Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, is urging the community to approve a major funding proposal that could decide the network’s future direction — and potentially, the price trajectory of ADA.
During a weekend livestream, Hoskinson grew visibly frustrated as he described the urgent need for community members to vote for the proposed budget packages, which are now being discussed by elected DReps.
If passed, the funding would secure Input Output Global’s (IOG) leadership in continuing to develop Cardano, supporting over 150 engineers and critical research efforts. However, if DReps choose to distribute the funds more broadly, perhaps to smaller collectives like Pragma, TXPipe, or DC Spark, then Hoskinson warned that the blockchain risks fragmenting and slowing down innovation.
According to Hoskinson, sustained investment could push ADA’s price into the $3 to $10 range as the ecosystem expands. The budget supports work on scaling technologies like state channels and roll-ups, interoperability improvements, and projects like the Mithril light client — all seen as essential for Cardano to compete in an increasingly crowded blockchain landscape.
However, the Cardano treasury, which holds about 1.7 billion ADA, is constrained by a 350 million ADA spending cap set earlier this year. This limitation poses a dilemma for DReps, forcing them to choose between funding the full IOG roadmap or risking diluting the project’s momentum by backing smaller collectives.
Within this context, criticisms about centralization were also addressed by Hoskinson, who maintained that decentralization doesn’t mean rejecting leadership but rather gives communities the ability to hire and replace project stewards as they see fit. He argued that failing to act decisively could cost Cardano one of the strongest technical teams in crypto at a crucial moment.
If the funding proposals are rejected or significantly watered down, IOG would gradually pull back after completing the upcoming Leios upgrade, shifting focus toward other ventures like the Midnight privacy chain, Hoskinson hinted.
Ultimately, the decision rests with ADA holders, who are running out of time to intervene. They must decide whether to invest in the current vision and leadership or accept a slower, more fragmented future.
