Cardano’s $70.4M Plan: Bold Move or Too Little Too Late?
The Cardano community has authorized a $70.4 million treasury allocation, equivalent to 96 million ADA, to fund network upgrades, reinforcing its decentralized governance model.
The proposal, submitted by Input Output Global (IOG), passed with 73.93% approval—200 votes for, 6 against, and 7 abstentions.
The Vote Result (Source: ADA)
The 96 million ADA is worth approximately $70.38 million, based on the token’s current market price of $0.7331 as of Aug. 4, 2025, according to CoinMarketCap data.
ADA Price Chart (Source: CoinMarketCap)
The vote shows strong support for Cardano’s first community-approved core development budget. Despite this strong support, discussions on the blockchain’s forum show concerns over costs and transparency.
IOG founder Charles Hoskinson welcomed the success, stating, “Thank you everyone for your support and trust. Let’s get it done,†as published by the IOG press release. The $70.4 million is to improve Cardano’s scalability, developer ecosystem, and interoperability within the next 12 months.
Cardano’s Roadmap for Scalability and Cross-Chain Power with $70.4M Plan
The approved $70.4 million will fund a 12-month development plan focusing on scalability, developer experience, and interoperability.
Some of the key focuses include Hydra for faster, low-cost transactions and Project Acropolis for modular node architecture, increasing Cardano’s current figure of 0.34 ADA per transaction and 20-second block times.
Additional focus includes Ouroboros Leios for increased transaction throughput and Mithril for faster node bootstrap time.
Developer-focused improvements will reduce RAM usage and operational costs for stake pool operators while improving smart contract tools for decentralized applications.
Interoperability upgrades will boost cross-chain functionality, addressing performance bottlenecks to improve Cardano’s competitiveness and developer appeal.
Transparency First: Cardano’s Plan to Keep $70.4M Spending in Check
The funds will be released in milestone-based tranches, with Intersect maintaining control through smart contracts and IOG committing to monthly reports, engineering timesheets, and quarterly budget reports.
This addresses transparency issues raised on the blockchain’s governance forum.
However, concerns remain, as community members and contributors emphasize accountability.
Since the Chang and Plomin upgrades, this option will strengthen Cardano’s decentralized governance, although discussions remain on the use of the treasury, with initiatives like the Snek memecoin also seeking funding.
