After years of funding blockchain pilots, startup programmes and public-sector projects across Africa, Cardano, a global blockchain company that operates the cryptocurrency ADA with $5.45 billion in market cap, is turning its attention to a less visible question: who decides what gets built, funded, and prioritised across the ecosystem.

Founded in 2017, Cardano built its presence in Africa through its startup programmes, digital identity projects, and government partnerships, including a widely publicised education credentials initiative in Ethiopia.

Blockchain companies, as part of their distribution strategy, typically back developers and sometimes provide funding, such as grants, and resources to enable them to build on their networks.

Several blockchains build developer ecosystems through ecosystem-building, a community-driven strategy. Others, including Stellar and Sui, have taken a similar approach. Cardano, which has previously supported early-stage crypto startups through accelerators, now wants to perform open-heart surgery on the model itself, restructuring the process that comes before writing cheques.

Cardano is placing governance at the centre of its Africa strategy, allowing community members to vote on which ecosystem projects receive funding, how it allocates funding, and which high-potential projects should be prioritised. Other blockchains have invested heavily in ecosystem-building, but Cardano believes giving communities greater influence over decision-making will help it attract and retain builders over the long term.

“The gear shift is real, but it’s less about commercial strategy and more about governance maturity,” Alex Maaza, the Ecosystem and Enterprise Growth Lead at the Cardano Foundation, the Swiss-based non-profit entity that oversees the blockchain, said.

That thinking is most visible through Project Catalyst, Cardano’s community funding programme. The initiative allows participants to submit proposals and vote on which projects receive funding.

According to Maaza, around 150 Africa-related projects have received between $2.5 million and $3 million through Catalyst, spanning agricultural traceability, education, humanitarian coordination, and off-grid energy.

Project Catalyst started as a grant programme where community members voted on which projects received funding. Cardano has since expanded that voting system to include decisions about treasury spending and the network’s future development.

“We spent years prototyping decentralised decision-making through Project Catalyst,” said Maaza. “Since 2025, that model has evolved into direct on-chain governance, with token holders voting on how to deploy the Cardano treasury.”

The move is part of Cardano’s effort to make governance a defining feature of the ecosystem. Cardano Foundation wants developers, entrepreneurs, and community members to decide how treasury funds are spent, which projects receive funding, and how the network develops over time, rather than leaving those decisions to a foundation or a small group of developers.

Cardano’s governance model addresses a question that has followed the crypto industry for years: can blockchain networks genuinely distribute decision-making, or does influence ultimately remain concentrated among a small group of participants? Critics argue that voting power in many projects often rests with large token holders, even when governance systems are designed to be community-led.

Cardano believes participation can extend beyond token ownership alone. More than 700 developers, founders and community members helped shape Cardano 2030, the network’s long-term roadmap, Maaza said.

Who decides where the money goes?

Until recently, Project Catalyst was the primary funding mechanism available to startups building on Cardano.

According to Maaza, Catalyst funding supported accelerator programmes run by organisations including the SDG Blockchain Accelerator, Draper University, Techstars and CVh Labs. The programmes are managed by those organisations rather than by the Cardano Foundation. The Foundation also launched the first cohort of its own accelerator programme. In total, 70 startups participated in the programmes in 2025, according to Maaza.

The ecosystem has also introduced new funding structures, including the Cardano Builder DAO and the Draper Dragon Ecosystem Fund, known as the Orion Fund. In April, the fund launched with a reported $80 million focus on real-world assets and institutional decentralised finance (DeFi).

Cardano says this approach is already influencing how it runs programmes in Africa. Maaza pointed to the Cardano Africa Tech Summit (CATS26), held in February, as an example.

Rather than operating as a traditional conference, the event brought together more than 500 developers across 12 African cities to build projects and participate in ecosystem activities before culminating in Nairobi. He added that the community funded the programme and gave local builders a greater role in shaping its outcomes.

Enterprise adoption remains a major objective

“There’s only one blockchain where Africa, or any geography or industry, can genuinely shape the roadmap rather than just receive it,” Maaza said.

That view is shaping the Foundation’s engagement with regulators as African governments develop frameworks for digital assets and blockchain businesses. Maaza cited Kenya’s Virtual Asset Service Providers framework as an example of the regulatory clarity many enterprises have been waiting for before making long-term commitments.

Cardano still tracks familiar industry metrics such as monthly active users, transaction volumes, and total value locked (TVL). Maaza said another measure matters just as much: whether people building within the ecosystem have a meaningful role in deciding where resources go.

“The goal was never to bring Cardano to Africa,” he said. “It’s to build something with Africans that they actually own a piece of.”

Cardano has spent years bringing blockchain projects to Africa, but it is now handing part of that process to the people building on the network, a change that will become visible not in governance votes but in the businesses and services that emerge from them.

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