Cardano Hands Core Development to Outside Teams in Decentralization Push

Cardano’s development has long been led by founding company Input Output (IO). With total value locked in DeFi falling from a peak of nearly $686 million in late 2024 to about $70 million by mid-2026, and the ADA token plunging to a market low of $0.14, founder Charles Hoskinson decided to accelerate decentralization. The move is intended to advance the Voltaire governance era and ensure the network no longer depends on a single entity.

Input Output said it would gradually transfer core development responsibilities for the Haskell node, Plutus smart-contract platform, Daedalus wallet and Hydra scaling technology to independent outside teams including Se7en Labs and Teragone from August 2026 through 2027. Community organizations including Intersect and Pragma will oversee the initiative, which will maintain node implementations in Haskell, Rust and Go as part of a comprehensive decentralization push.