Cardano has two weeks to avoid a governance freeze as 4 committee seats expire

Cardano’s governance framework is approaching a Sept. 1 deadline that could effectively stall most major on-chain governance if a vote to renew four Constitutional Committee seats fails.Four of the committee’s seven seats expire at epoch 653. If the renewal does not pass, only three members will remain, below Cardano’s minimum committee size of five.Intersect warned on Aug. 14 that such an outcome would leave only Info Actions and Update Committee actions available until the committee is restored above the minimum. The blockchain itself would continue processing transactions and producing blocks normally.The renewal was submitted on-chain July 31 after Cardano completed and independently audited its 2026 Constitutional Committee election.The four elected candidates are ready to take their seats, but DReps and stake pool operators, or SPOs, must still approve the on-chain action. The existing Constitutional Committee does not vote on its own renewal.Voting remains far below the required thresholdsA live Aug. 17 GovTool snapshot showed the renewal with 32.46% support from delegated representatives, or DReps, and 1.95% from SPOs. It needs 67% and 51%, respectively.That represents some...