Welcome to the Cardano Community Digest!
Published by the Cardano Foundation Community Team every two weeks, this Digest will provide you with news, updates and events about the project and ecosystem!
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In this edition of the Community Digest, we highlight
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Pragma Project Committee: Applications are now open for new open-source projects to join the Pragma ecosystem. The initiative focuses on long-term sustainability of Cardano’s software stack, supporting high-quality public-good infrastructure. Selected projects will receive governance, resources, and institutional backing, with applications closing on May 8 at 20:00 UTC.
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Volatility Shares ADA ETF: Volatility Shares launched a new Cardano ETF (CRDD), expanding regulated access to ada via traditional financial markets.
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Buidler Fest Argentina 2026 Recap: The third edition of Buidler Fest brought developers together in Buenos Aires for hands-on collaboration and deep technical discussions across node development, protocol design, and deterministic infrastructure.
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Roundtable Talk: State of Cardano DeFi: Ecosystem contributors discussed liquidity depth, slippage, trading efficiency, and institutional participation in Cardano DeFi. The session highlighted ongoing challenges, and even potential solutions to solving them.
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Governance Hour #3: Pebble & Gerolamo: This session explored HLabs’ 2026 budget proposal, including alternative node implementations such as Gerolamo (TypeScript node) and Pebble (developer toolkit), focusing on expanding Cardano’s developer ecosystem.
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Ambassador Story – Randy (Cardano Indonesia Hub): Randy shares his journey from international relations into Web3 governance, helping build the Indonesian Hub and Town Hall as neutral coordination spaces for Cardano projects and communities.
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Content Creator Spotlight – Peter Bui: A new video breaks down Cardano Partner Chains, highlighting ecosystem expansion beyond Midnight to include additional chains such as Vola Network, Materios Network, and Charli3 Oracles.
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Intersect MBO Update: A memory regression in node v10.7.0 was identified and fixed locally, with no impact on release timelines. The fix is expected in v10.7.1. Committee election applications are also in their final week, closing April 17 at 12:00 UTC.
All this and more in today’s Digest.
Pragma Project Committee: Applications Open For New Pragma Projects
On April 11, 2026, the Pragma Project Committee announced that applications are officially open for new open-source projects to join the Pragma ecosystem. As a non-profit association dedicated to the long-term sustainability of Cardano’s software stack, Pragma is seeking developers and maintainers who are building critical open-source tools that benefit the broader community. What makes this initiative interesting is the collaborative environment that it offers for essential projects that receive institutional support, governance, and resources necessary to thrive as public goods.
To be eligible for this level of support, projects must demonstrate a clear benefit to the Cardano network and in full alignment with Pragma’s mission of supporting high-quality, open-source infrastructure. The selection process is overseen by the Project Committee, which evaluates submissions based on their technical merit and impact on the ecosystem. Those interested in applying must submit their proposals before the deadline on Friday, May 8, at 8:00 PM UTC.
Application Form can be found here.
Volatility Shares: ADA ETF
On April 1, 2026, Volatility Shares announced through their X announcement the launch of a new Cardano ETF, marking another step in bringing ada exposure into traditional financial markets. The ETF will be referenced under the ticker CRDD and is part of a broader rollout of crypto-linked ETFs that also includes Stellar and Chainlink.
According to TapTools in a recent Medium post, “the fund is structured to gain this exposure through futures contracts and other derivative instruments rather than holding ada directly. This places it within an established exchange-traded product framework while allowing ada to be represented inside a regulated financial vehicle.”
This approach allows the ETF to operate within existing regulatory frameworks while still tracking ada’s performance, effectively bridging the gap between traditional finance and blockchain-based assets.
By packaging ada into a familiar investment vehicle, Volatility Shares is lowering the barrier to entry and potentially expanding Cardano’s reach to a new class of market participants.
Buidler Fest Argentina 2026 Recap
From the first event in Toulouse, France in 2024, to its second edition in Da Nang, Vietnam in 2025, the Cardano Buidler Fest returned for its third edition this year in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2026, bringing together Cardano developers from around the world for in-person collaboration, technical deep dives, and hands-on problem solving. Two days of pure buidler activity.
Topics covered at this year’s event included node development, protocol design, determinism, and Cardano’s infrastructure as a foundation for secure, verifiable, enterprise-grade systems.
Buidler Fest Argentina was organized by TxPipe, Ambassadors Mauro Andreoli and Lucas Macchiavelli, funded by Project Catalyst, and sponsored by Cardano Foundation, IO Group, Intersect MBO, the Cardano Ambassador Program, and Midnight.
For a full recap of the event, including voices from the developer community, view the episode here.
Roundtable Talk: The State of Cardano DeFi
On Monday, April 13, 2026 the Cardano Community hosted another Roundtable Talk session whereby multiple ecosystem contributors came together to explore the current state of Cardano DeFi. The discussion was focused on several areas shaping user experience and ecosystem growth - areas including trading efficiency, slippage, liquidity depth, institutional participation (the need for institutional multi-sig capabilities), and overall market usability. This was certainly one of the most heated Roundtable Talks thus far, with strong and sometimes opposing views surfacing throughout the discussion.
At the table were Jenny Brito, Leem( also known as Joker), VESPR Wallet), Liqwid Finance, Elder Millennial, Blockjock, Tim Bruckmann, Dano Finance, Rusty (also known as Falling Icarus), and Phil DiSarro.
The full session can be rewatched on Youtube or on X (Twitter)
Governance Hour #3: Pebble + Gerolamo – HLabs 2026 Budget
On Tuesday, April 14, this Governance Hour took a closer look at Pebble and Gerolamo, part of the HLabs 2026 Budget proposal. Joining the session was Michele Nuzzi, Founder of Harmonic Laboratories. With growing interest in alternative node clients, the discussion explored Gerolamo, a TypeScript-based Cardano node, and Pebble, a programming language and dApp development toolkit.
Governance Hours continue to go beyond written proposals, creating space for deeper discussion, critical questions, and helping the community better understand what’s being proposed before voting.
The full session can be rewatched on Youtube or on X (Twitter)
Ambassador Stories, with Randy (Cardano Indonesia Hub)
Meet Randy, one of the newest Ambassadors to join the Cardano Ambassador Program. With the launch of the Voltaire era Randy’s vision changed and he became much more actively involved in the ecosystem, with a clear focus on Governance.
With a background in international relations, Randy was drawn to how decentralized systems enable community-driven decision-making. For him, it’s less about price action and more about how governance gives direction to the structure that code builds. As an Ambassador, he has helped strengthen the local ecosystem by co-creating an Indonesian Hub with the community and laying the foundation for an Indonesian Town Hall, a neutral space for Cardano projects and external ecosystems to connect and engage. Looking ahead, Randy hopes to see stronger coordination across global hubs and more structured collaboration between community, enterprise, and governance actors.
Oh, and yes… want to learn more about how an exchange insider ended up building governance infrastructure in Web3?
Cardanians: Weekly Ecosystem Updates
In the latest update shared by Cardanians, several key developments across the Cardano ecosystem stand out. According to the thread, 6M USDA is set to be minted as part of Anzens’ expansion into Kenya, marking a step toward broader stablecoin adoption in emerging markets.
The update also highlights progress on scalability, with the Ouroboros Leios testnet expected to launch in June (you can also check out Ed n’Stuff’s post about this here). Leios aims to significantly increase throughput on the network. In parallel, Cardano has now surpassed 120 million transactions on mainnet, reflecting continued network usage and growth.
Finally, as per the update, IO Group is shifting focus toward making Cardano easier to build on - making it clear that they are committed to improving the developer experience across the ecosystem. For this and more, view here the X thread.
Spotlight on Cardano Content Creators
This week, we’re highlighting some of Cardano’s content creators, community members who help keep the ecosystem informed and engaged. Whether through tutorials, blogs, or thought-provoking discussions, they contribute valuable context and keep the conversation moving. Here are a few creators making an impact:
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Peter Bui (Learn Cardano)
Peter Bui (Learn Cardano), Cardano Ambassador, SPO of ADAOZ Pool, and creator of the Learn Cardano YouTube channel, recently released a new video breaking down four Cardano Partner Chains. While Midnight is likely the most well-known, the ecosystem is expanding with three additional partner chains (Vola Network, Materios Network, Charli3 Oracles) alongside the already live Midnight chain. Watch it here. Watch It Here -
Linda
Linda has not been quiet. In fact, if anything, she’s been really busy creating all kinds of valuable content for the Cardano Community. In one of her recent videos, Linda provides an overview of multiple updates - from banks that are going ALL-IN on crypto, to Cardano becoming more interoperable with Bitcoin thanks to the direct atomic swap breakthrough from FluidTokens, and more Check out her video here on X.
Community Learning & Developer Engagement
Developer Office Hours
Participation in the Cardano Developer Office Hours continues to grow, with developers actively tuning in to learn, share knowledge, and interact live with participants. Recent sessions featured:
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Governance Hour #2 - Deep Dive Into Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund - In this episode, Samiz Bayan, Partner at Draper Dragon and representative of the team behind the proposal, takes a deep dive into the Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund proposal. Governance Hours are designed to go beyond written documentation, creating space for deeper discussion. They give participants the opportunity to explore the fund’s structure, capital strategy, and alignment with broader ecosystem goals, ask questions, and better understand the thinking behind the proposal. Watch here to full recording.
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Cardano CIP-113 Deep Dive: Programmable Tokens & Compliance with Giovanni Gargiulo - This session explores Cardano’s emerging standard for programmable tokens, designed to enable sophisticated token behaviors directly on-chain. We dive into how CIP-113 facilitates advanced features such as compliance controls, freeze/unfreeze mechanisms, and KYC-aware flows, opening up new possibilities for regulated assets and complex DeFi protocols on Cardano. Missed it? Watch here.
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Building Faster on Cardano: Exploring SIDAN Lab Developer Tools with Hinson Wong - In this Developers Office Hour, we sit down with Hinson Wong, Co-founder & CEO of DeltaDeFi and SIDAN Lab, to explore the powerful suite of open-source tools they’ve built for the Cardano ecosystem. SIDAN Lab is at the forefront of creating developer-centric solutions that simplify the building process. Hinson provides a practical walkthrough of their repositories, demonstrating how these tools help developers bypass common hurdles and accelerate the deployment of decentralized applications (dApps) on Cardano. Watch here.
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Cardano’s Next-Gen Infrastructure: Andamio v2 & AI Agentic Workflows - This edition of Cardano Developers Office Hours, we are joined by Nelson Kshetrimayum and James Dunseith from Andamio to explore the evolution of their platform. Andamio is an open-source protocol on Cardano designed for managing immutable credentials, project-based learning, and treasury governance. This session focuses on the major transition to Andamio v2, which introduces a more flexible and generalized system for on-chain credentials. We also dive into Agentic Workflows, discussing how AI agents can interact with the protocol to automate task management and contributor flows. Watch here.
These sessions are just a few examples of the many ongoing ecosystem engagement efforts across Cardano. To stay updated and not miss upcoming episodes, be sure to give them a follow, or subscribe to their channel.
Updates from the Cardano Foundation
The Cardano Foundation has shared several recent updates, highlighting ecosystem progress across governance, research, education, and interoperability.
One highlight is the March 2026 activities report. Including updates on new integrations, institutional adoption, governance votes, research publications, developer events, and expanded education initiatives, all contributing to continued ecosystem growth. Read the full update here.
The Foundation also released a new Cardano Academy case study that looked deeply into how blockchain can help address trust gaps in AI systems. As AI surpasses one billion users, the study focuses on how infrastructure for verifiable and trustworthy AI has not kept pace. The case study outlines how blockchain capabilities such as immutable logging, decentralized identity, and smart contracts can support verifiable AI systems, alongside a live case study of the Masumi Network. For this and more, explore the case study here.
Besides that, the Foundation, together with EMURGO, submitted a Treasury Withdrawal proposal for Cardano Summit 2026 in Singapore. Building on last year’s community-supported funding for the Cardano Summit 2025, the proposal outlines expectations, and required investment needed to execute the flagship ecosystem events. Read the full proposal here.
Finally, in a recent episode of Let’s Talk Cardano, the Foundation spoke with Wanchain CEO Temujin Louie to explore how blockchain interoperability actually works in practice. The discussion covered a variety of topic, among which are cross-chain bridges, including lock-and-mint and burn-and-unlock models, as well as messaging-based interoperability, bridge security, validator design, and common failure points. It also looks at how interoperability is evolving alongside enterprise adoption and increasingly complex multi-chain ecosystems. The Full episode can be re-watched here on Youtube, or on Spotify
Update from Intersect MBO
Intersect MBO recently shared its latest weekly update, covering both governance and core infrastructure progress.
On the technical side, benchmarking for node v10.7.0 revealed a memory regression, adding roughly 6GB of RAM usage. Not ideal, but it looks contained. The performance and testing teams believe they’ve identified the root cause, and a local fix is already in place.
Next step is integration benchmarking over the coming days to confirm everything holds up, without requiring downstream API changes. If all goes well, the fix should be included in v10.7.1. Importantly, this hasn’t shifted timelines. The Van Rossem hard fork is still on track for late June 2026.
On governance, things are picking up pace.
The team confirmed that we’re now in the final week of applications for the 2026 Intersect Committee Elections. If you’re considering applying, keep in mind that the deadline is coming Friday, April 17 at 12:00 UTC.
Committee meetings will continue throughout the week, and if you’re still on the fence, it’s worth dropping in. Observers are always welcome, and it’s a good way to get a feel for how things operate in practice.
Cardano Reddit Top 10 Most Engaged Topics
Below are the most engaging topics on Reddit
- Japan just approved a huge pro-crypto bill! Join Gianna as she discusses what this means for Cardano.
- The Cardano Academy just published a new case study: Blockchain for AI.
- I vibe-coded a multiplayer extraction shooter that runs on real ADA [Cardano]
- Out of the game for a while, trying to catch up
- Midnight was just listed on a major exchange! Join Gianna as she goes over the details and what this means and what to expect next.
- A new kind of dApp: Cardano XP is live on Mainnet
- Finding Satoshi - Charles Hoskinson
- Stake pools on Cardano are closing up! What’s happening!?! #cardano #crypto #cryptocurrency #ada - Learn Cardano
- Massive liquidity inflow from Foundation - Cardano’s New Liquidity Boost! #Shorts #cryptocurrency - Learn Cardano
- Cardano (ADA) Market Fit | Cardano Rumor Rundown #824 - Army of Spies
Cardano Forum Top 8 Referred Topics
Topics that have received the most clicks from external sources. (last 10 Days)
- Cardano Ambassadors: Roles and Responsibilities
- Cardano is now Speaking fluent OData - a widely used enterprise standard
- Early Partner Opportunity – BLOKY Stake Pool (Limited 5)
- “Unsupported legacy peer snapshot version”
- A new kind of dApp: Cardano XP is live on Mainnet
- Looking for feedback on my first governance proposal – still new to the GovTool
- Credentials Made Easy: in just three minutes, get a clear understanding of how blockchain credentials work
- Intersect Update #106 — April 10, 2026
Upcoming Community Events
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04-15 Paris Blockchain Week: For two days, 10,000 decision-makers convene at the Louvre and VIPs gather at the iconic Château de Versailles to address regulatory frameworks, institutional custody, cross-border settlement, and market structure.
PBW 2026 is not just a conference. It’s Europe’s power forum for the future of digital finance. Where innovation meets capital, and the next chapter of markets takes shape, beneath the glass of the Louvre and the grandeur of Versailles - More Details Here
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04-15 Intersect Product Committee call: This is the product committee working session. Anyone is welcome to join and observe. In the last 30 mins the secretary will allow interactions with the observes - More Details Here
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04-16 X Space - Inside the van Rossem Upgrade: Weekly Community Q&A: Weekly technical and governance sync on Cardano’s transition to Protocol Version 11. Join the Hard Fork Working Group to discuss node readiness, Plutus cost models, and ecosystem signaling as we approach the van Rossem upgrade - More Details Here
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04-17 Roundtable Talk - Concentration of Voting Power: The Path Forward: Cardano’s governance framework depends on broad participation, transparent decision-making, and meaningful distribution of voting power. The recent discussion around the concentration of Voting Power, delegation defaults, voter apathy, and low vote-rationale coverage shows that these are active governance issues that deserve serious public debate.
And for this very reason we are bringing it to a Roundtable Talk format. This Roundtable Talk will aim to create space to further examine whether Cardano’s current delegation dynamics are healthy, whether voting power is becoming too concentrated, and what practical steps can be taken to strengthen participation without undermining our core principles when it comes to decentralization and trust - More Details Here
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04-20 JCON Europe - JCON EUROPE 2026 is the premier in-person Java community conference in Germany. The event is organized by the Java User Group Oberpfalz in collaboration with JAVAPRO Magazine - More Details Here
For more weekly events, visit Cardano Events
Many thanks and greetings from the Community Team!