Cardano’s core ecosystem organizations have submitted a new proposal requesting 70 million ADA from the Treasury to fund a coordinated set of infrastructure upgrades. The proposal, which was made by the founding entities, the Midnight Foundation, and Intersect, targets important components that Cardano still lacks , and its approval could shape how the network grows heading into 2026. Why Cardano Is Making This Move Now Despite Cardano’s reputation as a well-established Layer-1 blockchain, its ecosystem still lacks several must-have infrastructure pieces that underpin vibrant decentralized finance (DeFi), real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and institutional participation. However, the situation might improve soon with a collaborative effort, as revealed in the Cardano’s Critical Integrations Budget proposal for 2026. The Critical Integrations Budget proposal brings together Input Output, Emurgo, the Cardano Foundation, Intersect, and the Midnight Foundation under a single plan. The coalition asserts that despite Cardano’s strong foundations, several essential ecosystem layers are either incomplete or absent. These include tier-one stablecoin infrastructure, institutional-grade custody solutions, cross-chain bridges, deeper analytics capabilities, and globally recognized oracles. These components are necessary for Cardano to support stable liquidity, attract DeFi builders, enable RWA tokenization, and allow institutions to participate securely. The proposal frames 2026 as the year Cardano should enter a more mature phase, and these upgrades form the groundwork for that transition. As such, the coalition is asking for 70 million ADA for its 2026 budget. Interestingly, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson also noted the proposal in a post shared on the social media platform X. Negotiations with major integration partners are already in place. The discussions have matured enough that the coalition believes it is time for the community to finance the final steps needed to onboard them. What This Means For ADA Holders According to the announcement, the budget request is designed to guarantee that these integrations arrive in a coordinated, timely manner instead of being scattered across years. Stablecoin infrastructure and cross-chain connectivity have long been cited as the missing ingredients holding back liquidity and activity on Cardano. If these integrations go live, liquidity pathways widen, capital can move more easily onto the network, and developers gain the confidence to deploy advanced DeFi, RWA, and DePIN applications. The Cardano Treasury is one of the healthiest community treasuries in the crypto industry. Public records indicate that the treasury currently holds about 1.7 billion ADA. This figure continues to grow through transaction fee allocations and a percentage of the ADA rewards distributed through the protocol’s inflation mechanism that are not allocated to staking pools. In that context, the 70 million ADA request is a limited fraction of available reserves. Voting for the proposal is expected to expire on December 30. Voting is carried out by Delegated Representatives (DReps) and final approval will be done by the network’s Constitutional Committee. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
