Dear Cardano community,
Input Output Research (IOR) is pleased to share the IOR Cardano Vision and Work Program 2025 End-year report for Technology Validation and invites your feedback by January 23. Technology Validation is the crucial bridge between foundational research (SRL 1-2) and full implementation (SRL 5+), translating early concepts into implementation-ready designs.
Technology Validation workstreams typically run for 6-12 months and involve rapid prototyping, formal verification, simulations, and the production of definitive specifications and community improvement proposals (CIPs). This evidence-driven process ensures that only the most promising innovations advance while maintaining Cardano’s high standards of quality and security.
In 2025, eight Technology Validation streams delivered major advances, proving the feasibility of high-impact solutions.
Key achievements in technology validation for 2025 include:
- TV-1 Leios: the stream successfully advanced the Leios protocol toward deployment readiness, delivering a prototype, refined simulators, and a cost model for SPO resource use. The project was formally handed over to Input Output Engineering (IOE) in Q4 2025 for implementation, complete with a CIP submission.
- TV-2 Anti-grinding (Phalanx): we designed Ouroboros Phalanx, a Praos-compatible extension that makes grinding attacks practically infeasible by significantly raising computational costs. The design is captured in a CIP, which has been merged into the CIP library.
- TV-3 Jolteon liveness: the team delivered a TRL4 prototype of Jolteon as a Substrate pallet and completed the formal safety proof. Work is progressing on the mechanized proof for liveness to guarantee that partner chains can adopt the protocol with confidence.
- TV-4 RSnarks: this stream achieved the first on-chain execution of a large recursive Halo2-BLS verifier on Cardano, proving feasibility by splitting verification across multiple transactions. A CIP introducing a built-in Multi-Scalar Multiplication (MSM) function is already in implementation, ensuring practical integration.
- TV-6 Intent-based processing system (Cavefish): Cavefish progressed into early prototyping, developing a resource-efficient light client protocol that uses ‘intents’ and privacy-preserving cryptography, moving away from reliance on centralized APIs.
We rely on community engagement to continue advancing Cardano through world-class research and development, and invite you to review the full draft report and share your feedback on the Cardano Forum. Your insights are crucial for refining our work and planning future priorities.
Review period: January 2026 (until January 23)
Draft report link: IOR - Cardano Vision & Work Program 2025 - End-year Report - Technology Validation (Draft) - Google Docs