Cardano Foundation cancels conference after DAO vote fails
The Cardano Foundation has canceled its 2026 annual conference after its governing body shot down a revised proposal to fund the event with treasury tokens.
“Management requires not only participation, but also the commitment to accept collective decisions. The Cardano community has spoken and we respect the results,” said the foundation, posted on X on Saturday after voting closed on Friday.
The proposal sought to use $1.84 million in 7.8 million Cardano (ADA) tokens to fund the event. 65.2% of the vote was in favor of the proposal, short of the 66.67% needed to pass.
Source: Cardano Foundation
The conference, called the Cardano Summit, was scheduled to take place on October 5 and 6 in Singapore.
135 voters supported the continuation of the event, 61 opposed and 24 abstained.
The vote follows months of disagreement between Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and the so-called DReps, who have pushed for more spending from the foundation's coffers.
DREPs, the people or organizations to whom ADA holders can delegate their voting power, voted against a similar proposal on May 9 to use about 14 million ADA tokens to fund the event.
Only 10 percent of DRPs supported that proposal, prompting the foundation to reduce the amount requested under a new proposal.
Despite the cancellation, EMURGO, the investment and business arm behind the Cardano blockchain, has proposed to represent the Cardano ecosystem at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore on October 7 and 8.
Related: Cardano can now be used to pay at 137 Spar stores across Switzerland.
Hoskinson is evaluating interest in upgrading his booth at TOKEN2049 and hosting an “Embedded MiniSummit.”
The Cardano token has a market capitalization of $8.8 billion, but the network has just under $129 million in total value locked to the protocol, ranking 28th among blockchains.
The Cardano network has made $356,400 in network payments so far in 2026, which is less than the $8.35 million recorded in 2022.
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