Summary: Cardano Parameter Committee Meeting – April 9, 2026
This meeting confirmed the successful scaling of network capacity and focused on mitigating risks associated with the upcoming Van Rossem era cost model changes.
1. Memory Unit (MemUnit) Increase: Success Metric
The committee reviewed the impact of the recent 17% increase in memory units.
- Confirmation: The increase is officially a success. Data shows that 85 transactions in a single week utilized memory capacity that exceeded the previous limit—proving immediate economic demand for the extra space.
- Feedback: No negative reports or network instability were noted following the change.
2. Plutus Cost Model & “Implicit Fee” Risks
The new Plutus cost models are now live on the Preview testnet. However, a significant risk to existing dApps was identified.
- The Risk: Some dApps (notably SundaeSwap) have “baked” fixed transaction processing costs into their platform fees. Because the upcoming parameter update increases certain costs (like $C11$ and byte string operations), these platforms may begin operating at a loss.
- Resolution: Affected dApps may need to use their own DAOs to vote on platform fee increases to offset the protocol-level cost adjustments.
- Timeline: The update is slated for Mainnet in 2–3 weeks, pending further feedback from developer-specific channels.
3. MinPoolCost Reduction (PCP 006)
Ryan (Cerkoryn) introduced the formal proposal to continue lowering the MinPoolCost.
- Objective: Collect quantitative data from previous reductions to justify the move to 75 ADA.
- Next Steps: The committee will draft an official “Rationale Document” to accompany the governance action, ensuring DReps and SPOs have a clear economic basis for their vote.
4. DRep Deposit Debate
The committee addressed a request from Mike Hornan to lower the DRep deposit from 500 ADA to a much lower figure (suggested as 58 ADA or similar).
- The UX Risk: Members are concerned that a low deposit will lead to an explosion of inactive DReps. This could degrade the user experience for delegators and make governance more difficult to coordinate.
- Consensus: A deposit reduction should likely only proceed once an automated de-registration process is implemented to flush out inactive participants.
5. Sequencing: CC Size Reduction (PCP 005)
The proposal to reduce the minimum Constitutional Committee size from 7 to 5 remains postponed.
- Priority: Technical stability (Plutus cost models and the Van Rossem hard fork) takes precedence.
- Target: The committee aims to finalize this change before the next round of CC elections to ensure clear communication to candidates.