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

Input Output, the engineering firm responsible for building and maintaining the Cardano blockchain, has submitted nine proposals totaling $46.8 million for the 2026 funding cycle. This amount is roughly half of what the company requested last year, marking a deliberate shift towards reducing its reliance on community treasury funds. The proposals focus on enhancing the blockchain's scalability, particularly through the Leios consensus upgrade, which promises to increase transaction processing capacity by 10 to 65 times, and the introduction of Pogun, a system designed to integrate Bitcoin-based decentralized finance into Cardano. Other proposals address performance improvements, security testing, and the expansion of developer tools and API services. Each proposal is tied to specific delivery milestones, ensuring that funding is released in stages as objectives are met. The voting process, which begins on Tuesday and concludes on May 24, will be overseen by approximately 1,000 elected delegates representing ADA holders. The outcome of this vote will provide insight into whether the Cardano community's approach to funding development has evolved, given the emergence of alternative options for supporting the project's growth.