Scaling Global Adoption: Orion Fund Progress Update and Q&A

The Cardano Foundation, Draper Dragon, and Draper University invite DReps and the Cardano community to a progress update session on the Orion Fund.

This session offers an operational update on the fund's setup, recent ecosystem initiatives, and strategic roadmap, followed by an open Q&A with Samiz Bayan (Draper Dragon).

Key Agenda Topics:

• Structural Setup: Overview of completed administrative setup.
• Builder Engine & Accelerators: Updates on the Genesis Pre-Accelerator, Cometa Labs, and current applications open for the Apex Growth Accelerator
• Initial Investments & Outlook: Highlights from the first portfolio investments and upcoming multi-month milestones.
• Community & DRep Q&A: Dedicated 25–30 minute open Q&A session.

📅 Monday August 17, 2026
🕗 19:00 – 20:00 JST / 12:00 – 13:00 CEST
🔗 https://www.addevent.com/event/7gd7mvcrsd64

Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore | 7-8 October

Cardano is showing up to Singapore with a dedicated booth featuring 20 projects from across the ecosystem, the biggest Cardano presence yet at TOKEN2049.

One of those spots could be yours. If you're building on Cardano, apply for the stage, and if you're selected, flights and accommodation are reimbursed for one team member.

Learn more and apply by 25 August: https://token2049.cardano.org

Now Live: Orion Fund Progress Update and Q&A

Join Samiz Bayan from Draper Dragon, together with Nicolas Cerny, Governance Lead at the Cardano Foundation, for an update on the Orion Fund, its latest initiatives and what’s ahead.


https://www.addevent.com/event/7gd7mvcrsd64

Happy Wednesday!

This week's Digest covers a lot of ground across the ecosystem once again. Cardano is planning to go big at TOKEN2049 Singapore, happening October 7-8, taking over a 108sqm booth and inviting 20 ecosystem projects to join, applications are now open for any project that wants a spot. A fresh recap video also looks back at Rare Evo 2026 in Las Vegas. On governance, the Protocol Parameter Update and the Constitutional Committee 2026 update both need DRep and SPO votes before September 1. The Catalyst Pilot team is shaking up funding with grants up to 200k ADA tied to real-world usage, with applications for proposals and Decision Panel reviewers closing August 25.

This edition also covers fresh CIP milestones, a Creator Radar roundup from Peter Bui and the Angry Crypto Show, the latest from ecosystem newsletters, and updates on builder tech and office hours.

Full rundown in today's Community Digest

LAST CALL: Join the Cardano booth at TOKEN2049 Singapore. 🇸🇬

TOKEN2049 is where the blockchain industry shows up in one place. On 7-8 October, 20 Cardano projects will present at the Cardano booth in front of investors, builders, and press from across the industry.

If your project is ready to be seen, this is the room to be seen in. The Cardano Foundation supports flight and accommodation for selected projects.

Applications close tomorrow, 25 August: https://token2049.cardano.org
Questions: event-support@cardanofoundation.org

Happy Wednesday!

This week's Digest covers a lot of ground across the ecosystem once again. Intersect Board Elections 2026 are now open, with applications running until September 11 and voting scheduled for September 14-25. A new Constitutional Amendment Portal is also live in alpha, giving ada holders a more accessible way to propose, discuss, and follow potential changes to the Cardano Constitution. For SPOs, updated scripts add support for upcoming LedgerApp v8, HW-CLI 1.20, and Cardano-Signer v1.35, while Daedalus 11.3.0 brings a new DRep Directory, improved governance tools, wallet support, and reliability updates.

This edition also covers fresh CIP developments, the Ambassador Story from Ayomide Osemene, ecosystem updates from Cardanians and Lucas Macchiavelli, creator highlights covering Hydra and node infrastructure, and updates on builder tech and office hours.

Full rundown in today's Community Digest

Announcing the Cardano track at the TOKEN2049 Origins Hackathon.

The Origins Hackathon runs 6-8 October in Singapore alongside TOKEN2049, and Cardano has its own track.

The challenge: build the agentic economy on Cardano with x402. Key details:
∙ 36 hours of building, with product demos on the main stage
∙ $27,500 in prizes across three winners in the Cardano track
∙ 200 spots, free to enter
∙ Applications close 14 September

Full details and registration: https://www.token2049.com/singapore/2049-origins

Join us tomorrow for a new Cardano Governance Hour!

This session takes a closer look at the Withdraw 11,787,063 ada for the OpenZeppelin Stack administered by Intersect Treasury Withdrawal proposal, together with Arturo Beccar-Varela, Relationship Manager at OpenZeppelin.

The proposal outlines a 12-month program to build reusable development infrastructure for Cardano, including reference implementations, an audited Contracts Library, dedicated security capacity, developer tooling and documentation.

Governance Hours go beyond the written proposal and create space for deeper discussion. We'll examine the proposed scope, delivery approach, security model and Treasury ask, while discussing whether this type of open-source infrastructure can create lasting value for Cardano's developer ecosystem.

📅 Tuesday, 15 September 2026
🕗 16:00–16:30 UTC

https://www.addevent.com/event/c5hdd4xwjt3s

Stay updated with our events!
You can subscribe directly to the calendar here: https://www.addevent.com/calendar/ktbtrxrv

Now Live:

Governance Hour: Deep Dive Into OpenZeppelin Stack Treasury Withdrawal Proposal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4jh8D2LN5U

Happy Wednesday!

This week's Digest covers a lot of ground once again.

Intersect Board Elections 2026 are now underway, with voting running until September 25 and results expected on September 28. The new Constitutional Amendment Portal is also live, giving ada holders a more accessible way to propose and follow potential changes to the Cardano Constitution, with a review call coming up on September 17.

The TOKEN2049 Origins Hackathon deadline has also been extended to September 18, while applications are open for the SDG Blockchain Accelerator Cohort 3's dedicated Cardano track until September 30.

There's plenty more in this edition, including new CIP developments and a new member joining the CIP Editors team, the latest Ambassador Story from Baudouin Kakule Muvunga, ecosystem updates from Cardanians and Lucas Macchiavelli, creator highlights on Cardano blocks and x402, and Community Learning sessions covering RealFi and a live Ouroboros Leios demo.

Full rundown in today's Community Digest

What should Cardano’s treasury funding model look like in 2027?

Join us on September 21 at 13:00 UTC for a next Roundtable Talk: Treasury Funding Allocation - The Case for Reform

Two funding cycles have now given the community real experience with the current model. The question is what we do with that experience.

We’ll discuss the NCL, how different funding areas compete for resources, whether budgets should be structured by category, and how sustainability, accountability and delivery should factor into future funding decisions.

At the table:
- Will Norris - Cardano DRep
- Nicolas Cerny - Governance Lead, Cardano Foundation
- Gintama - Web3 Governance Architect & Strategist
- Alexandre Maaza - Ecosystem & Enterprise Growth Lead, Cardano Foundation
- Thomas Lindseth - Civic Operations & Constitution Consultant, Intersect MBO

Add the event to you calendar: https://www.addevent.com/event/r6kp7mspmxtx

Join us for a new Cardano Governance Hour #11

This session takes a closer look at the Reduce minPoolCost to 75 ada Governance Action proposal, together with Ryan Wiley, also known as Cerkoryn, a member of the SPO Incentives Working Group and author of the proposal.

The proposal would reduce Cardano's current minimum pool cost from 170 ada to 75 ada, with no other protocol parameters affected. It argues that declining block rewards have increased the relative burden of the fixed cost on smaller stake pools, while recent research has also challenged some of the assumptions around minPoolCost as a Sybil deterrent.

Governance Hours go beyond the written proposal and create space for deeper discussion. We'll examine why 75 ada has been proposed, its potential impact on smaller pools, delegators & decentralization, how the change fits within longer-term work around stake pool incentives, and more.

📅 Wednesday, 23 September 2026
🕗 15:00–15:30 UTC

https://www.addevent.com/event/vw8d313lymv2

Now Live: Cardano Governance Hour #11

Deep Dive Into the Parameter Change to Reduce minPoolCost to 75 ada

https://www.addevent.com/event/vw8d313lymv2

The Catalyst Pilot 2026 cohort is here.

12 projects bringing stablecoins, oracles, programmable tokens, and verifiable identity into real-world sectors.

40% of funding is paid up front, the rest is tied to on-chain adoption on Cardano.

Meet the cohort: https://projectcatalyst.io/blog/meet-the-12-teams-selected-for-the-catalyst-pilot-2026

Join us Monday, September 28 at 15:00 UTC for Roundtable Talk: Smart Contract Security - Why One Check Is No Longer Enough

The blockchain industry has seen a rise in smart contract exploits. AI models have not only become smarter and more advanced, but they can now analyze code, find vulnerabilities, and generate exploit code.

With this vastly changing landscape, how should projects rethink security when AI can find and exploit flaws in minutes? And what does this mean for trust in the ecosystem?

This Roundtable brings together experienced auditors to discuss continuous AI-driven monitoring, how auditing firms are adapting their business models, and practical steps DApp developers can take to protect their code and strengthen user trust.

Confirmed speakers:
- Alexander Vershilov - Senior security researcher at Tweag
- Santiago Carmuega - CEO TxPipe
- Philip DiSarro - CEO Anastasia Labs

Additional speakers pending confirmation.

Set a reminder and tune in:
https://www.addevent.com/event/4xbrl9yjmk7d

Happy Wednesday!

This week's Digest covers Cardano celebrating its 9 year anniversary, fresh protocol developments, ecosystem updates, and plenty more.

CIP-113 has now been merged into the main CIP repository, following years of development and review. Intersect has also released Cardano Node 11.1.3, fixing an IPv4 address decoding issue, while this week's SPO Call will cover the latest node updates, Leios, Musashi, node diversity, and Mithril.

With TOKEN2049 Singapore now just one week away, the Cardano ecosystem is preparing for its presence at Marina Bay Sands on October 7–8, with a 108m² booth featuring 20 ecosystem projects, builder presentations, node diversity activities, and more.

There's plenty more in this edition, including the latest CIP proposals, Developer Spotlight on ODATANO, ecosystem and creator highlights, Community Learning sessions on Subbit.xyz and a Roundtable Talk on smart contract security auditing.

Full rundown in today's Community Digest

Happy Wednesday!

TOKEN2049 Singapore may be behind us, but there's plenty to catch up on. Cardano brought 20+ ecosystem projects to Singapore, and the Origins Hackathon saw builders explore what AI agents could do on Cardano, with the overall grand prize going to a project from the Cardano track.

Meanwhile, CIP-0113 is now live on mainnet, the Open Wallet Standard has added native Cardano support, and Minswap and FluidTokens have announced plans to join forces.

And that's just scratching the surface. This edition also covers Ambassador Stories with Ian McCullough, the latest governance and protocol developments, Cardano Foundation updates, and upcoming community events.

Full rundown in today's Community Digest

Introducing Cardano Foundation Research Exchange


Join us Monday, October 19th from 13:00 UTC for the first episode of the Cardano Foundation Research Exchange, a new series that gives Cardano Foundation research a regular, visible home.

Manvir Schneider (Senior Research Scientist) and Juan Beccuti (Researcher in Economics and Governance Blockchain) open the series with an introduction to Cardano Foundation Research:

- What it is and why it matters for Cardano
- What has been done so far
- What is currently ongoing
- What is planned next

The Research Exchange is also a chance for community members and fellow researchers to share feedback that can help further develop CF’s research and suggest topics for future consideration.

Interested in joining? Find the session link and subscribe to the Research calendar to hear about upcoming episodes:

https://www.addevent.com/calendar/hkrrgz2tfj0v

Join us on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 16:30 UTC for a dedicated Governance Hour.

This session takes a closer look at the Cardano Strategic Copper Reserve proposal, together with Steven from Toto Finance.

The discussion will focus on the proposed ₳22 million Treasury request to acquire physical copper and tokenize it as CuTT, exploring how Cardano can bridge real-world assets with blockchain infrastructure through independently verified reserves, cross-chain tokenization, transparent reporting, and reusable technical infrastructure.

Governance Hours go beyond written documentation and create space for deeper discussion. We’ll examine the proposal’s strategic case for RWA tokenization, legal ownership and custody arrangements, Ethereum-to-Cardano safeguards, financial and price risks, and independent assurance milestones to assess whether the initiative delivers lasting value for the Cardano ecosystem.

📅 Tuesday, 27 October

🕗 16:30 – 17:00 UTC
https://www.addevent.com/event/zh6vg7fw9bb7