Cardano’s Treasury Draws the Line: No Listing Fees for SNEK or Midnight, Says Hoskinson

Charles Hoskinson drops a cold truth bomb: Cardano's deep pockets won't fund SNEK or Midnight's exchange ambitions. Another case of 'build it and they will come'—just don't ask for gas money.

In the high-stakes poker game of crypto listings, the house isn't always bluffing. While projects scramble for visibility, ADA's war chest stays locked—proving even decentralized treasuries know the value of a dollar (or 50 million of them).

Funny how 'community governance' suddenly gets selective when it's time to pay the piper. Maybe next time pitch a meme coin with a dog in sunglasses?

Community approves treasury use for core development

While the cardano Treasury won’t be used to fund exchange listing fees, it remains an essential resource for supporting the network’s technical evolution. The Cardano community approved a proposal to allocate treasury funds toward ongoing protocol development led by Input Output Engineering (IOE), the primary technical team behind Cardano.

The money will support several significant projects. Cardano’s proof-of-stake consensus mechanism has been enhanced using Ouroboros Leios to increase network performance and efficiency. Cardano’s LAYER 2 scalability solution, Hydra, is also integrated to facilitate quicker and less expensive transactions. Project Acropolis, which aims to enhance governance mechanisms and the general modularity of Cardano’s design, is another important area of concentration.

According to Ricky Rand, general manager at Input Output Engineering, securing funds was only the first step. He said the approval showed that decentralized funding and project delivery could work well at scale and expressed confidence in Cardano’s future. 

The community’s decision highlights a Core principle within the Cardano ecosystem: treasury funds should be used to develop public infrastructure that benefits the entire network, not to cover marketing or commercial expenses for individual projects. It also demonstrates the growing effectiveness of Cardano’s self-governance model, particularly through its on-chain voting system known as Project Catalyst, where ADA holders decide how treasury resources are allocated.

Hoskinson proposes a treasury bond model for project funding

Though he didn’t abandon everyone, Hoskinson essentially destroyed the “free treasury money for listings” concept. Rather, he eliminated the concept of repayable bonds, which allow projects to obtain ADA from the Treasury but are loans rather than handouts. When they start earning money or secure some revenue, it’s time to repay it. 

In the past, Cardano has encountered opposition to ideas about the Treasury. Concerns about dangers and centralization led to the recent rejection of an attempt to convert a portion of the sovereign wealth fund into stablecoins.

There is still a lot of interest in ecology despite the controversy. There is growing anticipation for the Midnight Glacier Drop, an airdrop connected to the Midnight project. The Rare Evo conference, which is scheduled for later this quarter, is anticipated to provide the official launch date. 

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