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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!
If you are interested in receiving the Community Digest in the future directly via email, please sign-up here!
In this edition of the Community Digest, we highlight:
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9 Years of Cardano: Cardano celebrates nine years since its genesis block, with 2,890 stake pools, 123.98 million transactions, and 158 governance actions recorded.
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CIP-113: Programmable token-like assets have been merged into the main CIP repository, moving the standard into its next stage.
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Cardano Node 11.1.3: Intersect released a corrective node update fixing IPv4 address decoding. SPOs are encouraged to update, with no ledger replay required.
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TOKEN2049 Singapore: The Cardano Foundation is bringing a 108m² booth, 20 ecosystem projects, builder presentations, node diversity activities, and more to Singapore on October 7–8.
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Developer Spotlight: ODATANO creator Maximilian Weber explains how OData can make Cardano integration more accessible to enterprise and SAP developers.
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CIP Updates: Six new proposals cover trusted messaging, node observability, node signalling, governance actions, and Plutus Core, while CIP-113 has reached completion.
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Ecosystem & Creator Highlights: Cardanians covers Midnight, and Cardano DeFi, while creators look at Cardano, Midnight, research-driven development and recent ecosystem updates.
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Community Learning: Developer Office Hours explored Subbit.xyz and subscription payments, while the latest Roundtable looked at smart contract security and the impact of AI on auditing.
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CF & Intersect Updates: The Foundation announced a UCLA partnership, Barça Fan Lab launched on Cardano, Cardano joined the official x402 SDK, and Intersect announced its new Board members and Dijkstra preparations.
All this and more in today’s Digest.
9 years of Cardano!
September 23 marked nine years since Cardano’s genesis block was created, with the network subsequently moving through five eras: Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho and Voltaire. Each marked a major step in the network’s evolution, from the original Byron launch in September 2017, through Shelley’s decentralisation in July 2020, Goguen’s smart contract era, Basho’s focus on scalability, and finally Voltaire’s move toward community-led governance. An overview of the eras hardforks
That governance journey has been quite something in itself. It moved from the CIP-1694 framework and a global series of constitutional workshops, to the first Constitutional Convention in Buenos Aires and Nairobi in December 2024, where delegates approved a draft Constitution. The process then moved on-chain, with the Constitution ultimately ratified by the Cardano community in February 2025.
And the network today? The Foundation’s September 23 update counted 2,890 stake pools, 13.98 million blocks, 123.98 million transactions, and 36,322 votes across 158 governance actions. Nine years on, Cardano isn’t just marking another birthday. It has moved from building the network to building the mechanisms through which its community can govern it.
Watch Here The Full Anniversary Video
CIP-113 Programmable Tokens Merged Into The CIP Repo
After years of work and review, the CIP-113 standard has now been merged into Cardano’s main CIP repository on September 29. This is an important step toward having programmable tokens on Cardano.
The standard provides a framework for assets that can carry rules such as KYC allowlists, denylists, freezes, transfer limits or jurisdiction requirements, with those rules enforced on-chain whenever the asset moves. That could be particularly relevant for regulated assets and RWAs, where transfer rules are part of the asset itself.
The news was quickly picked up across the ecosystem. Giovanni Gargiulo, who has played a central role in further developing and explaining the programmable-token work at the Cardano Foundation, highlighted the many contributors behind the effort and specifically thanked Phil DiSarro for the original design, alongside the CIP reviewers and editors. Credit also goes to Michele Nuzzi from Harmonic Labs[, who was among the first to explore programmable token implementations on Cardano.
Matteo Coppola](Matteo on X: "After many years of work, CIP113 has been officially merged to the main branch of Cardano CIPs. This means the official standard for programmable tokens on Cardano, including securities, is out. Many great minds have contributed to the standard, but in particular @CryptoJoe101 has … / X) of FluidTokens (also an active collaborator) and Danny Ribar of Project Catalyst also highlighted the years of work behind the standard, with Danny pointing to the next challenge: adoption. Adam Dean described the merge as another step toward Active status.
For a closer technical look, the Cardano Developer Office Hour with Giovanni covers CIP-113 and its KYC substandard. Read the CIP and its discussion on GitHub.
Cardano Node Update + Reminder for This Week’s SPO Call
Intersect has released Cardano Node version 11.1.3, a small but important technical update for SPOs and node operators. The release fixes an issue with IPv4 address decoding introduced in 11.1.2, following an issue identified on the Preprod testnet.
Intersect recommends that SPOs run version 11.1.2 at minimum, while anyone still running an older version should move directly to 11.1.3. And the good news… no ledger replay is required!
The update is mainly a corrective release rather than a feature upgrade. This one keeps the focus on maintaining network stability and consistent node operation. Full release details and changelog.
Oh, and one more thing: don’t forget to join this week’s SPO Call on Thursday, October 1st, at 15:00 UTC. The call will cover the latest core node updates, Leios and the Musashi testnet, node diversity with Blink Labs and Dingo, and the latest developments around Mithril.
As always, all SPOs are encouraged to come on stage and join the discussion, so bring your questions. Add the call to your calendar
Cardano at TOKEN2049: Singapore, Here We Come - 1 Week To Go
TOKEN2049 Singapore is just over a week away, and the Cardano Foundation will be there as a Platinum Sponsor, bringing a 108m² Cardano booth to Marina Bay Sands on October 7–8. Catch the full announcement here.
The Cardano Booth will feature 20 selected Cardano ecosystem projects, giving attendees the chance to meet and interact directly with the teams building across the ecosystem. There will also be a podcast corner, builder presentations, and a dedicated program around node diversity, including the Node Diversity Celebration Day on October 6.
Curious about all this? Well… check out the Cardano TOKEN2049 website for the full overview, including the list of projects representing the ecosystem.
The TOKEN2049 Origins Hackathon, side events (such as the Rooftop UTXO Pitch Night with Draper Dragon) and other activities will add to a busy week. Intersect has also confirmed its participation at the Cardano booth, while Midnight will be present at TOKEN2049 with its own program. Intersect update Midnight event schedule.
And if you missed last week’s Cardano Foundation AMA on X, it’s worth catching up on before the event.
Developer Spotlight: ODATANO
In the latest Developer Spotlight, Maximilian Weber, creator of ODATANO, shares how his background in SAP development and interest in decentralised systems led him to explore Cardano’s potential in the enterprise space.
The interview looks at how ODATANO uses OData, a standard already familiar to SAP developers, to make it easier for enterprise systems to interact with Cardano without requiring developers to navigate the full complexity of blockchain integration.
Max also takes us through projects such as TRACE and QUANTIX, showing how Cardano can be applied to areas including supply chains, procurement and financial data. He also shares his perspective on where Cardano is well suited for enterprise adoption, what still needs to improve, and what it could take to move blockchain from a developer’s laptop into real-world business systems.
Read the full Developer Spotlight
Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIP) Updates
Another batch of CIPs just landed, and this one has a clear theme: making Cardano more resilient, more observable, and easier to trust. Robert Phair’s latest snapshot brings six new proposals to the table, from a messaging framework built for “rescue” scenarios to tools that shed light on what our nodes are really doing. And a long-awaited heavy hitter has finally crossed the finish line.
New Proposals
Related CIP & CPS for a trusted messaging framework for Cardano, with a range of Cardano-specific and Internet-wide options; including off-chain operation for use in “rescue” scenarios:
- CPS-0038 candidate: Trustworthy Off-chain Message Dissemination
- CIP-0201 candidate: Decentralised Pub/Sub Message Dissemination
Two different proposals for diagnostics through Cardano’s multi-node diversification:
- CIP-0202 candidate: Node Observability Snapshot Protocol - universal metrics for each node’s performance
- CIP-0203 candidate: Block Producer Identifier Registry - for including the node type in each produced block
And a couple more worth a look:
- CIP-0204 candidate: Holder Answers on Governance Actions
- CIP-0205 candidate: Remove scope check in Plutus Core
Active Review
- CIP-0200 candidate: Transaction Urgency Signalling On Linear Leios - experts are weighing in on the tension between ideal performance and cost efficiency versus real-world economics and business requirements
Completed
- CIP-0113 | Programmable token-like assets - it made it across the line!
Cardanians: Weekly Ecosystem Updates
Cardanians Newsletter #142 landed September 28 covering several great updates from the ecosystem. Charles Hoskinson, for example, framed Midnight’s private smart contracts and private asset transfers as a structural step forward from existing privacy chains. Further more, the newsletter also highlights JamOnBread’s NFT marketplace relaunched on Cardano. And an AlphaGrowth DeFi protocol audit flagged eight gaps in the current Cardano DeFi setup, which is a must-read if you build or use DeFi on-chain. Full thread on their X profile. Catch the full thread here.
Cardano Newsletter: Weekly Cardano Digest #145
Lucas Macchiavelli is back with Issue #145, out September 28. It covers the Barça Fan Lab launch, the Fireblocks Native Token custody news, and the Lace 2.3 wallet update that redesigns stake pool and DRep discovery. This and much more in the latest Cardsano Newsletter. Check the full issue on his site: Weekly Cardano Digest #145 .
Spotlight on Cardano Content Creators
Cardano’s got no shortage of people documenting it, explaining it, and building on it out in the open, and this week we’re giving them their flowers. Below is a mix of voices: creators breaking down technical upgrades and staking basics for newcomers, and builders giving firsthand updates on what they’re shipping. A few Content Creator Spotlights from across the ecosystem::
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Cardano Ambassador, Peter Bui recently posted a video titled; “Cardano and Midnight Are Getting More Usable,”. This roughly thirty-five-minute ecosystem recap pulls together the week’s biggest developments: from Fireblocks integration, to Barça Fan Lab using Cardano, to the Catalyst 2026 Pilot update, and Cardano Venture Hub updates. Definitely a great pick if you’d rather sit down with one coherent story. Watch here.
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Community member Sadık Emre ALKAN shared a thoughtful educational (back to basics) explainer on Cardano’s research-first methodology, contrasting it with ‘build-first chains’ and extending his argument to why Midnight’s zero-knowledge design follows the same commitments. It’s a longer read, but a rewarding one for anyone interested in the protocol’s underlying design philosophy. Read here the X post.
Community Learning & Developer Engagement
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The September 28 issued Developers Office Hour featured Dominic Wallis (Senior Software Engineer at Cardano Foundation) presenting Subbit.xyz, a lightweight L2 payment channel protocol for trustless subscriptions and micropayments. The session is a practical complement to the broader x402 agentic payments story that has been developing across the Cardano ecosystem for some time now already.
If you’re interested in learning more about this , the confirmed Hydra Technical Workshop on October 2 at 14:00 UTC will cover the Hydra state channel framework, practical application use cases, technical setup steps, and a live Q&A with the Hydra team. So developers curious about high-throughput Layer 2 applications on Cardano should mark the date.
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Also on September 28, the Roundtable Talk: Smart Contract Security - Why One Check Is No Longer Enough brought together experienced security professionals to explore how the rapidly evolving AI landscape is changing smart contract security.
The discussion looked at how AI models can now analyse code, identify vulnerabilities, and generate exploit code in minutes, raising new questions around continuous monitoring, the role of traditional audits, and trust across the ecosystem. The panel also discussed how auditing firms are adapting their business models and what practical steps DApp developers can take to strengthen security and protect users.
The session featured Alexander Vershilov, Senior Security Researcher at Tweag; Santi Carmuega, CEO of TxPipe; Philip DiSarro, CEO of Anastasia Labs; Samuel Leathers, Security Counsel at Intersect MBO, and Benjamin Hart, CTO & Technical Architect at MLabs.
Updates from the Cardano Foundation
The Cardano Foundation’s been busy, as always, with updates spanning education, real-world adoption, the x402 agentic economy, and governance.
Starting with education: on September 28, the Foundation announced a multi-year partnership with the Venture Accelerator at UCLA Anderson School of Management. The collaboration includes five sponsored fellowships for early-stage companies in the UCLA Accelerate programme, an interactive blockchain and AI masterclass on October 19 titled “Cardano for the Real World,” Cardano Academy content being integrated into UCLA Anderson’s blockchain coursework from 2027, and sponsorship of the 2027 UCLA Draper Innovation Showcase. Full partnership details at crypto.news.
On the adoption front, FC Barcelona formally launched the Barça Fan Lab on Cardano on September 25. Funded through Catalyst Fund 13 and built in collaboration with Andamio, the platform connects fans’ existing BarçaID digital identity with a Cardano Web3 wallet, opening the door to verifiable credentials, educational badges, access tokens, and collectibles without requiring participants to have advanced blockchain knowledge. Then there’s the x402 push. The Foundation confirmed Cardano is now live in the official x402 SDK, with CF engineers contributing client, server, and facilitator components that enable ada-denominated API payments for AI agents and applications. That puts Cardano into the broader x402 initiative championed by Coinbase, which is focused on machine-to-machine payments over standard HTTP.
And September 23 marked nine years of Cardano. The Foundation shared the birthday stats: 38.89 billion ada circulating, 21.29 billion ada staked across 2,672 active stake pools, 328 active DReps, and 158 governance actions recorded since the start of the Voltaire era.
Meanwhile, the UNDP SDG Blockchain Accelerator application window is entering its final week, with UN teams invited to submit real-world challenges that blockchain technology could potentially help address.
And on September 22, the CF-hosted X Space “What’s next for Cardano?” brought together CEO Frederik Gregaard, contributors from the Amaru alternative node team, and the community for a discussion covering the Catalyst 2026 Pilot design and plans for community events in 2027.
Update from Intersect MBO
Intersect announced the results of its 2026 Board elections on September 28, with Adam Rusch and Kavinda Kariyapperuma elected from a field of 11 candidates. A total of 139 Intersect members cast their votes. Intersect also thanked the nine candidates who were not elected and encouraged them to remain involved through its committees and working groups.
The latest Intersect Weekly Update #130, published on September 26, also highlighted several governance and technical developments. The Civics Committee completed the refresh of its knowledge base, restructuring governance documentation and adding dedicated pages covering the Constitutional Committee reduction to five seats, the global Constitution consultation, and the 2026 CC election.
On the technical side, the Node Development Roadmap indicates that Node 11.2 is expected to introduce the first Dijkstra-era features, including Plutus V4. Meanwhile, the Parameter Committee is assessing around 150 combined Dijkstra and Peras guardrails. Read the full update on the Intersect news page.
Several on-chain governance actions are also approaching their October 11 expiry, including the OpenZeppelin Stack treasury withdrawal, a proposal to reduce minPoolCost to 75 ADA, and a stake pool target k-parameter poll. DReps and SPOs are encouraged to review the proposals and cast their votes before the deadline.
If you’re interested in rewatching the deep-dive Governance Hour sessions with Nicolas Cerny, you can find them here: OpenZeppelin and Reduce minPoolCost to 75 ADA (Cerkoryn).
The Constitutional Amendment Portal (CAP) remains open for community consultation, with seven proposals currently under review. CAP-3, the Net Change Limit Strategic Spending Plan, has received the most engagement so far, with 18 community comments. Wallet connection is now available, while the next CAP review session is scheduled for October 1 at 14:00 UTC.
Cardano Forum Top 10 Referred Topics
Topics that have received the most clicks from external sources. (last 10 Days)
- Cardano Summit 2026 + TOKEN2049: Treasury Proposal FAQ
- Intersect 2026 Elections: Open Forum for Candidate Presentations and Community Questions
- Why I’m Running for Intersect in 2026 & The Candidates I Voted For
- Constitutional Committee Result: New Heights
- Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions: 2026 Intersect Budget Process
- Digest September 02, 2026: Intersect Board Elections, CAP, Daedalus 11.3.0, and more
- Governance Hour #5 — IO Consensus Initiative Proposal
- Cardano Ecosystem Update | Van Rossem, Leios, Midnight and the Road Ahead
- Security Blind Spot — Ecosystem Security as a Shared Responsibility
- Attending the Linux Foundation Open Source Summit: People Are Ready for Blockchain
Upcoming Community Events
- 09-30 The Q3 Intersect Insight and DRep Monthly Call both take place on 30-09, with DReps gathering to review governance progress and upcoming votes.
- 10-01 The CAP Review Session runs on 01-10 at 14:00 UTC for the next round of community consultation on active constitutional amendment proposals.
- 10-01 Developers Office Hours #80: Hydra Technical Workshop follows on at 14:00 UTC. This is an accessible deep-dive into Cardano’s Layer 2 state channel solution with live Q&A.
- 10-06 The Hard Fork Working Group meets virtually for developers tracking the Dijkstra upgrade process—check the Luma page for the confirmed date.
- 10-06 Cardano’s Node Diversity Celebration and Cardano Summit 2026 programme runs 06-10 to 08-10 in Singapore, alongside Token2049—one of the largest blockchain and digital assets conferences in the Asia-Pacific region.
For more weekly events, visit Cardano Events
Many thanks and greetings from the Community Team!