Cardano developers cut community funding requests to $46.8 million, advancing scalability and Bitcoin DeFi layout

According to CoinDesk, Cardano's core development company Input Output submitted nine funding proposals for the 2026 community treasury, totaling $46.8 million, a significant reduction of about 52% from last year's $97.5 million, marking the first step towards gradually reducing reliance on community funds.

The nine proposals focus on two main directions: first, the consensus upgrade plan Leios, which is expected to increase Cardano's transaction processing capacity by 10 to 65 times, aiming to exceed 1,000 transactions per second, with testing planned for June and full launch by the end of the year; second, the btc-42">Bitcoin DeFi system Pogun, which allows Bitcoin holders to lend and earn through Cardano without having to trust centralized institutions, with lending features expected to be publicly released in the second quarter.

This voting involves about 1,000 elected representatives (DReps), with the voting deadline set for May 24. The results will test whether the Cardano community views Input Output as a regular funding applicant.

Meanwhile, the new stablecoin USDCx in the Cardano ecosystem has reached a circulation of 14.6 million coins within weeks of its launch, and the total locked assets on the network have increased from $137.5 million to $142.7 million.