Cardano Developer Submits Reduced Funding Proposal for 2026

Input Output, the company responsible for building and maintaining the Cardano blockchain, is seeking a reduced amount of funding from the project's community treasury for 2026. The company has submitted nine proposals totaling $46.8 million, which is approximately half of the $97.5 million requested last year. The proposals primarily focus on enhancing Cardano's scalability and expanding its presence in the Bitcoin DeFi space. This reduced funding request marks the first step in Input Output's plan to decrease its reliance on community funding and become self-sufficient. The company aims to gradually reduce its annual funding requests, allowing smaller engineering groups to take on more responsibilities. The submitted proposals are divided into two main themes: scaling and Bitcoin DeFi. One of the key proposals is for a consensus upgrade called Leios, which is expected to increase Cardano's transaction processing capacity by 10 to 65 times. Another significant proposal is for a system called Pogun, which aims to enable Bitcoin-based decentralized finance on the Cardano network. The voting process for the proposals will begin on Tuesday and conclude on May 24, with roughly 1,000 elected delegates making the decisions. The outcome of the vote will indicate whether the Cardano community's approach to funding has changed, given the presence of alternative development groups.