The Cardano community has approved a $70 million core development budget, improving the outlook for ADA.
Shaurya Malwa | Edited by Sheldon Rebeck Updated August 4, 2025, 2:22 PM Published August 4, 2025, 7:36 AM
Cardano’s core development team, Input Output Global (IOG), has received approval for $71 million in treasury funds to fund a 12-month network upgrade after a lengthy governance vote that raised concerns about transparency, accountability and costs.
The proposal received 74% of the votes in favor and authorizes the payment of 96 million ADA, which is approximately 13% of the protocol treasury, managed by the IOG. The payments will be made in stages and overseen by Intersect, a participatory governance body.
Smart contracts and an independent committee will strengthen oversight, IOG said.
Key deliverables include Hydra, a second-layer scaling product for faster, lower-cost transactions, and the Acropolis project, which aims to overhaul the Cardano node architecture to make it more modular and easier for developers to onboard. The team also plans to reduce memory consumption and reduce validator operating costs.
Implementations like these could ultimately lead to increased developer activity and new uses for the Cardano network, fueling demand for ADA, the network’s gas token.
The proposal, which has been under discussion since the beginning of the year, faced some resistance, with some critics arguing that it lacked a clear structure and questioning the wisdom of breaking it down into smaller points for individual votes. A competing proposal by the Cardano Technical Steering Committee was ultimately rejected, despite receiving initial support.
Competing networks are also actively implementing upgrades. Solana increased its compute unit limit by 20% last week, and Ethereum’s recent Pectra upgrade increased the so-called blob limit and staking limits. Another major fork, Fusaka, is scheduled for late 2025.
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