Cardano News

Intersect announced that protocol parameter updates proposed by the Technical Steering Committee have entered the Preview testnet. These changes, which include increasing the block size to 128KB and raising Plutus script memory units per transaction to 20M, are designed to enhance network throughput and support more complex DeFi applications on Cardano.

The Cardano Foundation's Q3 2025 report details a focus on adoption, resilience, and education. Key activities included the 2025 Asia Tour, the application process for .ada and .cardano gTLDs, and preparations for the Cardano Summit in Berlin. The quarter also saw major governance milestones, including the seating of the first community-elected Constitutional Committee.

The development report highlights the Hydra team's release of version 1.0.0. The consensus team advanced the Leios CIP, while the performance team benchmarked node v.10.6 and the LSM-tree backend. The Plutus team finalized the implementation of CIP-0153, introducing the Value built-in type. In the ecosystem, Project Catalyst Fund14 voting concluded, and the Cardano Foundation launched its Summit 2025 PR campaign.

The Community Digest highlights the ongoing Asia Tour, with stops in Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo, and the Node Diversity Workshop #2 in Toulouse. It also announces the release of Hydra node v1.0.0 and calls for participation in the State of the Cardano Developer Ecosystem survey, alongside other ecosystem updates and a reminder for the Intersect committee elections.

The ecosystem has reached 114.56 million transactions and an increase in active DReps, while the Asia tour concluded in Tokyo. Yoroi v6.0 launched, integrating DexHunter and Minswap. Additionally, Midnight Network partnered with CSWAP for privacy-first DeFi solutions, and the Hydra-node v1.0.0 pre-release is now available.

Progress continues on CIP-112 and features for the next intra-era hard fork. The first fully community-elected constitutional committee is now in place, and the Mithril team has updated the DMQ protocol CIP. Additionally, Yoroi Extension v.5.13.0 has been released, alongside new partnerships for Sundial Protocol and Midnight Network.

A Roundtable Talk, features a discussion for the Eastern Hemisphere on the Fund 14 Representative Pilot. Participants focused on shifting from popularity-based voting toward systematic, expertise-driven evaluations. The session explored how structured frameworks can guide DReps to improve the quality and fairness of future governance decisions.

Intersect board election results have been announced, with Adam Rusch and Jack Briggs elected as new members. This milestone marks the first time a majority of the board is directly elected by its members, achieved with a 26% voter turnout to reinforce decentralized, community-led governance.

The ecosystem is celebrating its 8th anniversary, reflecting on its journey from Byron to Voltaire. Voting for the 2025 Summit Awards is officially open, and a developer spotlight features Iagon. Additionally, recent Roundtable Talks were recapped, and Project Catalyst Fund14 voting has launched.

The consensus team is auditing the KES agent and refactoring the hard fork combinator for Peras-awareness. The Plutus team is enabling sums-of-products and built-in functions for the upcoming intra-era hard fork. Meanwhile, IOG and zkFold have partnered for a trustless ETH-Cardano bridge, and Minswap's "Wen" token generator is now live.