Governance Action Details
Cardano Vision 2026: Human Centred, Scalable, Post Quantum Secure - IO Research
Proposal as pdf: here
Cardano Vision 2026 (CV26) delivers a structured, end-to-end innovation pipeline that translates foundational research into deployable system capabilities and measurable impact. Building on CV25, where delivery exceeded targets by 20%, the programme is executed through an integrated IO Research delivery model combining research (IOR), applied engineering (ARC), and product alignment (Cardano Business Unit).
CV26 is anchored around 3 priorities.
- Human-centred design improves usability, incentives, and governance participation through enhanced DevEx (e.g. decentralized APIs), better SPO alignment, and reduced user friction via intent-based interaction.
- Scalability is addressed through a layered architecture combining consensus improvements (Leios/Peras integration), L2 execution and ZK-enabled scaling, and mid-term research like sharding.
- Post-quantum security ensures long-term resilience through evaluation and migration of quantum-resistant cryptographic primitives, supported by a cross-cutting roadmap spanning security, transaction efficiency, ZK/L2 infrastructure, and partner chains.
The programme is organised into 7 work packages aligned to ecosystem outcomes: WP1 Trust, Security & Reliability Infrastructure; WP2 Scalability & Execution Layer; WP3 Developer Platform & User Experience; WP4 Applications, Adoption & Liquidity; WP5 Economic Systems & Incentives; WP6 Governance, Identity & Social Infrastructure; and WP7 Delivery, Dissemination & Partnerships.
CV26 delivers 42 outputs across the innovation pipeline: 38 papers and technical reports at early TRL; 8 Cardano Problem Statements (CPS) and 12 prototypes at mid-TRL (including Leios/Peras integration designs, dynamic fee mechanisms, SPO incentive models, and a decentralised Babel fee marketplace); and 5 Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs) enabling implementation in identity services, ZK-enabled L2 scalability, and post-quantum security.
The ₳32.916M ($7.9M) funds a consortium of 9 R&D partners led by IOR, including leading universities (Edinburgh, Tokyo, Oxford, Buenos Aires) and ecosystem contributors (Eryx). In total, 36 FTEs operate as a research network under the leadership of Aggelos Kiayias, positioning Cardano for sustained, research-driven growth.
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Supporting Links
[1] R. Amos, M. Georgiou, A. Kiayias, and M. Zhandry, *One-shot Signatures and Applications to Hybrid Quantum/Classical Authentication*, in Proceedings of the Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC), 2020.
https://www.iog.io/papers/one-shot-signatures-and-applications-to-hybrid-quantumclassical-authentication[2] Cardano Foundation, *Cardano Governance*
https://cardano.org/governance[3] L. W. Cong, Y. Li, and N. Wang, *Tokenomics: Dynamic Adoption and Valuation*, The Review of Financial Studies, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 1105–1155, 2021.
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27222[4] M. Fitzi, X. Wang, S. Kannan, A. Kiayias, N. Leonardos, P. Viswanath, and G. Wang, *Minotaur: Multi-Resource Blockchain Consensus*, in Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), 2022.
https://www.iog.io/papers/minotaur-multi-resource-blockchain-consensus[5] S. Golob, S. Pentyala, R. Dowsley, B. David, M. Larangeira, M. De Cock, and A. Nascimento, *A Decentralized Information Marketplace Preserving Input and Output Privacy*, in Proceedings of the ACM International Workshop on Decentralized Economy and Society (DECon), 2023.
https://www.iog.io/papers/a-decentralized-information-marketplace-preserving-input-and-output-privacy[6] S. Häfner, *Blockchain Platform Design under Market Frictions*, 2023.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3954773[7] A. Kiayias and P. Lazos, *SoK: Blockchain Governance*, in Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT), 2022.
https://www.iog.io/papers/sok-blockchain-governance[8] B. Manville and J. Ober, *In Search of Democracy 4.0: Is Democracy as We Know It Destined to Die?*, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 32–42, 2019.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=8828032[9] R. van Pelt, S. Jansen, D. Baars, and S. Overbeek, *Blockchain Governance: A Framework for Analysis and Comparison*, Information Systems Management, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 21–41, 2021.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/10580530.2020.1720046[10] M. Reuter, *The Value of Decentralization Using the Blockchain*, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 22-056, 2022.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=4288348[11] B. Zhang, R. Oliynykov, and H. Balogun, *A Treasury System for Cryptocurrencies: Enabling Better Collaborative Intelligence*, in Proceedings of the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), 2019.
https://www.iog.io/papers/a-treasury-system-for-cryptocurrencies-enabling-better-collaborative-intelligence[12] D. Karakostas, A. Kiayias, and C. Ovezik, *SoK: A Stratified Approach to Blockchain Decentralization*, in Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC), 2024.
https://www.iog.io/papers/sok-a-stratified-approach-to-blockchain-decentralization[13] M. Ciampi, A. Kiayias, and Y. Shen, *Universal Composable Transaction Serialization with Order Fairness*, in Advances in Cryptology – CRYPTO 2024, pp. 147–180, Springer, 2024.
https://www.iog.io/papers/universal-composable-transaction-serialization-with-order-fairnessRelated documents
Tasks
History
Atualização do status para em progresso
Maria Silva - 19/01/2024Criação da ação de governança
Otávio Lima - 14/01/2024Are You Ready to Participate?
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