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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Midnight Mainnet Launch: After six years of development, Midnight is now live, enabling privacy-preserving applications using zero-knowledge proofs. The rollout begins in phases, with ecosystem expansion and interoperability planned for later in 2026.
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FluidTokens Atomic Swap Breakthrough: FluidTokens completed the first native Bitcoin–Cardano atomic swap on mainnet, enabling trustless BTC–ADA trading without bridges, custodians, or wrapped assets.
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Cardano Node 10.7.0 Pre-Release: Intersect MBO introduced a new node version featuring major improvements, including reduced RAM usage via LedgerDB V2, alongside updates preparing for the upcoming Van Rossum hard fork.
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Upcoming SPO Call (April 2): IOG invites SPOs to discuss Node 10.7.0, Mithril progress, Dingo developments, and the path toward the next hard fork.
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Ambassador Story – Neal Lam: New Ambassador Neal Lam shares his journey into Web3 and his focus on community building, user experience, and long-term ecosystem growth.
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Community Learning & Dev Engagement: Recent sessions covered DeFi liquidity proposals, node diversity with Amaru, the Cardano Africa Tech Summit, and AI-powered analytics through CAP.
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Cardano Foundation Updates: The Foundation shared progress on its Lisbon-based accelerator cohort, new research on validator incentives, and a deep dive into market makers in crypto.
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Intersect Committee Elections Space (March 31): Intersect MBO hosts an X Space to explain committee roles, election details, and how members can participate.
All this and more in today’s Digest.
Midnight Mainnet officially Launched
After more than six years of development, the Midnight Foundation announced on March 30, 2026, that the Midnight network is officially live. As per the announcement, Midnight enables applications where user data stays private while sensitive conditions can still be proven on-chain, using zero-knowledge proofs to verify information without exposing the underlying data.
The launch is being rolled out in phases, with support from partners including Google Cloud, MoneyGram, and Blockdaemon.
As a partner chain in the Cardano ecosystem, Midnight now enters its next stage of network and ecosystem expansion, with a rewards-enabled testnet expected in Q2 2026 and full interoperability targeted for Q3 2026.
For the full announcement post, click here
FluidTokens: First Atomic Swap Between Cardano and Bitcoin 
On March 26, 2026, FluidTokens announced the first atomic swap between Cardano and Bitcoin on mainnet.
As they shared, “We just performed the first Atomic Swap between Cardano and Bitcoin in Mainnet. This means native BTC was traded for native ADA.”
The swap, 50 ADA for 0.0001 BTC, was executed peer-to-peer, without bridges, custodians, or wrapped assets. Instead, it relies on cryptographic scripts on both chains. Bitcoin uses hashed timelock contracts (HTLCs) to lock funds with a secret. Once that secret is revealed, it enables the counterparty to unlock funds on Cardano.
Timeouts ensure that if either party does not complete their side, funds can be safely reclaimed.
While atomic swaps are not new, enabling one between Cardano and Bitcoin, two chains with very different architectures, marks a notable step forward in cross-chain interoperability.
Check out the announcement post here.
For a more comprehensive explanation of what this all means, look no further, as Cardano Yoda, has got you covered. You can read his full post here
Cardano Node: Pre-Release Version 10.7.0
On March 26, 2026, Intersect MBO announced a pre-release of Cardano Node 10.7.0.
As per the GitHub release notes, “Node version 10.7.0 contains a number of major improvements,” including a new LSM Tree storage backend (LedgerDB V2) for the UTxO-HD OnDisk backend, cutting RAM needs from 24GB to 8GB. Other updates include KES Agent support, an experimental cardano-rpc, new dmq-node and kes-agent binaries, and TLS/SSL support in cardano-tracer.
The release is ready for testing - in preparation for the expected Van Rossum hard fork. But before we get to that, Intersect’s Parameter Committee is also updating the Plutus cost model - something that definitely will require developers to check their scripts against new primitives and adjusted coefficients. Read the full release notes here.
Also covered in the Intersect MBO weekly update
All SPOs: Join the Monthly SPO Call on April 2
All (aspiring) SPOs are invited to join the upcoming Monthly SPO Call, scheduled for Thursday, April 2 at 15:00 UTC. As per IOG’s invitation, the session will cover several updates, including Node version 10.7.0 and its newly released LSM, an update on the path toward the Van Rossem hard fork, the latest progress and near-term direction for Mithril, and developments around Dingo.
For more details, and to add the event to your calendar, check out the following link: https://luma.com/zju92qz5
Ambassador Stories, with Neal Lam (Sidan Lab)
Meet Neal Lam @NealSIDAN, one of the newest Ambassadors to join the Cardano Ambassador Program.
Based in Hong Kong, Neal’s journey went from banking and mobile apps to UI/UX, then finally landing in blockchain and Web3. That mix gives him a unique perspective on products development, users’ wishes, and building for the long term.
He was drawn to Cardano for its security, decentralization, and focus on real, lasting impact - values that match how he thinks about trust and sustainability.
As an Ambassador, Neal is all about connecting people. From events and workshops to showing newcomers around Hong Kong, he helps the community feel more approachable and welcoming. He hopes to see Cardano grow steadily with more real-world adoption, stronger DeFi infrastructure, and more builders joining the ecosystem, without losing what makes it special.
His message: “Cardano feels like home. Let’s keep showing up for each other and growing together as a family.”
Oh, and yes… want to hear how a banking trainee ended up building in blockchain full-time?
Cardanians: Weekly Ecosystem Updates
In the latest Cardanians Ecosystem Newsletter, several developments across the Cardano ecosystem stand out. According to the update, Midnight’s NIGHT token was listed on Binance, becoming the first CNA on the exchange. The newsletter also mentions the upcoming release of a physical Cardano Card (remember WireX?), a move that builds further on the existing virtual card for ada payments.
And that’s not all, as it also covers a swift update on FluidTokens, which continues work on its Bitcoin–Cardano bridge, moving closer to enabling BTC liquidity on Cardano. 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, Cardano Ambassador, SPO of ADAOZ Pool, and creator of the Learn Cardano YouTube channel, recently broke down two, highly spoken of, ecosystem updates in plain English. 1. The announcement of FluidToken’s native atomic swaps between Bitcoin and ada - with no bridge, no wrapping, no middleman. Real BTC for real ada, trustlessly enforced by cryptographic contracts on both chains! He also dives into what this all unlocks in terms of direct Bitcoin DeFi on Cardano and the removal of any kind of reliance on centralized exchanges. 2nd, the Cardano’s Van Rossem hard fork (Protocol Version 11). Thee a lot ongoing here, and Peter is clearly on top of it all. He speaks about the five new Plutus built-in functions, making every DApp faster, cheaper, with better data handling (like constant-time array lookups) and ZK-ready capabilities. I know it’s a mouth ful, but trust me, its worth a watch! These upgrades strengthen Cardano’s smart contract foundation and cross-chain interoperability. Watch It Here -
cexplorer.io
Cexplorer.io recently dropped a super informative article on their Cardano Stablecoin Dashboard, your one-stop hub to track stablecoin action in real time. The dashboard shows net flow, market cap, dominance, and mint/burn events, plus an interactive chart breaking down transactions, volume, and holders per epoch. It tracks USDCx, USDM, USDA, DJED, iUSD, USDC via Wanchain, and USDT via Wanchain, making it easy to see supply moves, market trends, and who’s leading the stablecoin game, all in one place. Read the full article here.
These creators are just a snapshot of the many creators within our ecosystem. Following them is a great way to stay updated on tutorials, interviews, and discussions that help deepen your understanding of Cardano and its potential.
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 #1 - Deep Dive Into Cardano Defi Liquidity Budget - IIn this Governance Hour, Dr. Nick Schaub, also known as Elder Millennial, walks us through the Cardano DeFi Liquidity Budget proposal. The session dives into the thinking behind the proposal, with a clear goal to go beyond the written details, ask questions, and better understand its goals, structure, and potential impact on the ecosystem. More details, and the link to the recording can be found here on the Cardano Forum.
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Amaru & Node Diversity: Strengthening Cardano’s Infrastructure - In this Cardano Developers Office Hour, Matthias Benkort, (Dr.) Roland Kuhn, Eric Torreborre, and Julien Eluard dive into Amaru, Cardano’s new Rust-based full node, and the 2026 Budget Proposal. The session explores why client diversity is now essential for a resilient blockchain, how Amaru helps reduce systemic risk, and how the proposed budget supports a multi-node ecosystem including Haskell, Rust, and Go implementations. Missed it? Watch here.
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Cardano Africa Tech Summit - The Story, with Wada - In this Cardano Seminar, Megan Hess (Operations Lead at Wada Global) and Darlington Wleh (Founder of Blockchain Center Nairobi) walk us through the story behind the Cardano Africa Tech Summit. The session covers how the event came together, the key players behind the scenes, what it took to organize a summit of this scale in Africa for the first time, and much more. Watch here.
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Cardano Analytics Platform (CAP), powered by LLM - In this Cardano Seminar, Marcio Moreno and Rafael Brandao, co-founders of MOBR Systems, introduce the Cardano Analytics Platform (CAP) and how AI is transforming access to on-chain data. The session explores how CAP’s semantic analytics layer, natural language queries, smart dashboards, and knowledge-graph technology make on-chain insights more accessible for research, governance, and other use cases across the Cardano ecosystem. 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 innovation, ecosystem growth, and research.
One highlight is the Cardano Accelerator Program Spring ’26 Cohort in Lisbon. The Foundation’s Venture Hub is supporting five DeFi and RWA ventures — Colossus Digital, Libertum, NOBON, The Mint, and Toto Finance — through a 10-week program combining technical guidance, business coaching, workshops, and fundraising support. The cohort will conclude with a Demo Day for investors and ecosystem partners. Learn more here: Cardano Accelerator Program
In the latest episode of Let’s Talk Cardano, Jonathan Mathai, Director at G20 Strategies, explores the role of market makers in crypto, DeFi, and traditional finance. The discussion covers liquidity creation in order book and AMM markets, risk management, yield generation, and how market makers navigate volatility, MEV, and AI. Ever wanted to learn about MEV or AMM markets, well, this one’s for you! Watch or listen here: YouTube | Spotify
The Foundation also published new research on validator incentives and restaking security, in collaboration with IOG and Gauntlet. The study identifies structural vulnerabilities in current restaking designs, showing that no slashing mechanism can simultaneously satisfy several desirable properties while removing Sybil attack incentives. As Cardano’s reserve emissions decline over time, understanding sustainable validator rewards becomes increasingly important. The research was presented at the 5th Workshop on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) in March 2026, providing a foundation for exploring alternative mechanisms that support long-term network security. Read the full post here.
Join the Intersect Committee Elections Space on March 31
Intersect MBO Committee Elections are just around the corner, and Intersect MBO is organizing an X-Space to tell you all about it.
In this first Space, members from Intersect Open Source Office, Intersect Membership and Community Committee, and the Intersect Steering Committee will share what the committees do, how many seats are up for election, and how they make decisions on behalf of the community.
The committees are made up of Cardano community members and are responsible for providing guidance and recommendations for the future of the protocol. But who’s eligible to apply for such a seat? well…that’s an easy one…only Individual and Enterprise members are eligible to apply for a seat on a committee; associates are not eligible, as they do not hold this benefit.
For more details and to join the X-Space, click here.
Or check out the Cardano Forum Post by Cardano Ambassador Randy
Cardano Reddit Top 9 Most Engaged Topics
Below are the most engaging topics on Reddit
- When The Clock Strikes Midnight
- Bitcoin Just Beamed to Cardano — No Bridges, No Wrapping, No Trust Required - Learn Cardano
- Bitcoin on Cardano, Midnight Mainnet, and 250 Million Partnership! - big pey
- Midnight Launch Week - Charles Hoskinson
- A Real Bank Just Put £250M on Midnight — Years of Waiting Are Over - Learn Cardano
- Welcome Monument - Charles Hoskinson
- Blocks don’t fill themselves. Ever checked what’s actually filling them?
- The 20-Second Micro-Market in Cardano: an overlooked L2 native on Cardano
- Cardano Updates - What you Need To Know Now - Cardano With Paul
Cardano Forum Top 10 Referred Topics
Topics that have received the most clicks from external sources. (last 10 Days)
- Missed out on Glacier Night Token Distribution
- Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund - FAQ
- Plutus Cost Model Increases for post-vanRossem potentially breaking contracts
- Developer Office Hours #54 - Exploring SIDAN Lab Tools
- Blocks don’t fill themselves. Ever checked what’s actually filling them?
- Intersect Update #103 — March 20, 2026
- TAMED Field Report: Building on Cardano from an Underserved Region
- Seeking Expert Feedback on Cardano-Based IoT Energy Incentive System (Thesis Project)
- USDCx na Cardano agora disponível via Circle xReserve
- BREAKING : Intersect committee applications open March 30
Upcoming Community Events
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03-31 Hard Fork Working Group: Intersect has been informed of a proposal in brief, for the next Cardano mainnet hardfork. A tranche of work related to the core haskell node, funded by the treasury has neared completion, been identified and put forward as a candidate for a mainnet hard fork. Intersect will host and facilitate the Hard Fork Working Group (HFWG) to coordinate and navigate ecosystem feedback and potential readiness, prior to formal Cardano governance actions being raised for wider consensus and approval by the community- More Details Here
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03-31 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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04-01 Layer 2 working group (Asia 12:00 UTC) Meeting of the Layer 2 working group, scheduled at 12:00 UTC on the first Wednesday of every month to accomodate European/Asian timezones. The working group also meets at 17:00 UTC on the third Wednesday of every month to accomodate North/South American timezones - More Details Here
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04-04 Founders Meetup 2026 - Cardano Vietnam x Hub Network - Founders Meetup Danang 2026 - Theme: “Blockchain Startups & Fundraising for Vietnamese Startups in the Digital Era”
In the context of the blockchain and digital asset market entering a phase of deep restructuring, opportunities are no longer reserved for projects that rely solely on technological ideas. Instead, founders need to think in terms of business models, cash flow, risk management, and scalability in a globally competitive environment. More Details Here
For more weekly events, visit Cardano Events
Many thanks and greetings from the Community Team!