Input Output, the private engineering firm spearheading Cardano’s development, has significantly reduced its funding request from the community treasury for the new budget period. Despite being a core team behind the Cardano blockchain, the company has announced plans to draw just $46.8 million from the treasury for 2026—roughly half of last year’s request of $97.5 million for 2025.
Major projects: Leios and Pogun
Most of Input Output’s nine proposals focus on upgrading Cardano’s transaction capabilities, especially through the Leios consensus upgrade. Leios is designed to boost network throughput to over 1,000 transactions per second, positioning Cardano as a serious competitor to Solana and the fastest Ethereum layer-2 solutions. Testing for Leios is set to begin in June, with full integration targeted by year’s end.
Another prominent proposal centers on Pogun, a new system that aims to bring Bitcoin-based decentralized finance applications to the Cardano network. With Pogun, bitcoin holders could borrow funds or earn yields directly on Cardano, eliminating the need for centralized intermediaries. The launch of Pogun’s lending component is planned for the second quarter of the year.
Major changes to community funding
As with many major blockchains, Cardano’s development funding is accumulated in a community treasury via transaction fees. Key funding decisions are made by about 1,000 elected delegates called DReps, who represent ADA holders. By scaling back its allocation, Input Output is taking its first tangible step toward greater independence, signaling a future where it receives less support from the community treasury and more development work is distributed to specialized teams.
By the end of 2026, much of Cardano’s ongoing development currently handled by Input Output is expected to transition to external engineering groups such as VacuumLabs and Midgard Labs. Proposals also address improvements for Cardano’s smart contract performance, innovation in developer tools, and expansion of API services.
Voting process ushers in a new era for Cardano
Each proposal submitted has its own manager and payment structure, with funds disbursed in phases as pre-set milestones are achieved—mirroring best practices in project management. Voting on these proposals remains open until May 24, presenting the Cardano community and DRep delegates with a critical decision on how readily to approve Input Output’s plans this year.
Charles Hoskinson, Cardano’s founder, also plans to release a video this week directly addressing voters, offering delegates firsthand information on the details of each proposal.
Last year’s approval of a sizable funding package was followed by key governance changes for Cardano: the Cardano Foundation assumed grant management duties, while the newly formed Intersect organization took on software development responsibilities. These steps have moderated Input Output’s central role in development, opening up the grant process to more teams.
Input Output has also highlighted the growth within its ecosystem. The circulating supply of Cardano’s new stablecoin, USDCx, has already reached 14.6 million. Meanwhile, the total value locked on the Cardano blockchain has risen from $137.5 million to $142.7 million.
Ultimately, the outcome of the current DRep vote will reflect the Cardano community’s openness to solutions beyond Input Output as the network enters its new development phase.
