1.378 billion ADA sitting in the treasury, but only 42.6 million left to spend. Nobody can touch the ten-plus billion in between 🦖
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The spending cap for this Cardano budget cycle is 500 million ADA. As of October 17, 30 funding proposals have been approved, totaling 457.39 million ADA, or 91.5% of the cap.
That leaves 42.604 million ADA, worth about $9.5 million at the current price of $0.22. This amount has to last until the end of June 2027 📉
First, let's clarify how the mechanism works. The cap is called the Net Change Limit. It governs the total amount approved for spending during a cycle, not the treasury balance. This cycle began on February 13, 2026, and covers epochs 613 through 713, with each epoch lasting five days. The previous cycle's cap was 350 million ADA, so this one is about 43% higher. It's not a protocol upgrade, but an InfoAction with no technical effect, which received support representing 62.35% of staked ADA in epoch 647.
Where has the money gone? Four grants alone account for over half: 120 million ADA for AlphaGrowth's Cardano PRIME program, 62.1 million ADA for a maintenance project by Input Output and Ensurable Systems, 50 million ADA for a joint fund with Draper Dragon, and 32.9 million ADA for Cardano Vision 2026.
The other side is even more telling. This year, 29 proposals totaling 230.73 million ADA expired without getting enough votes. The most recent was for 11.787 million ADA to bring OpenZeppelin to Cardano for security work; it expired in epoch 661. Other proposals included 20 million ADA for Builder DAO, 39.8 million ADA for Tweag infrastructure, and several attempts to fund Cardano Summit 2026. None passed ⚠️
There is now just one proposal up for a vote: 22 million ADA, or about $4.9 million, for US company Toto Finance to buy COMEX Grade 1 copper cathodes, store them in a US warehouse, and mint CuTT tokens, each representing one pound of copper. The copper will be held for 18 to 24 months, and the proceeds from sales, along with any unspent funds, will be returned to the treasury within 36 months.
Breaking it down: 14.7244 million ADA for copper purchases (66.93%), 2.64 million ADA for technology and project management, 3.5339 million ADA for external operations and auditing, 441,700 ADA for execution, and 660,000 ADA for independent oversight. The proposal says it will prioritize hiring a US member firm of PwC for independent oversight, but no contract has been signed yet.
If this proposal passes, just 20.604 million ADA will remain under the cap. So the significance of this vote isn't the $4.9 million; it's that it would cut the remaining headroom in half. Voting closes at the start of epoch 668, which, at the current pace, is November 15. A decision could come at any epoch boundary before then; the next one is October 21 🧾
My take: the treasury holds about 1.378 billion ADA, up from 1.337 billion ADA in epoch 650. That shows the protocol itself isn't short of funds; what's scarce is the authorization to spend during this cycle. This design turns governance into budget politics: large grants lock up the available headroom, while small teams have to wait for the next cycle. And the 29 failed proposals show that DReps are already tapping the brakes.
The copper proposal is even more interesting. A public-chain treasury is starting to buy physical commodities, shifting the narrative from funding development to experimenting with assets. If it makes money, the treasury gets the proceeds; if it loses money, the treasury takes the hit. Using governance funds to experiment with RWAs means the risks and rewards aren't evenly balanced.
Do you think the treasury should spend 22 million ADA on copper? Let me know in the comments.
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, I bring you the latest crypto trends—not just what happened, but the logic and opportunities behind the headlines 👀🚀
📊 进群看每日策略
The spending cap for this Cardano budget cycle is 500 million ADA. As of October 17, 30 funding proposals have been approved, totaling 457.39 million ADA, or 91.5% of the cap.
That leaves 42.604 million ADA, worth about $9.5 million at the current price of $0.22. This amount has to last until the end of June 2027 📉
First, let's clarify how the mechanism works. The cap is called the Net Change Limit. It governs the total amount approved for spending during a cycle, not the treasury balance. This cycle began on February 13, 2026, and covers epochs 613 through 713, with each epoch lasting five days. The previous cycle's cap was 350 million ADA, so this one is about 43% higher. It's not a protocol upgrade, but an InfoAction with no technical effect, which received support representing 62.35% of staked ADA in epoch 647.
Where has the money gone? Four grants alone account for over half: 120 million ADA for AlphaGrowth's Cardano PRIME program, 62.1 million ADA for a maintenance project by Input Output and Ensurable Systems, 50 million ADA for a joint fund with Draper Dragon, and 32.9 million ADA for Cardano Vision 2026.
The other side is even more telling. This year, 29 proposals totaling 230.73 million ADA expired without getting enough votes. The most recent was for 11.787 million ADA to bring OpenZeppelin to Cardano for security work; it expired in epoch 661. Other proposals included 20 million ADA for Builder DAO, 39.8 million ADA for Tweag infrastructure, and several attempts to fund Cardano Summit 2026. None passed ⚠️
There is now just one proposal up for a vote: 22 million ADA, or about $4.9 million, for US company Toto Finance to buy COMEX Grade 1 copper cathodes, store them in a US warehouse, and mint CuTT tokens, each representing one pound of copper. The copper will be held for 18 to 24 months, and the proceeds from sales, along with any unspent funds, will be returned to the treasury within 36 months.
Breaking it down: 14.7244 million ADA for copper purchases (66.93%), 2.64 million ADA for technology and project management, 3.5339 million ADA for external operations and auditing, 441,700 ADA for execution, and 660,000 ADA for independent oversight. The proposal says it will prioritize hiring a US member firm of PwC for independent oversight, but no contract has been signed yet.
If this proposal passes, just 20.604 million ADA will remain under the cap. So the significance of this vote isn't the $4.9 million; it's that it would cut the remaining headroom in half. Voting closes at the start of epoch 668, which, at the current pace, is November 15. A decision could come at any epoch boundary before then; the next one is October 21 🧾
My take: the treasury holds about 1.378 billion ADA, up from 1.337 billion ADA in epoch 650. That shows the protocol itself isn't short of funds; what's scarce is the authorization to spend during this cycle. This design turns governance into budget politics: large grants lock up the available headroom, while small teams have to wait for the next cycle. And the 29 failed proposals show that DReps are already tapping the brakes.
The copper proposal is even more interesting. A public-chain treasury is starting to buy physical commodities, shifting the narrative from funding development to experimenting with assets. If it makes money, the treasury gets the proceeds; if it loses money, the treasury takes the hit. Using governance funds to experiment with RWAs means the risks and rewards aren't evenly balanced.
Do you think the treasury should spend 22 million ADA on copper? Let me know in the comments.
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, I bring you the latest crypto trends—not just what happened, but the logic and opportunities behind the headlines 👀🚀