IO Engineering (IOE) Proposal: Core Development for Cardano’s 2025 Roadmap – Executing with Alignment and Scale

As Cardano enters a new phase of decentralized governance, the need for focused, high-leverage execution becomes critical.

Today, the IO Engineering team, with support from IO Research and a cohort of proven technical partners, has submitted a comprehensive proposal for core development work in 2025.

This proposal aligns tightly with the Intersect Product Roadmap and is structured to accelerate Cardano’s evolution across four key areas:

  • Protocol R&D
  • Scalability improvements
  • Smart contract enhancements
  • Core infrastructure upgrades

Who’s Involved?
Execution will be led by IOE/IOR and involve long-time collaborators with contributors including:
@blinklabs_io @MLabs10 @vacuumlabs @dcspark_jp @txpipe_tools @SundaeSwap @welltyped — and more.

Together, this group brings unmatched delivery capacity and domain knowledge, covering every major technical era of Cardano.

Why It Matters
Cardano has no shortage of ideas — but ideas alone won’t scale this chain. We need delivery.
This proposal prioritizes tangible progress, security, and decentralized resilience — while building on the same principles that brought Cardano this far.

Next Steps
:round_pushpin: The proposal is now live for DRep and committee appraisal.
:open_book: Cardano Govtool

This is one proposal among several. We encourage the community to review it in full, ask hard questions, and pressure test the plan.

Let’s Discuss:

  • Does this approach align with your priorities for Cardano?
  • Are there specific elements you’d like to see expanded or refined?
  • How can we best collaborate to ensure coordinated execution across the ecosystem?

Thank you to all DReps and contributors who’ve helped shape this so far — and to @IntersectMBO, @CDEC_Cardano, and the commitees and working groups stewarding this inaugural budget process.

Let’s move Cardano forward — together, and with precision and energy!