Cardano’s next chapter isn’t being shaped by a single organization, but by a network of builders, researchers, developers, and contributors working together to deliver real value. The Budget Info Action (BIA), now live for review and discussion, brings together 39 proposals that reflect where the community sees opportunities, needs, and momentum.

These proposals have been signaled by Delegated Representatives (DReps) and are aligned to areas like protocol development, governance tooling, open source infrastructure, and ecosystem growth. Here’s a look at just some of the powerful initiatives featured in the request.

Core development and protocol engineering

Behind the scenes,  teams are building to keep Cardano fast, stable, and scalable so users don’t have to think twice about performance.

• IOG’s Hydra and Mithril maintenance proposals provide core protocol development for scaling and fast sync. These tools are foundational for Cardano’s future performance.
• Input Output’s other proposals encompass numerous technical enhancements, including improvements to SPO incentives, enhanced fee mechanisms, and robust developer testing tools. Proposals also aim to encourage node diversity and wider developer contribution through initiatives like Blueprints and Acropolis. The company also commits to a refreshed version of Catalyst, with infrastructure upgrades and direct integrations into CIP-1694-based governance. This ensures long-term sustainability for Cardano’s funded projects.
• Looking ahead, Leios and Peras represent flagship protocol innovations designed to massively scale throughput and reduce finality time, pushing Cardano toward a high-performance, user-ready future.
• Tweag is an engineering powerhouse, contributing deep Haskell and formal verification expertise to maintain critical libraries and push forward network stability.

Governance, tooling, and coordination

These tools make it easier for everyday ada holders to vote, delegate, and participate in the direction of Cardano – no technical background required.

• Cardano builder DAO is a smart contract-enforced, community-governed funding mechanism for application layer growth. It prioritizes transparency, accountability, and sustainable support for projects driving real adoption and ecosystem value.
• Complement Catalyst by Socious introduces quadratic funding with reputation scores to boost fairness, transparency, and community impact.
• Beyond Minimum Viable Governance will deliver a data-driven ‘State of Governance’ report and propose improvements based on community input. Backed by Voltaire architects, it ensures Cardano’s governance evolves with transparency and accountability.

Open source tooling and developer support

• MLabs has submitted multiple proposals to sustain valuable developer tooling like Plutarch, CardanoOps, and Hermes, all of which support DApp and infrastructure development.
• Pallas maintains and evolves key Rust-native libraries that are essential to Cardano’s infrastructure. This proposal enhances the Rust developer ecosystem by maintaining tools that are fast, secure, and reliable.
• NFTCDN is launching a global, no-cost content delivery network for Cardano native assets. It removes technical and financial barriers, providing a better UX and enabling faster app performance.
• Blockfrost offers a powerful API that lets developers build on Cardano without running their own node. This proposal supports broader access to decentralized infrastructure and lowers barriers for new builders.

Infrastructure resilience and experimentation

These proposals safeguard the backbone of the network, ensuring Cardano operates smoothly, even as the ecosystem scales and evolves through experimentation.

• Dolos: sustaining a lightweight Cardano data node powers fast, low-resource access to Cardano ledger data for DApps. Unlike full nodes, Dolos delivers high-integrity responses with minimal overhead, making it an ideal choice for teams that require responsive and cost-effective backends. 

• TxPipe supports the open source RPC server for Cardano and will help maintain critical plumbing for developers relying on reliable chain data.

• Eternl maintenance, hardware wallet maintenance, integration, and Ledger app rewrite are proposals that strengthen foundational access to ada for hardware wallet users, keeping Cardano safe and accessible.

• Sundae Labs and Xerberus are supporting Intersect-administered smart contract disbursements, with reusable frameworks for transparency and accountability.

Education, onboarding, and community development

All around the world, these initiatives can open doors, providing training and onboarding for the next wave of Cardano contributors, regardless of their location.

• Cardano ecosystem pavilions at exhibitions by Discover Cardano – showcasing Cardano-branded pavilions at major global exhibitions, helping ecosystem projects display their work, attract collaborators, and reach broader audiences.

• Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events will enable community engagement and localized onboarding.
• The proposal unveiling the first unified global events marketing strategy for Cardano addresses fragmented branding and inconsistent presence at global events by launching a unified, Cardano-branded events strategy. It aims to raise awareness and create powerful onboarding environments that are accessible, coherent, and purpose-built for developer outreach, enterprise engagement, and community growth.

It’s more than just marketing. It’s lowering barriers for builders to participate in high-profile events otherwise out of reach. Shared spaces to amplify the voice of Cardano’s community, offering projects accessible routes to connect, educate, and inspire at scale.

Ecosystem research and experimentation

These projects are pushing boundaries, bringing real-world use cases like identity, gaming, and data to life on Cardano.

• The Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, Rare Network, and WADA aims to enhance events as entry points to learn about Cardano technology, tooling, and community initiatives in person. Imagine a unified presence where newcomers find clear, simplified paths to explore, contribute, or build. This is the vision.
• Input/Output: Research and validation streams focused on Cardano’s long-term evolution, from protocol scalability to governance mechanisms. This can keep Cardano at the cutting edge, fueling the ideas, protocols, and breakthroughs that shape the blockchain’s future.
• To drive Cardano’s real-world utility, the Anzens proposal focuses on improving access to Cardano-native stablecoins like USDA – through exchange listings, institutional custody, cross-border payments, and low-cost fiat on/off-ramps that bridge DeFi and traditional finance.
• If Cardano aims to lead in privacy, interoperability, and advanced cryptography, it requires flexible and secure foundations. The proposals from MLabs empower teams to build privacy-preserving smart contracts more securely, efficiently, and with far less friction. It’s a quiet powerhouse laying groundwork for a future where Cardano supports more custom, composable, and private applications, from anonymous voting to secure identity systems.

Think about it. Developers are more likely to build privacy-enhancing features if they don’t have to reinvent cryptographic logic themselves or bear the full burden of security and maintenance.

Each of these proposals reflects a different part of Cardano’s growth story. Some maintain the core tech stack, while others build public goods or push the boundaries of possibility. All have been reviewed through Ekklesia and are now in scope for treasury funding, pending approval of this BIA and subsequent approval as a Treasury Withdrawal governance action/s.

This isn’t just a budget. It’s a signal that Cardano’s ecosystem is ready to deliver. The next step is deciding how to structure treasury withdrawals in a way that is accountable, safe, and aligned with delivery.