Cardano Foundation Reveals $478M in Assets, 82.5% Held in ADA; Report Details Focus Areas and Expenses

The nonprofit foundation supporting the Cardano ecosystem, the Cardano Foundation, has revealed in a recent report that as of Dec.31, 2023

The nonprofit foundation behind the Cardano (ADA) ecosystem has revealed in a recent report that it had $478.24 million in assets as of Dec.31, 2023. Of the total assets, 82.5% were held in ADA, 10.1% in Bitcoin (BTC), and the rest in cash and cash equivalents.

The foundation allocated $19.22 million in three key focus areas and spent $4.55 million on operational costs to expand its capacity. Its total expenses for the year amounted to $23.7 million, which were aimed at “improving Cardano’s suitability and recognition as an infrastructure component of institutional-grade use cases,” according to its Financial Insights Report.

Notably, since the beginning of the year, the price of Bitcoin has risen by over 118% and is currently trading at $92,500, while the price of Cardano's ADA has decreased by approximately 0.3%.

If the Cardano Foundation has maintained its assets since then, it could now have over $100 million in BTC, considering the cryptocurrency's rapid appreciation in the last few weeks. However, the report does not specify whether the foundation has sold or maintained its holdings.

The Cardano Foundation's primary source of income is the staking rewards generated by delegating its ADA holdings on the Cardano network, the report reveals. In 2023, its 668.8 million ADA tokens yielded an additional 20.9 million ADA, representing a 3.1% return.

According to the report:

“The Delegation Strategy outlines the Foundation’s approach to selecting stake pools for delegation, prioritizing pools that significantly contribute to the Cardano community over those that offer the highest yield. The focus is on maximizing impact for the ecosystem rather than financial returns for the Foundation.”

The report was released shortly after the Cardano network deployed node 10.1 in a critical release ahead of the upcoming Chang 2 hard fork, which will introduce major upgrades to the network's governance system, including the completion of the transition to on-chain governance.

The hard fork continues to build on the foundation laid out by the Chang 1 hard fork in September and will enable ADA token holders to directly participate in the future of the protocol through its governance system.

By delegating their voting power to Delegated Representatives (DReps) or assuming the role of Dreps, ADA token holders will be able to vote on-chain. In addition to governance, the recent upgrade ahead of the hard fork introduces several technical enhancements, including new Plutus primitives for enhanced smart contract functionality and improved support for Stake Pool Operators.

The successful implementation of Chang 2 is subject to the approval of both the Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC) and 51% of the stake from Stake Pool Operators. Once these thresholds are met, a one-epoch ratification period will begin, followed by the full activation of the hard fork.