Cardano Developer Requests Reduced Funding of $46.8 Million for Expansion and DeFi Integration

Input Output, the company responsible for building and maintaining the Cardano blockchain, is seeking approximately half the funding it requested in the previous year from the project's community treasury. The company has submitted nine proposals totaling $46.8 million for 2026, down from $97.5 million in 2025, with several focusing on scaling Cardano to increase its transaction capacity and expanding into Bitcoin DeFi. This reduction in funding is part of a plan to phase out dependence on community funds, with the goal of sustaining itself on its own revenue. The proposals are divided into two main themes: the first focuses on a consensus upgrade called Leios, which aims to increase Cardano's transaction processing capacity, while the second funds a system called Pogun, designed to bring Bitcoin-based decentralized finance to Cardano. Smaller proposals cover performance improvements, security testing, and developer tools. Each proposal is tied to specific delivery milestones, and voting is set to open, with the decisions made by roughly 1,000 elected delegates representing ADA holders.