Key Takeaways:
Input Output will transfer control of Cardano's Haskell node, Plutus smart-contract platform and Hydra scaling technology to three external development teams starting in August, marking the final stage of the network's Voltaire-era decentralization push.
Input Output, the development company behind Cardano, said Friday it will hand control of four core blockchain components — including the Haskell node, Plutus platform, Daedalus wallet and Hydra scaling technology — to three outside specialist teams, as founder Charles Hoskinson acknowledged the network must change to reverse a 95% decline in its ADA token.
"The last stage of the Voltaire era is full decentralization of node and reference blueprint development," Hoskinson, chief executive officer of Input Output, said in a statement.
Se7en Labs, a development agency focused on Solana infrastructure, and Teragone, a cryptographic research team behind Cardano's Mithril protocol, will assume responsibility for parts of the infrastructure. The handover begins in August and will continue through 2027. At least three independent implementations of Cardano — written in Haskell, Rust and Go — will be maintained under formal specifications overseen by member organizations Intersect and Pragma, with development subject to community review and voting.
The restructuring tests whether a multi-company development model can sustain Cardano's technical roadmap without the coordination of a single lead developer. ADA traded at about $0.1600 Friday, down from its September 2021 record of $3.10, as the network's total value locked on DeFi protocols has fallen to $70 million, according to DefiLlama — a fraction of the $4 billion-plus held on rival chains Tron and Solana.
Hoskinson said in a video that Cardano must endure "growing pains that are very uncomfortable," adding that "bones have to be broken" and "failures have to occur to build confidence in the system." He acknowledged the network has stopped expanding and needs more specialized teams to set targets and direct resources.
Input Output will shift its focus toward research and new ventures through IO Labs and IO Ventures, the company said. The move reduces Cardano's reliance on the firm that built it and transfers protocol decisions and governance to the community — a process already underway through the Voltaire era's treasury funding mechanism, which saw 74% voter support for a community-ratified roadmap earlier this year.
The transition comes as Cardano faces intensifying competition from faster-growing layer-1 blockchains. Its $70 million in DeFi TVL compares with more than $4 billion each on Tron and Solana, per DefiLlama data. The network's treasury, however, holds over $1.2 billion in ADA, providing a financial buffer for continued development under the new structure. More than 1.3 million ADA holders currently stake their tokens, according to network data.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
