Cardano Constitution

Current version: 2 — ratified with 79% support, in effect since the epoch boundary on 24 January 2026 (epoch 609). An earlier version (1) was ratified in February 2025; the Constitution can be amended again by a future on-chain governance action (at least 65% of active voting stake, see Article IV below).

Official source: github.com/IntersectMBO/cardano-constitution. The full text below is loaded live from that repository every time this page is opened — not a copy kept on this site — so it reflects whatever is ratified there, including any future update. If this page and the official repository ever disagree, the official repository is authoritative.

In Brief

Our own short summary for quick orientation — not part of the official text and not a substitute for it. For the binding document, read the full text further down.

• The Constitution sets out Cardano's self-governance framework: how on-chain decisions get made, by whom, and within what limits — independent of any national government.
• Ten Guiding Tenets frame every governance decision: predictable fees, no censorship, freedom to build, fair rewards, protecting ada owners' value and data, and a fixed 45 billion ADA supply cap, among others.
• Three independent groups vote on-chain: ada owners acting directly or through Delegated Representatives (DReps), Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) on security-relevant matters, and a Constitutional Committee (CC) that checks whether proposed actions actually comply with this Constitution.
• Treasury withdrawals must state their purpose, cost and an accountable administrator, and are capped by a "Net Change Limit" per period.
• Amending the Constitution itself needs support from at least 65% of the active voting stake.
• A detailed technical appendix ("Guardrails") sets hard and soft limits on protocol parameters (block size, fees, deposits, and more) so governance-driven changes can't push the network into an unsafe state.