Cardano hands core development to outside teams in decentralization push
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Cardano developer Input Output announced that it will begin transferring control of key blockchain components—including the Haskell node, Plutus smart contract platform, Daedalus wallet, and Hydra scaling technology—to external specialist teams starting in August 2026. Companies such as Se7en Labs, with expertise in Solana infrastructure, and Teragone, known for cryptographic research and the Mithril protocol, will assume responsibility for parts of the Cardano core infrastructure. This move is part of a broader push toward full decentralization, marking the last phase of Cardano's Voltaire era where independent teams will maintain software implementations in Haskell, Rust, and Go under community oversight.
This change is significant because it reduces Cardano’s dependence on Input Output, the company that originally built the network, and aims to foster more specialized development and governance. Input Output CEO and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson positioned the transition as necessary “growing pains,” acknowledging that Cardano’s network activity has been weak, currently holding just $70 million in total value locked (TVL), far behind rivals like Tron and Solana, which both exceed $4 billion. The native ADA token price has also declined sharply, trading around 16 cents in mid-2026—down about 95% from its all-time high of $3.10 in September 2021.
The decentralization strategy expands community involvement beyond governance decisions to include core development, with organizations such as Intersect and Pragma helping oversee formal specifications and community review processes. Input Output plans to shift its focus to research and new ventures through IO Labs and IO Ventures, while external teams take on maintenance and development roles. This approach aims to test whether multiple independent teams can coordinate effectively without slowing progress or fracturing development efforts.
Hoskinson has candidly acknowledged the challenges facing Cardano, describing the current phase as a period of setbacks and necessary adjustments before achieving maturation. The decentralization may improve the network’s resilience and innovation capacity but also carries risks of coordination complexity. Ultimately, the handover marks a crucial experiment in Cardano's evolution toward a fully community-driven blockchain ecosystem.