현을 위해 두 차례의 하드포크가 진행됨:
- **Chang Hard Fork (2024년 9월 1일 발효)**: 초기 온체인 거버넌스 기능을 배포하고 임시 헌법과 헌법 위원회 선출을 포함한 부트스트랩 단계 시작
- **Plomin Hard Fork**: 부트스트랩 단계를 종료하고 완전한 최소 기능 온체인 거버넌스 체계로 전환[1]

헌법 제정 과정은 Cardano Civics Committee 산하 Constitution Ratification Working Group(CRWG)이 주도했으며, 2024년 7월부터 10월까지 50개국 이상에서 63회의 글로벌 워크숍과 1,400명 이상의 참여자가 의견을 모았음.
워크숍에서 선출된 대표자들이 헌법 초안을 수정·보완해 2024년 11월 20일 최종 초안을 발표했고, 이후 추가 의견 수렴과 토론을 거쳐 95% 찬성으로 헌법 초안이 승인됨[1].

이 헌법은 완전한 거버넌스의 시작점이며, 향후 수정과 개선이 가능하도록 개정 절차도 포함하고 있음.
2025년에는 거버넌스 절차 개선과 헌법 개정 등을 위한 추가 워크숍이 계획되어 있음[1].

요약하면, CIP-1694는 카르다노 커뮤니티가 온체인에서 직접 거버넌스에 참여하고 네트워크를 공동으로 운영할 수 있도록 하는 분산형 거버넌스 체계의 토대를 마련한 핵심 제안임.
이를 통해 카르다노는 세계 최초로 완전한 커뮤니티 주도형 블록체인 프로토콜로 자리매김하고 있음[1][2][5].

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**주석**
- DReps: Delegated Representatives, 에이다 보유자로부터 투표 권한을 위임받은 대표자
- SPOs: Stake Pool Operators, 블록체인 네트워크 운영자
- lovelace: 에이다(ADA)의 최소 단위, 1 ADA = 1,000,000 lovelaces
- 하드포크: 블록체인 프로토콜의 주요 업그레이드 방식

2024년 7월부터 10월까지 전 세계 52개국에서 2회의 베타 워크숍과 63회의 컨스티튜셔널 워크숍이 개최됨.

워크숍 참가자들은 63명의 Voting Delegate와 63명의 Non-voting Alternate Delegate를 선출함.

2024년 12월 4일부터 6일까지 컨스티튜셔널 컨벤션이 개최되었으며, 63명의 Voting Delegate가 각 1표씩 행사함.

컨벤션에서 최종 컨스티튜션은 95% 찬성으로 승인됨.

승인된 컨스티튜션은 2025년 1월 30일, CIP-1694에 따라 거버넌스 액션으로 제출됨.

컨스티튜션 제출 기준은 인터림 컨스티튜션 부록 II에 명시된 절차에 따라 모두 충족됨.

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**주석**
컨스티튜셔널 워크숍(Constitutional Workshop): 에이다 홀더가 참여하여 최종 컨스티튜션의 조항을 논의하는 국제 회의임.
컨스티튜셔널 컨벤션(Constitutional Convention): 워크숍에서 선출된 대표들이 모여 최종 컨스티튜션을 승인하는 공식 회의임.
CIP-1694: 카르다노의 온체인 거버넌스 구조를 정의한 개선 제안임.
거버넌스 액션(Governance Action): 네트워크의 규칙 변경이나 중요한 결정을 제안하는 공식 절차임.
Voting Delegate/Non-voting Alternate Delegate: 컨벤션에서 투표권을 가진 대표와 보조 대표임.
₳(에이다): 카르다노 네이티브 토큰의 공식 기호임.

This Cardano Constitution is proposed to replace the Interim Constitution. The Cardano Constitution is the result of extensive Cardano community consultation throughout 2024. The Interim Constitution was intended to be temporary, and its Appendix II: Ratification of Final Constitution required its replacement to be submitted on-chain no later than January 31, 2025.

**CIP-1694**
The age of Voltaire for the Cardano Blockchain laid out the foundations for decentralized decision-making. To give effect to true governance by all ada owners, including on-chain voting, members of the Cardano Community worked together for more than a year, holding global workshops, to ultimately approve a Cardano Improvement Proposal, CIP-1694, that provides a governance system to bring decision making for the Cardano Blockchain network on-chain. CIP-1694 was first published November 18, 2022, as a minimum viable on-chain governance framework. CIP-1694 assures that every ada owner has a voice in Cardano’s governance. Following these global workshops and extensive Cardano Community participation, a refined version of CIP-1694 emerged.

Pursuant to CIP-1694, the Cardano Community is now able to present proposals, such as this proposal, to improve and update the Cardano Blockchain network. To enable this, a set of rules, parameters and guardrails must be in place to secure the safety and security of the Cardano Blockchain. CIP-1694 requires that these rules, parameters and guardrails be set out in a constitution that defines Cardano's shared values and guiding principles.

**Chang Hard Fork**
Two upgrades (or hard forks) to the Cardano Blockchain protocol were required to fully give effect to CIP-1694. The first upgrade, Chang Hard Fork, was initiated by the Genesis Key Holders and approved by Cardano Blockchain stake pool operators (SPOs) and became effective on September 1, 2024. The Chang Hard Fork deployed the initial on-chain governance features to the Cardano Blockchain and ushered in an interim (or bootstrap phase) for Cardano Blockchain on-chain governance as described in CIP-1694.

To give effect to the bootstrap phase of minimum viable on-chain governance, as required by CIP-1694, an interim Cardano Blockchain constitution was published on June 21, 2024. This interim constitution is a temporary governing document containing only the minimal requirements necessary for Chang Hard Fork to be implemented. The bootstrap phase also required that an interim Constitutional Committee be elected by the Cardano Community. Once the Cardano Constitution is approved pursuant to an on-chain vote, the interim constitution will be replaced. The term of the interim Constitutional Committee members expires in September 2025 (Epoch 580) and at that time the Cardano Community will be able to elect a new Constitutional Committee.

**Plomin Hard Fork**
The second upgrade (or intra-era hard fork) to the Cardano Blockchain moved CIP-1694 out of the interim bootstrap phase and into full minimum viable on-chain governance as described in CIP-1694. To fully implement on-chain governance, the Cardano Community will now need to ratify this proposed Cardano Constitution on-chain.

**Achieving Consensus on the Cardano Constitution**
On behalf of the Cardano Community, the Constitution Ratification Working Group (CRWG) of the Cardano Civics Committee of Intersect brought together representatives of the Cardano Community, blockchain governance and constitutional scholars and the Cardano Parameter Committee to develop the Cardano Constitution.

Using the Interim Constitution as a starting point, this group prepared a first draft of a constitution that was then submitted in July 2024 to representatives from the Cardano Community who volunteered to participate in a series of global community workshops. Between July and October 2024, 63 workshops were held in over 50 countries and involved more than 1,400 participants.

Each workshop, as well as others from the Cardano Community via an online open form, reviewed and provided feedback and recommendations on the July draft. Each workshop also elected a Constitutional Delegate and Alternate to represent the views of their workshop at the Constitutional Convention.

As part of helping to organize the 63 global workshops, the CRWG identified the most complex issues that arose from the initial drafting process. The CRWG asked workshops to provide feedback on these issues. Each workshop chose which issues they particularly wanted to focus on. Output from the workshops, together with open-ended community feedback, shaped the edits that were made to the July draft.

The workshop data was reviewed by the CRWG and Parameter Committee, as well as the group of blockchain governance and constitutional scholars and turned into proposed revisions. The Delegates and Alternates met in a series of online and in-person workshops to synthesize the output from the global workshops and review the resulting proposed revisions to the draft Constitution. In these workshops, Delegates were asked to review the proposed changes in light of their workshop’s feedback and work as a group to settle on the best path forward. This often took the form of debates, problem solving, and compromise. Using that output, the Delegates and Alternates, again working with the CRWG, the Parameter Committee and a group of blockchain governance and constitutional scholars, revised the July draft constitution. That work resulted in a subsequent 20 November 2024 draft constitution that was released to the Cardano Community.

Based on further community feedback, the Delegates and Alternates continued to review and make additional revisions to the November draft. They also took into consideration other community input including a draft constitution that was published by the Cardano Foundation and based on the November draft. Delegates, Alternates and other Cardano Community members continued to iterate on the draft constitution until reaching final consensus at the Constitutional Convention. The proposed Cardano Constitution was overwhelmingly approved by the Delegates at the Constitutional Convention by a 95% margin. On that basis, the Delegates and CRWG are putting forward this governance action for consideration by all owners of ada.

Nevertheless, the CRWG, the Delegates, Alternates and others involved in the drafting process all recognize that the proposed Cardano Constitution is not perfect. It is not an end, only the beginning. Over time, as all those involved to date recognize, the Cardano Constitution may need to be revised and improved. The Cardano Constitution also acknowledges this by providing an amendment process.

Further, in the Delegate synthesis workshops, the Delegates and Alternates identified a number of future governance workstreams. The Cardano Community will be invited to organize and participate during 2025 in various future governance workshops. These future workshops will focus on various governance considerations such as governance processes and procedures that should not appropriately be included in a constitution, governance processes that the Constitution requires the community to implement to give effect to various constitutional mandates, and potential future amendments to the Constitution that may become appropriate based on review and feedback as to how governance processes are working.

As defined in the Interim Constitution’s Appendix II: Ratification of Final Constitution, the criteria have been met to submit the Cardano Constitution which replaces the Interim Constitution:

1. A series of global workshops for Ada holders to discuss and debate the Articles of a final constitution will commence during the second half of 2024: 2 beta workshops and 63 constitutional workshops were held from July - October 2024.
2. Workshops shall be geographically distributed to capture the breadth of sentiment in the Cardano community: the 63 workshops took place in 52 countries.
3. Workshops shall elect up to a total of one hundred and forty delegates comprising up to seventy voting delegates and up to seventy non-voting alternate delegates, who shall participate in a Constitutional Convention. Each voting delegate participating in the Constitutional Convention shall have an equal vote: 63 voting delegates and 63 non-voting alternates were elected by the workshop attendees. 63 delegates cast their vote, each with one vote, at the Constitutional Convention on 5 December 2024.
4. The Constitutional Convention shall be held no later than the end of 2024: The Constitutional Convention was in session from 4-6 December 2024.
5. The Final Constitution shall be approved at the Constitutional Convention where delegates elected to attend the Constitutional Convention shall agree to the Final Constitution with such amendments as they deem appropriate and necessary: The Final Constitution was approved by the Delegates at the Cardano Convention by a 95% margin.
6. The Final Constitution as approved at the Constitutional Convention shall be submitted as a governance action in accordance with CIP-1694 no later than January 31, 2025: This governance action, containing the Constitution as approved at the Constitutional Convention, was submitted on 30 January, 2025.