Midnight

Ouroboros

Equity

Cardano

<a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://bsc.news/post/cardano-ada-guide" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cardano</a> was built by three founding entities, each with a separate job. Input Output (IO) handles research and protocol engineering. The Cardano Foundation handles governance, standards, and representation. EMURGO handles commercial adoption, tooling, and education. Since Cardano moved to on-chain governance, a fourth body, Intersect, coordinates budgets and network upgrades.&nbsp;
In 2026 the arrangement has been tested by funding disputes and EMURGO’s exit from the main coordination group.&nbsp;
<h2 id="span-span-who-are-the-three-founding-entities-span-span">Who Are The Three Founding Entities?</h2>
Cardano is not run by a single company. Its work was split among three organizations from the start.
<h3 id="span-span-input-output-research-and-engineering-span-span">Input Output: Research And Engineering</h3>
Input Output, also called IOG or IO Global, researches, designs, and develops the Cardano protocol. It is led by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.
Its current focus is Ouroboros Leios, an upgrade to Cardano’s consensus layer meant to raise throughput. One IO proposal states that “Cardano must scale from today’s approximately 800,000 transactions per month to over 27 million.” A public Leios testnet, called Musashi Dojo, launched at the end of June 2026, and IO is targeting a mainnet launch by the end of the year.
IO now has to ask the community for money. In April it submitted nine treasury proposals, which it said came to “just under 50%” of the previous year’s request. They included 62.1 million ADA for network maintenance, The Block reported.
<h3 id="span-span-cardano-foundation-governance-and-standards-span-span">Cardano Foundation: Governance And Standards</h3>
The Cardano Foundation handles representation, governance, and standards. It works on tokenization, digital identity, and voting participation.
Recent examples include:
<ul>
 <li>DRep delegation: In January 2026, it delegated 220 million ADA across 11 Delegated Representatives (DReps). DReps are community members who vote on governance actions using ADA delegated to them.</li>
 <li>CIP-0113: Its programmable token standard went live on mainnet on October 7. It lets issuers build rules such as allow lists, freezes, and transfer limits into Cardano tokens. The Foundation then spun out Veridian, a digital identity firm, and tokenized its shares using the new standard.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="span-span-emurgo-adoption-and-tooling-span-span">EMURGO: Adoption And Tooling</h3>
EMURGO is often called Cardano’s commercial arm. It works on the parts that make Cardano usable in practice:
<ul>
 <li>Developer libraries, kits, documentation, and testing environments</li>
 <li>Training programs for developers and professionals</li>
 <li>Enterprise uses such as traceability and data certification</li>
</ul>
EMURGO does not define the protocol or represent Cardano to regulators. Those jobs belong to IO and the Foundation.
<h3 id="span-span-where-does-intersect-fit-in-span-span">Where Does Intersect Fit In?</h3>
Intersect is a member-based organization. It describes itself as “an impartial coordination layer” for Cardano’s governance and technical processes, not a body that governs on the community’s behalf.
In 2025, Intersect administered the ecosystem budget and coordinated 39 treasury withdrawals. It also coordinated the response when the chain temporarily forked. In 2026, it is running a standard budget cycle, supporting network upgrades, and publishing quarterly KPIs.
<h2 id="span-span-how-does-cardano-governance-work-now-span-span">How Does Cardano Governance Work Now?</h2>
ADA holders now decide how treasury money is spent. Organizations, including the founding entities, submit funding requests, and DReps vote on them.
The main entities also coordinated through a five-member group called the Pentad:
<ul>
 <li>Input Output</li>
 <li>Cardano Foundation</li>
 <li>EMURGO</li>
 <li>Intersect</li>
 <li>Midnight Foundation, which oversees Midnight, Cardano’s privacy-focused partner network</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="span-span-why-did-emurgo-leave-the-pentad-span-span">Why Did EMURGO Leave The Pentad?</h2>
On July 9, 2026, EMURGO said it was leaving the Pentad to focus on recovery from the SecondFi exploit. SecondFi is a wallet service backed by EMURGO. Three incidents compromised 374 wallets and caused losses of about 16 million ADA. EMURGO has said SecondFi will not reopen, even after security audits finish.
Some community members asked EMURGO to give up its governance voting power and return its original ADA allocation. DRep Chris O hinted at legal action if it did not.
<h2 id="span-span-where-do-the-organizations-disagree-span-span">Where Do The Organizations Disagree?</h2>
Funding has caused open friction. In November 2025, Hoskinson criticized the Foundation’s spending, saying it lacked “accountability, oversight, or real KPIs.”
The Foundation’s community and governance lead, Nicolas Cerny, replied by citing “CF derangement syndrome.” He urged people to use “critical thinking rather than simply parroting the talking points of certain individuals.”
Votes have gone both ways for IO. As of late May, 86.72% of votes on one IO research request were against it, and Hoskinson had warned that layoffs could follow if proposals failed. In June, IO said treasury funding for its work had been approved with 88% support. The Foundation abstained on several 2026 votes, saying it wanted “to avoid directing the outcome.”
<h2 id="span-span-what-has-happened-recently-span-span">What Has Happened Recently?</h2>
The past few weeks brought several updates:
<ul>
 <li>October 7: CIP-0113 programmable tokens went live on mainnet. The same day, ICANN confirmed that the Foundation’s application for a .ada internet domain had advanced to evaluation, following a governance action backed by about 75% of votes.</li>
 <li>October 13: Midnight’s NIGHT token went live on OKCoinJapan, its second Japanese venue. Hoskinson has said he expects Midnight to “eventually surpass Zcash.”</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="span-span-conclusion-span-span">Conclusion</h2>
Cardano’s work is split among three founding entities. Input Output builds the protocol, the Cardano Foundation handles governance and standards, and EMURGO supports adoption and tooling. Intersect coordinates budgets and upgrades. Since 2025, funding requests have gone through on-chain votes, which has exposed disagreements among these groups and led to EMURGO’s exit from the Pentad.
<h2 id="span-span-resources-span-span">Resources</h2>
<ol>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://www.theblock.co/post/398484/input-output-scaled-back-cardano-treasury-plan-leios-mainnet" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by The Block</a>: Input Output proposes scaled-back Cardano treasury plan ahead of Leios mainnet push</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://cryptobriefing.com/cardano-to-launch-leios-testnet-under-musashi-dojo-name/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by Crypto Briefing</a>: Cardano to launch Leios testnet under Musashi Dojo name</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://x.com/IOGroup/status/2061794965622083646" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Input Output on X</a>: Leios update and treasury funding approval</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://crypto.news/the-civil-war-inside-cardano-hoskinson-vs-the-foundation/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by crypto.news</a>: The civil war inside Cardano: Hoskinson vs the foundation</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://decodingthecode3.com/2026/02/11/emurgo-making-cardano-usable/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Decoding The Code</a>: EMURGO: Making Cardano Usable</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://intersectmbo.org/news/welcome-to-2026-intersect-and-the-path-ahead" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Intersect</a>: Welcome to 2026: Intersect and the path ahead</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://thecryptobasic.com/2026/07/09/cardano-founding-entity-emurgo-leaves-pentad-to-lead-secondfi-recovery-process/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by The Crypto Basic</a>: EMURGO Leaves Pentad to Lead SecondFi Recovery Process</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://thedefiant.io/news/hacks/emurgo-says-hacked-cardano-wallet-secondfi-won-t-reopen" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by The Defiant</a>: EMURGO Says Hacked Cardano Wallet SecondFi Won’t Reopen</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://defiprime.com/cardano-launches-programmable-tokens-on-mainnet" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by DeFi Prime</a>: Cardano launches programmable tokens on mainnet</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://crypto-economy.com/cardano-foundation-unveils-veridian-with-tokenized-equity-on-new-standard/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by Crypto Economy</a>: Cardano Foundation Unveils Veridian With Tokenized Equity on New Standard</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://cardanofoundation.org/blog/ada-icann-next-stage" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cardano Foundation</a>: Cardano Foundation advances .ada in ICANN’s New gTLD Program</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://coinalertnews.com/news/2026/10/10/cardano-midnight-okcoinjapan-listing" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Coin Alert News</a>: Cardano’s Midnight Secures OKCoinJapan Listing</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://crypto.news/110000000-ada-sold-by-cardano-whales/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report by crypto.news</a>: 110,000,000 ADA sold by Cardano whales</li>
 <li><a style="text-decoration:none" href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/cardano" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinGecko</a>: Cardano price and supply</li>
</ol>

The Three Organizations Behind Cardano and Who Does What

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