Input Output Research | Momentum Cardano

The team behind the initiative

The opportunity

Input Output Research (IOR) provides the architectural foundation of Cardano, the first blockchain founded on peer-reviewed research. That distinction is not cosmetic. It is the reason Ouroboros has been adopted by multiple networks, the reason Cardano maintains 100% uptime, and the reason the platform can credibly pursue the 2030 Vision. In a market filled with vibe-based engineering, IOR provides evidence-based security.

Sustaining that advantage requires sustained investment. The research that becomes a hard fork in 2028 is being written today. Zero-knowledge proofs, post-quantum cryptography, sharding, formal verification of consensus: these are not features that can be delivered at the last minute. They require years of rigorous, first-principles inquiry. Research powers long-term ecosystem growth and impact and is one of the primary engines of growth, innovation, and value creation.

Research does more than create breakthroughs – it accelerates the innovation process itself. By maintaining a strong research foundation, Cardano can move faster when opportunities arise.

The Initiative

Input Output Research

Three strategic themes underpin this proposal: human-centred design, scalable architecture, and post-quantum security:

Human-centred design focuses on usability, incentives, and governance participation. This includes improving developer experience, strengthening economic alignment, and reducing friction for users and builders.
Scalability is addressed through a layered approach, combining consensus improvements (eg, Leios, Peras), execution scaling (eg, L2s, data availability), ZK-enabled scaling (eg, ZK rollups), and longer-term research (eg, sharding), delivering increased capacity without compromising decentralization.
Post-quantum security ensures long-term resilience as cryptographic assumptions evolve, with proactive evaluation and migration planning for quantum-resistant primitives.

This is the second year of a five-year Strategic Research Agenda aligned to the Cardano 2030 Vision. In 2025, IOR advanced 20 research streams and published 24 peer-reviewed papers, exceeding targets by 20%.

The IOR 2026 proposal builds on this momentum and contains 15 workstreams organized into six clusters, each aligned to measurable ecosystem outcomes:

Trust, Security & Reliability Infrastructure: enterprise-grade resilience and continuous availability of the base layer
Scalability & Execution Layer: increased throughput and execution capacity across L1 and L2 while preserving settlement guarantees
Developer Platform & User Experience: reduced friction for builders and users, supporting adoption and MAU growth
Applications, Adoption, & Liquidity: increased on-chain demand, capital inflows, and real-world usage
Economic Systems & Incentives: aligned, sustainable economics across treasury, validators, and protocol revenue
Governance, Identity, & Social Infrastructure: robust coordination systems, decentralized governance, and identity primitives

Treasury ask: ₳32.9M.

Who is building

IOR pioneers foundational and applied research in cryptography, distributed systems, and formal methods. Led by Professor Aggelos Kiayias FRSE, chief scientist at Input Output Group, chair in Cyber Security and Privacy at the University of Edinburgh, and director of the Blockchain Technology Laboratory. In 2024 he received the BCS Lovelace Medal, in 2025 he was named an ACM Fellow, and in 2026 he was recognized as IACR Fellow.

The IOR division includes over 30 distributed research fellows and a large Innovation team of engineers, supported by academic partnerships with the University of Edinburgh, Institute of Science Tokyo, the University of Athens, Stanford, CMU, the University of Wyoming, and many more. Additional ecosystem partnerships are under discussion.

"Over 250 peer-reviewed papers. More than 10,000 citations. Around 50 publications directly underpinning Cardano's development eras. This is not speculative research. It is the scientific foundation the entire ecosystem stands on, and this proposal funds the next chapter."

Professor Aggelos Kiayias FRSEChief Scientist

“Cardano’s competitive advantage is its research-driven approach. By investing in human-centred design, scalability, and post-quantum security, we are building resilient infrastructure for the future — creating the scientific foundations needed to scale adoption while protecting the ecosystem for decades to come.”

Fergie MillerInitiative Owner

Expected outcomes

At least 20 research outputs per year, including peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and formal specifications.
Six key innovation opportunities validated to Software Readiness Level 5, ready for engineering handoff.
Cardano improvement proposals (CIPs) emerging from validated research, providing the community with concrete implementation paths.
Continued thought leadership in blockchain research, with papers presented at top-tier cryptography and security conferences.

Ecosystem Impact

IOR is the upstream source for nearly every major protocol advancement in Cardano's history. Ouroboros, Hydra, Babel Fees, Mithril, the EUTXO model: all originated in IOR's research program. This proposal funds the next generation of those breakthroughs.

The work directly supports scalability, security, reliability, and governance participation KPIs through consensus and governance research. It enables future improvements across every other KPI by providing the scientific foundations on which engineering teams build.

Governance links

Formal treasury proposal

The on-chain submission, read the full proposal text and rationale.

View the formal proposal

Join the Conversation

Ask questions, share views, and follow the community debate.

X Spaces