Cardano, the layer-1 blockchain that was launched in 2017 by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, has activated its highly anticipated “Plomin” upgrade. This update initiates a significant shift towards decentralized governance within the ecosystem.

With the Plomin upgrade now live, ADA token holders will gain the ability to influence Cardano’s future, including voting on treasury measures and subsequent hard forks.

Plomin arrives just four months after the implementation of the “Chang” hard fork, which established many of the governance mechanisms that took effect on Wednesday. (Hard forks are major updates that render older versions of the blockchain obsolete.)

The most notable change introduced by Plomin is the full implementation of Delegate Representatives (dReps), who are empowered to vote on governance issues on behalf of ADA token holders. Previously, governance decisions were made solely by Cardano’s three founding entities: the Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global (IOHK), and Emurgo. Now, the responsibilities and authority that these entities once held will be transitioned to new Cardano governance groups.

Before Plomin went into effect, Stake Pool Operators were required to upgrade their nodes and secure a 51% vote for approval. As of this week, approximately 85% of nodes have moved to the new version, allowing the network to implement the changes.

Looking ahead, the Cardano community is actively addressing a number of new issues. “In short, we want to make Cardano faster, we want to add some privacy-preserving features, and we want to offer more utility for developers,” stated Giorgio Zinetti, CTO of the Cardano Foundation, in an interview with CoinDesk. “So the development will reflect what the community desires.”

Read more: Cardano’s Chang Hard Fork Goes Live, Introducing On-Chain Governance