Cardano rejects Pogun funding as IOG drops Cardano-first policy

Cardano's delegated representatives have rejected a request to send 12.29 million ADA from the community treasury to Input Output's Pogun product, ending a debate over whether the network should fund a Bitcoin-focused DeFi product from its largest commercial builder.

What changes for the ADA holder is narrow but real. The 12.29 million ADA does not move. The 20% earnings return Cardano would have received until the initial funding was repaid, followed by a perpetual 5% cut on Cardano-related products, is gone. And Input Output is now signalling it will route future products to whichever chain serves them best, not to Cardano by default.

What the vote actually said

The final Koios voting summary recorded 35.67% of DRep voting power in favor and 64.33% against. The Constitutional Committee, Cardano's other governance body, reviewed the same proposal separately and recorded seven yes votes, equal to 100% approval.

That split is the story. The committee of appointed reviewers signed off on Pogun. The body elected by ADA holders said no. Both groups had to approve for the action to pass.

Pogun, in Input Output's framing, is a credit and liquidity product designed to bring Bitcoin into decentralized finance. The formal proposal the DReps rejected asked for 12.29 million ADA and structured repayment as a share of quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, with the calculation tied to $2.95 million in EBITDA. Input Output's April 2026 overview promised 20% of Pogun earnings back to the Cardano treasury until the funding was repaid, then 5% forever after.

The on-chain proposal reviewed for the vote did not contain an explicit exclusivity covenant. It established the funding request, the repayment structure, the perpetual return and the intended Cardano deployment, and stopped there.

What Hoskinson said next

Charles Hoskinson used his Sept. 18, 2026 broadcast to announce that Input Output will now choose the best network for each product instead of following a Cardano-first-and-forever policy. He said the unfunded product will not be exclusive to Cardano, that traffic may be routed to other networks, and that another ecosystem could receive exclusivity in exchange for support.

He also said RealFi, a separate Input Output initiative, will launch on Cardano in October 2026, and that Pogun would arrive within 90 days of the broadcast, or by roughly mid-December, regardless of the vote. Midnight City V2, an agent-based application tied to the Midnight ecosystem, was already documented on Midnight in July 2026, before the Pogun vote.

Hoskinson still described Cardano as the strongest technical choice for Bitcoin DeFi connecting systems that use Bitcoin-like transaction outputs. Input Output helped build Cardano and remains a major participant. The network's separate institutions still controlled the funding outcome, and they said no.

Where this leaves ADA holders

The vote did not kill Pogun. It killed the part of Pogun that paid the Cardano treasury. The product will still go live, Input Output has not said which chain will host it, and the network that ends up with it could lock Cardano out of the revenue share it was offered. The next Input Output product is now fair game to land on another ecosystem in exchange for whatever support that ecosystem provides.