Cardano Community Approves $70M Grant for Network Upgrades, Price Up 4.128%

Cardano's latest price was $0.7266, up 4.128% in the last 24 hours. The Cardano community has approved a $70 million grant to Input Output Engineering to fund critical network upgrades, with funds released in stages tied to milestones and monitored for transparency. Cardano allocated over 96 million ADA to IOE for protocol enhancements and scalability improvements. Funding distribution is milestone-based, overseen by an independent committee to ensure accountability. Other ecosystem projects like Snek seek treasury support, sparking discussions on sustainable funding allocation.

The Cardano community has approved a significant funding proposal, allocating over 96 million ADA—valued at approximately $70 million—to Input Output Engineering (IOE), the core development team behind the blockchain. This decisive vote, with nearly 74% community support, marks a major step in advancing Cardano’s protocol roadmap. The grant will support IOE’s initiatives focused on enhancing scalability, developer experience, and cross-chain interoperability. Key projects include upgrades to Ouroboros Leios, Hydra scalability solutions, Mithril cryptographic enhancements, Nested Transactions, and Project Acropolis. These upgrades aim to improve network responsiveness and accessibility for both users and developers.

Ricky Rand, General Manager at IOE, emphasized the community’s vote as a strong endorsement of Cardano’s future potential. He highlighted the importance of delivering these upgrades with integrity and transparency, aligning closely with community expectations. The approved grant will be disbursed in phases, each tied to clearly defined milestones. Intersect, a Cardano community member organization, will serve as the independent administrator to oversee fund allocation and project progress. Additionally, Cardano-based smart contracts and an oversight committee will monitor expenditures to guarantee proper use of treasury resources. IOE has committed to providing monthly development updates, detailed engineering timesheets, and quarterly budget reports. These measures aim to keep the community informed and maintain transparency throughout the upgrade process.

Following IOE’s funding approval, Tim Harrison, EVP of Community & Ecosystem at Input Output, noted that numerous other promising projects within the Cardano ecosystem are still seeking financial backing. He encouraged community members to remain engaged in governance voting to support these initiatives. One notable proposal is from Snek, a Cardano-based memecoin project requesting 5 million ADA to facilitate listings on major exchanges and trading platforms like Hyperliquid. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson responded by suggesting a bond structure for such funding, where the treasury would receive repayments over three years, promoting sustainability. Hoskinson reaffirmed his support for ecosystem growth but emphasized that treasury funds should not subsidize listing fees, even for prominent projects such as Midnight, underscoring the need for prudent allocation of resources.

The plan channels resources into some of Cardano’s most anticipated upgrades, targeting scalability, interoperability, and developer tools. Key initiatives include: Ouroboros Leios to boost throughput, Hydra for faster, cheaper transactions, Mithril improvements to cut bootstrap times, Project Acropolis for modular node architecture. Additional work will focus on performance tuning, reduced RAM use, and enabling nested transactions — a step toward more advanced smart contracts and cross-chain functionality. Funding will be distributed through milestone-based payments overseen by Intersect, with IOE committing to monthly progress updates, timesheets, and quarterly budget reviews. The approach is designed to strengthen transparency and push decentralization by involving external vendors from the Cardano Developer Ecosystem Coalition. IOE’s General Manager Ricky Rand called the vote “a model for decentralized funding at scale,” while founder Charles Hoskinson thanked the community and urged focus on execution. Community sentiment appears strongly supportive, with many noting that ADA holders now have direct influence over the blockchain’s future direction. If delivered as planned, the upgrades could set the stage for a more robust, high-performance Cardano — and serve as a case study for community-led protocol development in the wider crypto industry.

The Cardano blockchain has achieved a significant milestone in decentralized governance through a landmark community vote. Input Output Engineering (IOE) secured approval for its protocol roadmap funding proposal, with approximately 74% of participating community members voting in favor. This marks the first instance of core protocol development on Cardano being funded directly and solely through community treasury allocation, administered by Intersect. The approved funding is designated for critical network upgrades targeting scalability, developer experience, and interoperability across four key areas.

A primary focus will be enhancing the network's consensus mechanism with Ouroboros Leios, designed to substantially increase transaction throughput and improve network efficiency. Further efforts are directed at advancing Hydra, Cardano's layer-2 scaling solution, to achieve faster finality and reduce transaction costs. Developers will also focus on Mithril, a protocol aimed at drastically reducing the time required for nodes to bootstrap and synchronize with the blockchain, enhancing network accessibility. Additionally, Project Acropolis will proceed, focusing on creating a more modular and flexible node architecture.

Tim Harrison, EVP Community & Ecosystem at Input Output, highlighted the governance impact, stating, “For the first time, core protocol development is being funded directly by the community. This vote of confidence empowers us to move forward with full transparency, shared responsibility...” Funding disbursement will follow a milestone-based model, ensuring accountability. IOE commits to providing the community with monthly progress reports, detailed engineering timesheets, and quarterly budget expenditure reports, establishing a new benchmark for transparency in blockchain development funding. Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, acknowledged the community support for this initiative.

Within the broader cryptocurrency landscape, Cardano's market ranking has experienced a shift. Recent evaluations indicate Cardano has moved to the 10th position by market capitalization. This repositioning reflects ongoing market dynamics as focus intensifies on platforms demonstrating robust utility and real-world application. Investor interest patterns also show notable whale accumulation activity surrounding Cardano tokens in summer 2025, alongside assets like Tron and Solana, suggesting strategic portfolio adjustments by large holders.

The Remittix Wallet Beta, slated for a Q3 2025 launch, will include support for Cardano among its list of integrated leading tokens. This development signifies potential expansion in Cardano's utility within the payments and remittance sector. Concurrently, analysts are examining Cardano's technological trajectory and evolving role relative to other layer-1 blockchain platforms amidst the 2025 market cycle, evaluating its potential competitiveness in areas like transaction speed, cost efficiency, developer activity, and overall network adoption.