Hoskinson: Cardano may lose research lab if ADA vote fails

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson warned the network could lose its core research lab and its scientists if a 32.9 million ADA funding proposal is rejected when voting closes on June 8. He addressed the appeal to delegated representatives after some opposed the request.

The proposal requests 32.9 million ADA, roughly $7.9 million at current prices, to fund work on Ouroboros Leios, post-quantum cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs and other scalability research. The program would be led by Input Output Global (IOG) chief scientist Aggelos Kiayias in collaboration with researchers at universities in Edinburgh, Tokyo, Oxford and Buenos Aires.

On-chain vote data shows about 81% of active delegated representative (dRep) stake is opposed and roughly 18% in favor. The proposal stands well short of the 67% approval threshold required under Cardano’s Voltaire governance rules. Voting remains open through June 8 and Hoskinson urged ADA holders to shift or delegate votes to dReps who back the research agenda before the deadline.

Hoskinson framed the vote as a long-term investment, saying the research program covers more than a decade and estimating total funding needs could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars if support continues. He wrote, “We are deeply saddened that some Japanese dReps voted against our research proposal. If this proposal does not pass, we want the entire Japanese community to fully recognize that Cardano will lose its scientists, and our lab will be forced to close.” He added, “Cardano is the science coin. We spent hundreds of millions of dollars and a decade to earn the right to say that. You don’t throw it away.”

Critics of the proposal have argued it lacks precise, auditable milestones and reads more like an annual budget bundle than a set of deliverables. Several delegated representatives have called for open request-for-proposal processes that would allow competing teams to bid against IOG rather than granting automatic renewal to the same contractor.

If the funding request fails, IOG faces a set of options: seek private funding, revise the proposal to address dRep concerns, or reduce the scope of its university programs. Each option would change how Cardano supports its academic partnerships and core consensus research.

Several dReps have raised concerns about accountability and competitive procurement during the vote. Those objections and the current voting tally will determine whether the proposal secures the 67% approval needed to proceed.