Cardano’s community has voted to approve a controversial $71 million (96 million ADA) proposal to fund major network upgrades over the next 12 months. The plan, submitted by Input Output Global (IOG), Cardano’s core development team, passed with 74% support despite vocal concerns over cost transparency and accountability.

The upgrade roadmap targets key areas such as scalability, interoperability, developer experience, and lower costs for stake pool operators. IOG will receive funds in phases, tied to specific development milestones. Oversight will be managed by Cardano’s community-driven body, Intersect, using smart contracts and a dedicated monitoring committee. IOG is also required to publish monthly updates and detailed financial reports.

Key projects include Hydra, aimed at enabling faster, cheaper transactions, and Project Acropolis, which promises a modular redesign of the Cardano node to simplify onboarding new core developers. Other goals include reducing RAM usage, enhancing smart contract support, and strengthening interoperability with other chains.

Despite the community’s final approval, many members raised red flags about the size of the funding request and the lack of a breakdown into smaller, independently reviewed components. A competing proposal by Cardano’s Technical Steering Committee was rejected, intensifying debate within the ecosystem.

Tim Harrison, VP of community at IOG, stated this marks the first time the community has directly authorized core protocol funding — a significant governance milestone for Cardano.

Meanwhile, other leading blockchains are also pushing upgrades. Solana increased its block capacity by 20% in July, while Ethereum recently activated the Pectra hard fork and raised its gas limit, with its next major upgrade, Fusaka, expected by the end of 2025.