Plomin, DAO, and strategic future: key milestones in Cardano's development
Cardano (ADA) is among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, which as of August 2025 stands at $26.6 billion. According to experts, 2025 could become a pivotal year for Cardano in light of possible institutional adoption and high investor interest.
Cardano ecosystem updates 2025: Plomin and others
An update called Plomin was activated on the Cardano network in late January 2025. As part of the update, Cardano developers introduced a governance mechanism allowing Cardano token holders to influence the development of the ecosystem. After Plomin was activated, the Cardano platform gained decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) functions.
Also, as a result of Plomin's activation, new roles appeared in the Cardano network — known as Delegated Representatives (DReps). DReps are special network participants to whom ADA holders can delegate their votes. That is, if a user holds ADA tokens, they don't have to vote directly on proposals regarding network development but can transfer this right to a DRep — a person or organization they trust. These representatives will vote on behalf of the users who delegated to them, according to their interests.
At the same time, Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) retain their role in the governance process of the Cardano blockchain. SPOs are members of the Cardano blockchain network who manage stake pools — specialized nodes that participate in creating new blocks and maintaining the overall network operation.
Although DReps can now carry out the primary voting process, SPOs are still responsible for the network's technical support:
- they create and validate blocks,
- maintain network functionality,
- can participate in the propagation of updates and confirmation of protocol changes.
Thus, governance in Cardano has now become three-tiered:
- ADA users — can vote directly or delegate.
- DReps — vote on proposals based on users' trust.
- SPOs — technical operators ensuring stability and participation in network consensus.
Plomin itself was based on another Cardano network update known as Chang, which was released back in September 2024. The goals of the Chang hard fork were to improve the scalability of the Cardano platform and DAO governance mechanisms.
Both updates are part of the phase in Cardano's roadmap known as the "Voltaire Era." This is the final stage in a broad series of upgrades aimed at enhancing the project's technical foundations.
Cardano ecosystem development plans: team announcements
Also in August 2025, the Cardano team announced plans to upgrade the blockchain, allocating $71 million to the initiative — a sum approved by the community. The key projects of this initiative will be:
- A protocol for fast and low-cost transactions called Hydra;
- Project Acropolis — a modular reorganization of the Cardano node to increase flexibility and simplify onboarding for new core developers.
Earlier, in June 2025, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson proposed allocating $100 million, held in the Cardano Foundation treasury, for the development of the platform's DeFi ecosystem.
According to Hoskinson's proposal, the allocated funds should be used to purchase Bitcoin, as well as stablecoins issued on the Cardano blockchain, such as USDM, USDA, and IUSD. Additionally, Hoskinson announced that Cardano plans to integrate XRP into its ecosystem. The XRP integration is part of a large-scale strategy to improve user experience and increase asset diversity within the Cardano ecosystem.
According to the monitoring service DeFi Llama, Cardano's current total value locked (TVL) stands at $337 million, which lags significantly behind other leading altcoins.
Since the beginning of 2024, this figure has dropped by nearly 10%, indicating reduced user activity as attention shifts to other emerging DeFi ecosystems such as Solana and BNB Smart Chain.
Nevertheless, the Cardano DeFi ecosystem continues to grow rapidly: according to the latest project development report, the number of decentralized applications on the Cardano blockchain has exceeded 2,000. According to Santiment, Cardano, along with Ethereum, led in developer activity in July 2025.
Cardano token-based ETF and inclusion in U.S. strategic reserve
In February 2025, NYSE Arca (a division of the New York Stock Exchange) applied with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert the Grayscale Cardano Trust into a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). This application became the first of its kind for ADA-based products.
As of August 2025, analysts estimate the approval chances for a Cardano ETF as follows:
- 83% according to Polymarket;
- Up to 90% according to Bloomberg.
It's worth noting that back in June, Bloomberg estimated the likelihood of ADA-ETF approval at only 75%. That same month, the ADA altcoin was included in the Nasdaq cryptocurrency index (ETF Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index). Experts note that this step may mark the imminent approval of the Cardano ETF by the regulator. A decision on ADA-ETF approval is expected from the SEC within the same month, with the final deadline for review being October 2025.
Also in March 2025, current U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to include Cardano in the future strategic crypto reserve of the country, alongside other major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP (XRP), and Solana (SOL).
According to experts, news of this nature could become a strong growth driver for the Cardano ecosystem in 2025. Unsurprisingly, Bloomberg raised its approval estimate for the ADA-ETF by a complete 15% in just one month.