Cardano Foundation and Input Output Clash Again as Budget Debates Heat Up

Cardano ecosystem budget talks revive Cardano Foundation and Input Output conflict. From achieving full decentralized governance to voting on a constitution, the Cardano ecosystem has marked several major governance milestones in recent weeks. Yet, a long-running conflict between the Cardano Foundation, a non-profit tasked with fostering the network's adoption, and Input Output, the primary development firm behind the network, threatens to tear the community apart. This conflict has again come to the fore as discussions around the ecosystem's 2025 budget heat up. Cardano Budget Talks Spearheaded by Intersect, a member-based Cardano organization designed to allow the community to drive development initiatives, the Cardano community has been deep in budget talks since October 2024. Following consultations, the group published a budget draft proposal in February 2025. Negotiations on possible adjustments, factoring community feedback, are set to continue into May 2025. Over the past 24 hours, however, Cardano ecosystem budget talks have seen a shift in focus following feedback from the Cardano Foundation. At issue are proposed cuts targeting funding for Input Output operations. A 30M+ ADA Cut The Cardano Foundation proposed a 30% reduction in Intersect's suggested Cardano 2025 ecosystem budget, with the biggest nominal cut coming from the core development funding, including steering of technical efforts and open-source development, meant to go to Input Output. Specifically, the Cardano Foundation proposed a 44% or over 31 million ADA reduction in the Input Output allocation from 69.8 million ADA to 38.8 million ADA, sparking major backlash.

One user argued that significant cuts to this budget category are questionable as protocols and open-source libraries remain "major bottlenecks" for Cardano. Another stressed that research and engineering efforts remain the network's unique selling points. "To me this proposal looks like CF is trying to undermine IOG. Makes no sense to cut on research and engineering as this is one of our USPs," the community member wrote. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson pushed the narrative by responding to this comment with a GIF captioned "This guy gets it." https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1900381023533232362 These sentiments come against a backdrop of months-long claims of undue Swiss government control over the non-profit and organized efforts to undercut Input Output that have devolved into verbal exchanges online. A Diligent Review? Despite the prevailing community sentiment, the Cardano Foundation has pushed back against claims that proposed budget cuts were driven by spite. "There was a call for feedback, which we answered and diligently reviewed all the budget line items of the various proposals. It is my opinion that as an active participant in the governance space on Cardano the CF has an obligation to provide input," Cardano Foundation Governance Lead Nicolas Cerny wrote in response to the backlash. In the detailed spreadsheet seen by The Crypto Basic, the Cardano Foundation lists a lack of details, item overlaps and duplication as part of the rationale for proposed cuts. Meanwhile, Cerny has advocated that the Cardano community push for more projects leveraging the network's open-source tools to contribute to development. "Doesn't sound very sustainable to me if the treasury always subsidizes development and maintenance costs of said public goods," he wrote.  Navigating the growing divide between the Cardano Foundation and Input will likely be critical to Cardano's success as the community gains an increasing say in the network's direction.