Cardano's core developer, Input Output, has reduced its community funding request to $46.8 million for 2026, a significant decrease from last year's $97.5 million. The funding will support two major initiatives: the Leios consensus upgrade, aimed at boosting transaction throughput to over 1,000 transactions per second, and the Bitcoin DeFi system Pogun, which facilitates decentralized lending and borrowing for Bitcoin holders on Cardano. Testing for Leios is set for June, with full deployment by year-end, while Pogun's lending feature is expected to launch in the second quarter. The funding proposals will be voted on by approximately 1,000 elected representatives, with a decision deadline of May 24. This marks a pivotal moment for Cardano as it seeks to reduce reliance on community funding. Additionally, the Cardano-based stablecoin USDCx has quickly reached a circulating supply of 14.6 million tokens, and the network's total value locked has increased to $142.7 million.