Cardano’s core development team, Input Output Global (IOG), has submitted a $71 million budget allocation from the treasury for community approval to fund the network’s 12-month upgrade plans. Cardano Community Approves $70 Million Core Development Budget, Raising Expectations for ADA Following a lengthy vote that drew criticism over transparency, accountability and cost, the proposal was accepted with a 74% “yes” vote. Under the decision, 96 million ADA, equivalent to approximately 13% of the protocol's treasury, will be transferred to IOG in phases. Payments will be tied to milestones and overseen by its member-driven governing body, Intersect. IOG also announced that additional oversight mechanisms will be established through smart contracts and an independent committee. Key development goals include a layer-2 scaling solution called Hydra for faster and lower-cost transactions, Project Acropolis, which aims to facilitate developer participation by making the Cardano node structure more modular, and plans to reduce memory usage and lower operational costs for validators. These technical innovations are expected to increase developer activity and new application use cases on the Cardano network, supporting demand for the network's gas token, ADA. The proposal has been under discussion since the beginning of the year. Some community members criticized the lack of detailed budget line items and the proposal's failure to break down into smaller, separate sections that could be put to a vote. A competing proposal submitted by Cardano's Technical Steering Committee garnered initial support but failed to pass the vote. While these developments are unfolding, rival chains are also continuing their own upgrades. Solana increased its compute unit limit by 20% last week, while Ethereum's recent Pectra update increased the blob limit and staking limits. Another major network fork, Fusaka, is planned for late 2025. *This is not investment advice. Continue Reading: Cardano's Development Team Receives Community Budget Approval for Network Upgrade! Details Here
