TL;DR:
- The Cardano community votes on approving a withdrawal of 50 million ADA from the treasury for the Orion Fund; the deadline is set for April 15.
- The Orion Fund, managed alongside Draper Dragon, seeks to create an $80 million venture fund to finance startups within the ecosystem.
- Investment returns will be redirected to the Cardano treasury, with the goal of pushing the network’s TVL above $3 billion.
The Cardano community will carry out one of the most important votes of 2026: approving or rejecting the withdrawal of 50 million ADA from the treasury to fund the so-called Orion Fund, a venture investment vehicle developed in partnership with Draper Dragon, the firm founded by renowned investor Tim Draper. The proposal is already active on-chain and the voting period will run until April 15.
Unlike traditional ecosystem grants, the Orion Fund will operate as a professional venture capital fund, with a structure designed to be self-sustaining. Returns generated by investments will be channeled back to the Cardano treasury, turning the initial disbursement into a long-term bet on the protocol’s financial health.
A new Cardano Treasury proposal is live and needs your vote.
This Treasury withdrawal of 50M ADA is the first tranche of the Orion Fund, a @DraperDragon venture fund proposal.
The Orion Fund, managed by Draper Dragon, aims to develop, strengthen and expand Cardano's ecosystem…
— Cardano Foundation (@Cardano_CF) March 12, 2026
The Challenge of Scaling the Cardano Ecosystem
The fund aims to reach a total size of $80 million and will distribute resources across three areas. The largest portion, $50 million, will go toward direct investments in projects ranging from the acceleration stage to Series A rounds. Another $11.5 million will cover growth capital, marketing, listings on exchanges, liquidity provision and technical mentorship through a dedicated venture studio. The remaining $6 million will fund educational programs, including Hacker House and Silicon Valley accelerators aimed at real-world asset founders and institutional DeFi.
Toward $3 Billion in TVL
The partnership with Draper Dragon will allow Cardano to access global institutional networks and gain expertise in asset management that the ecosystem has historically failed to leverage. The goal is to scale the total value locked on the network from current levels, below $500 million, to surpass $3 billion. Cardano is one of the few top-tier layer-1 networks that has never managed to exceed $1 billion in TVL, a limitation its community seeks to reverse with this initiative.
