Cardano treasury
The Cardano treasury is an on-chain fund of the Cardano blockchain that receives a share of every transaction fee and of the newly issued ada from monetary expansion. Ada holders decide through on-chain governance how the treasury pays for core development and grants in the ecosystem.
Every payment needs a treasury withdrawal action that the DReps and the Constitutional Committee approve. A guardrail in the Cardano Constitution, the net change limit, caps how much ada may leave the treasury over a set period of time.
Treasury size and where the ada comes from
The treasury grows with every epoch of five days, because a share of the fees and of the monetary expansion flows into it. In October 2026 it held about 1.38 billion ada, according to CryptoSlate. The treasury entry of the Cardano glossary links to charts of the balance over time.
Treasury withdrawals and the net change limit
A treasury withdrawal is one of the seven governance actions defined in CIP-1694. It needs the approval of the DReps and of the Constitutional Committee, which checks it against the guardrails of the Constitution. The net change limit in section TREASURY-01a of the Constitution caps the net amount that may leave the treasury in a period, and the DReps agree each limit through an info action. The current limit covers the period from February 2026 to mid-2027.
The 2026 budget process of Intersect
For 2026, the member organization Intersect coordinated a budget process that the DReps approved through an info action on April 4, 2026. Each proposal had to ask for at least 100,000 ada and pay a donation of 1,000 ada to the treasury. Proposals with at least 67 percent support from participating DRep stake in the advisory vote on Ekklesia became treasury withdrawal actions on chain.
Approved projects receive their ada in milestone payments held in smart contracts, and an independent oversight committee checks the actions of the administrator. Intersect takes on the administrator role when proposers select it and Intersect agrees. The final decision stays with the ada holders through the on-chain vote.
Project Catalyst and other programs funded by the treasury
Project Catalyst, the community grant program of Cardano, also draws its funds from the treasury. In 2026 the Cardano Foundation took over the stewardship of the program, and the ada set aside for two planned funding rounds went back to the treasury. The treasury also paid for the Critical Integrations program, through which Input Output Group brought the USDC-backed stablecoin USDCx to Cardano.
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Cardano treasury and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers how public blockchains finance their development in the Investment & Digital Assets track. The Cardano treasury pays for development by on-chain vote, with milestone payments held in smart contracts and an independent oversight committee.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.