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

The company behind the Cardano blockchain is seeking to scale back its funding request from the project's community treasury. Input Output submitted nine proposals for 2026, amounting to $46.8 million, which is roughly half of the $97.5 million requested in 2025. The proposals focus on increasing Cardano's transaction capacity and exploring Bitcoin DeFi opportunities. This reduction in funding marks the first step in Input Output's plan to reduce its dependence on community funds and become self-sustaining. The company aims to decrease its annual funding requests until it can rely on its own revenue, allowing community funds to support smaller engineering groups. By the end of 2026, Input Output expects specialized teams, such as VacuumLabs and Midgard Labs, to take over most of its in-house work. The proposals are divided into two main themes: scaling and Bitcoin DeFi. The Leios consensus upgrade aims to increase Cardano's transaction processing capacity by 10 to 65 times, targeting over 1,000 transactions per second. The Pogun system seeks to bring Bitcoin-based decentralized finance to Cardano, enabling bitcoin holders to borrow and earn yield on their holdings without relying on centralized intermediaries. Smaller proposals cover performance improvements, security testing, developer tools, and API services. Each proposal is tied to specific delivery milestones, and funding will be released in stages. Voting on the proposals will run from Tuesday to May 24, with roughly 1,000 elected delegates making the decisions. The outcome will test whether Cardano's governance treats Input Output like any other grant applicant or continues to approve its requests based on deference. The Cardano Foundation has taken over the project's grant-funding arm, and Intersect now stewards the core Cardano software, providing alternatives to Input Output. Meanwhile, Input Output reported progress in the ecosystem, including the launch of a new Cardano stablecoin, USDCx, and an increase in total assets deposited on the network.