- Cardano approves 70 million ADA budget for key integrations including Pyth Oracle and Tier 1 stablecoin.
- DEX volume will reach 450 million ADA in December 2025 as on-chain governance completes its first full year.
Cardano has started 2026 with community-driven actions and major protocol upgrades following the approval of a 70 million ADA funding proposal for significant ecosystem integration. This governance measure was passed with the support of both the Constitutional Committee and the Delegates, and is expected to be ratified at the start of the next epoch.
The approved budget will support the integration of Pyth Oracle, Dune Analytics, and Tier 1 stablecoins, among other tools aimed at expanding the utility of the ecosystem. These upgrades are expected to be rolled out during 2026 and are considered part of a broader effort to strengthen Cardano’s infrastructure and application layer.
Cardano Newsletter #104
Last week’s highlights 👇
☑️ Cardano Critical integration governance action approved
🗳️ Cardano celebrates one full year of decentralized on-chain governance
📈December 2025 DEX trading volume reaches $450 million ADA, surpassing December 2024 peakLots 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/r6zhwGgznT
— Cardanians (CRDN) (@Cardanians_io) January 5, 2026
Cardano’s decentralized governance system, which completed its first full year in 2025, played a pivotal role in the funding decision. As featured by ecosystem news portal Cardanian, Cardano is currently the only blockchain in the top 10 by market capitalization and operates a fully decentralized on-chain governance model open to all ADA holders.
Cardano DeFi sets new record
Cardano Foundation by CNF reportconfirmed that six out of seven members of the Constitutional Committee voted in favor of the Critical Integrations proposal. Over 85% of DReps also supported this action. The approved motion would take money out of the state treasury and put money into integrations deemed essential to attracting new users and developers.
While the ecosystem continues to grow, the Midnight Privacy Network has also entered its Kukolu phase. This milestone brings the mainnet to a stable state and allows for actual dApp deployment ahead of the planned genesis block. The roadmap estimates that full launch activities will be completed within 90 days. As CNF outlinedMidnight includes NIGHT liquidity and incentives as part of its privacy-first infrastructure.
Cardano also received a vote of confidence from Grok AI, which predicts it could become one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in 2026. Factors cited include the ongoing Leios scalability upgrade, anticipated spot ETF momentum, DeFi expansion, and the role of Midnight Privacy Chain.
Meanwhile, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson recently shared a message with the community outlining his intention to distance himself from day-to-day commentary and focus on long-term development. As CNF reportedHis account will continue to be monitored by curators and updated by AI.
Amid these developments, on-chain trading activity shows continued momentum. In December 2025, Cardano’s decentralized trading volume reached 450 million ADA, surpassing the network’s previous December peak of 427 million ADA in 2024.
ADA price continues to rise $0.40 We break out of the descending wedge pattern and enter the first week of January 2026.
According to analyst CliftonFX, if ADA price continues this trend, this technical structure will $0.60. However, at the time of writing, ADA prices were: $0.3991, 1.35% It has fallen from its intraday high.
The $ADA falling wedge upside breakout has been confirmed and is being retested on the daily timeframe.
We are expecting a massive bullish rally 📈 #ADAUSDT #ADA #Crypto pic.twitter.com/Ft5Gp37xvO
— Clifton FX (@clifton_ideas) January 5, 2026
