Cardano engineering arm Input Output Global (IOG) has announced a strategic change in development priorities to accelerate the long-term growth of the network.
Specifically, the organization will halt further work on the Acropolis project and cancel the proposed tiered pricing model. Instead, we will redirect resources to chain abstraction technology and development aligned with the upcoming Leios scaling architecture.
Important points
- Cardano engineering company IOG has halted further development of the Acropolis project and the proposed tiered pricing mechanism.
- The company plans to direct resources to development of chain abstraction technology and collaboration with Ouroboros Leios to accelerate Cardano’s long-term growth.
- This move will increase the number of people by approximately 4.1 million people. $ADA Returned to Cardano’s Treasury for community governance assignments.
- Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson expects Leios to launch this year.
IOG discontinues development of tiered pricing with Acropolis
In a recent blog post, IOG confirmed this month that it will officially end development on the Acropolis project in April 2026. Originally designed as a Rust-based alternative node implementation for the Cardano network, Acropolis aims to increase node diversity and strengthen the ecosystem’s infrastructure.
In particular, the project has achieved several milestones, including data nodes that enable blockchain synchronization in about an hour instead of days. However, IOG has concluded that continuous development can no longer provide the most value to the ecosystem.
As a result, the engineering team behind Acropolis is moving to a series of chain abstraction initiatives designed to simplify the way developers and users interact with Cardano.
Meanwhile, IOG also canceled the proposed tiered pricing mechanism. New research related to Leios’ scaling architecture shows that this design may soon become obsolete.
Because Leios has introduced a fundamentally different model for transaction processing and throughput, the organization believes that continuing with the tiered pricing framework will likely result in unnecessary technical debt.
Notably, IOG founder Charles Hoskinson previously expressed strong interest in launching Leios this year. He claims that this upgrade could help Cardano achieve the long-standing blockchain trilemma of scalability, security, and decentralization.
We are changing our policies to prioritize Cardano’s growth. We are halting Acropolis development to focus on chain abstraction and canceling tiered pricing to align with Leios’ roadmap. As a result of this decision, ₳4.1 million will be returned to the Ministry of Finance. We are putting resources where they will be…
— Input/Output Group (@IOGroup) April 7, 2026
4.1 million reallocations $ADA resource
As part of this strategic shift, IOG will return the entire $2.7 million. $ADA The remaining 1.4 million yen will be allocated to the development of tiered pricing. $ADA Assigned to Acropolis. Total 4.1 million $ADA The funds will be returned to the Cardano Treasury, where they can be redistributed through the network’s governance processes.
IOG stressed that transparency and responsible management of community funds guided the decision. Rather than continue a project that was no longer aligned with Cardano’s evolving roadmap, the organization chose to halt development and reallocate resources.
Looking ahead, IOG believes that improving ease of use and developer accessibility will be the most powerful catalyst for Cardano’s expansion.
By reducing friction for both developers and users, organizations hope to attract more applications, increase on-chain activity, and ultimately foster liquidity and economic participation across the ecosystem.
