Cardano is entering a very important phase in its development, as its founding institutions seek to provide the core infrastructure that every major blockchain already considers standard.
A new one will be released on November 27 proposal sought community approval to allocate 70 million ADA tokens (worth approximately $30 million) to tier-one stablecoins, custodial providers, cross-chain bridges, price oracles, and institutional analytics.
The effort is jointly supported by Input Output, EMURGO, the Cardano Foundation, Intersect and the Midnight Foundation, an unusually coordinated coalition for a network often criticized for its slow adaptation and decentralized drift.
The central message behind this collaboration is unmistakable: Cardano wants to enter 2026 with the economic plumbing it has lacked for years.
Why the Cardano Pivot Matters
The push for integration comes at a time when Cardano’s economic base is still relatively superficial.
For context, DefiLlama’s data shows that the Charles Hoskinson-led network has about $248 million in TVL and about $40 million in stablecoins, as well as a limited pool for lending, liquidity provision, and RWA issuance, compared to ecosystems that treat these assets as fundamental utilities.
By comparison, Ethereum alone holds more than $170 billion in stablecoins, reflecting the scale gap that Cardano is trying to close.
Thus, without deep stablecoin reserves, liquidity pathways, or institutional tools, Cardano would continue to struggle to generate the network effects that make a blockchain economically relevant.
The network’s vulnerability came into focus earlier this month when it experienced a short chain split.
While the disruption was quickly resolved, scrutiny of Cardano’s operational maturity intensified, particularly the limited real-time analytics, monitoring and other safeguards expected in institutional environments.
The budget established for the integration aims to systematize the onboarding of top suppliers, including milestones, audits, service-level agreements and transparent delivery tracking.
So instead of one-off deals or ad hoc negotiations, proponents say the fund would create a formal, accountable pipeline for onboarding the infrastructure that Cardano has historically lacked. Tim Harrison, director at Input Outputs, said:
“This is the kind of unity and focus that will accelerate growth within DeFi, DePIN and RWA.”
Why these integrations may not be enough for Cardano
The integration push comes after Hoskinson talked about what’s really limiting Cardano’s DeFi growth.
Last month, the Cardano founder recognized the network’s DeFi gap, but pushed back against the idea that landing USDC, USDT or other fiat-backed stablecoins would magically transform adoption.
According to him:
“No one has ever made the argument and explained how the existence of one of these larger stablecoins will magically make Cardano’s entire DeFi problem go away, make the price go up, vastly improve our MAUs, our TVL, and all these other things.”
Instead, he points to a behavioral bottleneck by noting that millions of ADA holders participate in staking and governance, but few are making the leap to DeFi. He also added that the network faces coordination and accountability challenges.
Hoskinson argued that this creates a classic chicken-and-egg problem, where the network’s current low liquidity discourages integrations, and the lack of integrations keeps liquidity low.
Taking this into account, Hoskinson’s roadmap connects the growth of the DeFi network with Bitcoin interoperability and the Midnight privacy network. He believes that, if done right, these integrations could channel “billions” of volume into Cardano-native stablecoins and lending protocols.
That framework is important for the new budget.
If the challenge Cardano faces is organizational and stems from fragmented efforts, slow vendor onboarding, and the absence of a structured path for stablecoins and custodial providers, then a community-mandated integration program could provide the governance mechanism the ecosystem lacks.
But even with a coordinated onboarding framework, the budget will only change outcomes if it ultimately mobilizes passive ADA holders into active liquidity and attracts issuers with market makers willing to support real volume.
The 2026 stress test
Next year will test whether Cardano’s governance and new supplier pipeline can translate its integration budget into measurable economic growth.
So if even one major fiat-backed stablecoin arrives with deep market makers, Cardano’s $40 million stablecoin base could plausibly expand into the low hundreds of millions, a range consistent with the early stages of adoption at other L1s.
Additionally, Cardano’s $248 million DeFi TVL could reach $500 million if the network secures credible custody and analytics platforms. Notably, this is a level at which lending, risk-weighted assets and liquidity routing begin to deteriorate rather than stall.
Also, bridges, price oracles and institutional wallets remain important integrations necessary for the growth of the network.
Without them, liquidity will continue to circulate elsewhere. With them, Cardano enters 2026 with the minimum infrastructure needed to compete for regulated DeFi pilots, RWA issuance, and BTC-ADA liquidity flows tied to its Bitcoin interoperability roadmap.
PR
Mono Protocol releases pre-sale participation update for Phase 19
USA, New York, December 1, 2025, Chainwire Mono Protocol has issued a new participation update for Phase 19 of the ongoing pre-sale round, involving stable…
11 hours ago
PR
WhiteBIT expands globally with US launch and Times Square campaign
New York, USA, December 1, 2025, Chainwire WhiteBIT, the largest European cryptocurrency exchange by traffic, today announced its official launch in the United States,…
12 hours ago
