Annual Report 2022

Contents
03. Our Mission

Who we are 04. Core Focus Areas

05. A note from our CEO
08. Executive Summary
The Cardano Foundation is an 10. Cardano Statistics
independent, Swiss-based 11. Operational Resilience
14. Education
not-for-profit organization. We are
17. Adoption
tasked with advancing the public 21. The Cardano Summit 2022
digital infrastructure Cardano. 25. Financial Summary

02 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

Our Mission
The Cardano Foundation works to anchor
the Cardano infrastructure as a utility for
financial and social systems, thus empowering
the digital architects of the future.
The Foundation facilitates the worldwide
advancement of Cardano in enterprise
applications. We develop infrastructure
tooling - including where there may not be
an immediate commercial use case - plus
strengthen operational resilience, and drive
diversity of on-infrastructure use cases as
well as the development of sound and
representative governance.

Another significant part of our mission is

to engage with and support the Cardano
community. The Foundation assists the
development of tools the community can
use to leverage Cardano to solve problems
in new ways.

03 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Operational Resilience Education Adoption
Ensure a robust and reliable Cardano Contribute to blockchain education Create the conditions for increased
infrastructure. and regulatory clarity. blockchain utility.
Core Focus Areas

The Foundation is dedicated to bolstering The Foundation serves a crucial role in The Foundation aims to increase the use of
Cardano’s technological resilience and fostering discussion and debate, supporting blockchain by businesses, organizations, and
preparing the infrastructure to be an research, plus actively explaining blockchain other institutions across the globe, while also
enterprise critical technology. and decentralization to various stakeholders. fostering the open source maturity of the
ecosystem.

04 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 A Note From Our CEO
When I first came onboard as CEO in The Cardano Foundation knows the
2020, it was a crucial moment for the importance of inclusive governance. In
Cardano Foundation. Cardano as a fact, I have witnessed it first hand. During
digital infrastructure had matured, and my years in University I had an amazing
so the time had arrived for the Founda- lecture on commodity trading. It so
tion to step into its true role, not only inspired me that, even though I was a
supporting the community but also pus- student on a tight budget, I immediately
hing infrastructure adoption. walked to the local bank looking to trade
in commodities. The incredulous reaction
Now, almost three years later, we
of that bank clerk made me hunt for
have established an environment of
responsibility, welcoming to individuals answers, and I eventually realized the
and organizations alike who value world remains quite divided between the
reliable relations. We have a long-term very selected few with plenty of access to
strategy that can stand the test of time opportunities and the many with little to
and build the Cardano Foundation as an no say in most things. We need systems
organization that will both encourage that consider everyone and take into
ecosystem growth, plus increase account the voices, experience, and
enterprise adoption. insights of all. Together, by working in
tandem and collaborating with each
The Foundation has a mandate to other, we can really accomplish
champion new technologies in the digital marvelous improvements.
infrastructure space. We envision a
world where the technological infras- Indeed, the Foundation’s achievements
tructures are made for transparency and could never happen without the
accountability, so that all stakeholders unrelenting work of our teams. We grew
can easily verify their interactions within from less than forty employees at the
any system. Only in this way can we help beginning of 2022 to almost eighty by last
improve the lives of all. December, and I am incredibly proud of

Frederik Gregaard,
05
05 CEO, Cardano Foundation The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022
what the entire Cardano Foundation has These achievements State of the Cardano Developer Ecosystem survey
accomplished in just one year. So it brings me move us closer to our to map tools, identify gaps, and help us direct our
long-term mission:
great joy to present the Cardano Foundation’s first efforts.
contribute to providing
annual report. It looks back on our achievements the world with open Add it all up together and each and every one of
throughout 2022, while also allowing us to share and decentralized
these steps moves us closer to our long-term
our current focuses and goals. infrastructures that
it can depend on. mission: contribute to providing the world with
In 2022 alone, the Foundation provided technical open and decentralized infrastructures that it
assistance in the lead-up to the Vasil hard fork, can depend on. To do so, the Cardano Foundation
established the basis for a nation-wide use of functions under the three core focus areas of
blockchain in the supply chain of Georgian wine, operational resilience, education, and adoption.
and contributed to showcasing the versatility of They constantly interact and support each other.
NFTs. Their scope remains fascinating, ranging Adoption increases on-chain utility and ensures
from the artistic to the utilitarian. Just think of the the future of blockchain, but it simultaneously
contrast between the aesthetic imagination of Etter requires that others understand the technology
Edition and the verification purposes for which and that the technology itself remains reliable,
veritree employs NFTs. robust, and fit for mission-critical applications.

This diversity of transactions and solutions across The Cardano Summit 2022, the first organized
the network matters. It shows vitality and ensures by the Foundation, combined these various goals
durability. I love to see how the range of tools, and commitments. We specifically designed it to
solutions, and products built by the community empower the community and stir curiosity, to bring
keeps on blossoming in number and variety. To the ecosystem together and invite new enthusiasts.
not just acknowledge but also encourage it, the The sessions covered numerous topics, providing
Foundation updated its delegation strategy to information as well as insights, and the event
reward stake pool operators (SPOs) who spanned the globe, gathering people from all
again and again develop the tools others aspects of blockchain, those who together ensure
rely on to build on Cardano. We also the operational resilience of the chain, plus the
worked on tuning the process for the ones who might birth the next innovation or take
Cardano Improvement Proposals blockchain further into the off-chain world.
(CIPs), so that it now aligns with the Various teams within the Cardano Foundation are
best open source practices, and already abuzz preparing the Summit 2023. Others
we launched the first Annual remain involved in multiple projects that not only

06 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 contribute to the open source maturity of the ecosystem but
also address different perspectives, opinions, and needs. And
yet others keep close contact with the community as Cardano
fully enters the age of Voltaire, our governance phase.

Although we as an organization will not continue to expand our

team at a similar rhythm, our goals remain equally ambitious.
Building on the momentum of 2022, we have already made
significant progress in 2023.

The Alpha Program of our blockchain course has gone live.

We will use the feedback from the numerous participants to
create a better learning experience and provide trustworthy,
high quality blockchain education, free for everyone. At the same
time, the Foundation is preparing a series of technical enablers
that will create much needed bridges between blockchain and
the current financial and social systems.

Cardano offers a scalable, dependable option that works to solve

the blockchain trilemma. The Cardano Foundation hopes more
individuals, institutions, and organizations can realize the potential
of blockchain, joining us on this journey as blockchain citizens.

An emphatic thank you to everyone involved in the Cardano

community, to those who reach out with suggestions, who
provide criticism, who participate in the ecosystem. Please do
not hesitate to get in touch with comments or questions through
any of our social channels.

Finally, a warm welcome to anyone considering joining Cardano.

We would be happy to have you onboard. And if you are new to
the world of blockchain, we will gladly assist and support you.
This is a road we walk together.

See you soon,

Frederik Gregaard

07 The
The Cardano
Cardano Foundation
Foundation Annual
Annual Review
Report 2022
 Executive Summary
The Cardano Foundation worked throughout 2022 to achieve its overarching
mission to ensure the advancement of Cardano and contribute to the success of
blockchain as a technology for qualitative change. We made significant progress
across our three core focus areas: of operational resilience, education and adoption.

Operational resilience
In 2022, the Cardano Foundation continued to provide technical assistance
in updating and maintaining the robustness and reliability of the Cardano
infrastructure. Some of the highlights include the release of the
decentralized application backend (DAB) solution and the expansion of
the Developer Portal, which equips the technical community with
a wider range of options and tools to build solutions.

The technical support provided by the Foundation was essential

for the success of the Vasil hard fork and the strengthening of the
Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) process. The latter enables
the Cardano community to collaborate on problems, propose
solutions, and record changes.

Education
Increased understanding of what blockchain
is, how it works, and what it can and cannot
do is essential for the adoption of Cardano
as a public digital infrastructure. In 2022
our team engaged with policymakers,
businesses, students, and the general public.
The Foundation not only collaborated with
universities but also participated in high
level policy discussions with representatives
08 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022
from Brussels, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom,
and the United States of America, as well as with members
of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the World
Bank. Through events, podcasts, interviews, blogs, and social
media, our team interacted with all corners of the Cardano
community, listening and learning even while sharing ideas
and updates with the people who make Cardano thrive. In
addition, during 2022 we started building a new blockchain
education course, with the Alpha Program already launched
in the first quarter of 2023. The entire course will later be made
available online. All such efforts contribute to advance a deeper
and more accurate understanding of blockchain technology.

Adoption
The Foundation also works to foster adoption through targeted partnerships with
various enterprises, international institutions, government agencies, environmental NGOs,
and leading universities. In 2022 this involved landmark partnerships and collaborations
with Switzerland for UNHCR, the Georgia National Wine Agency, veritree, and the University
of Zurich. Additionally, based on extensive community outreach and input, we also helped
to develop and launch a range of tools designed to facilitate adoption and assist Cardano to
scale. These include tools such as Kupo v2 and Ogmios, plus our support for the integration
of various forensic tools.

The highlight of the year was of course the Cardano Summit. By placing the community
at the heart of the agenda the Foundation sparked a Summit like no other, with over
50 locations worldwide, ranging from numerous international community-led events
to a gathering in Lausanne, with a total of over 30,000 participants. The event played
host to diverse and informative sessions over two days in November. It became a truly
community-curated event, with the Foundation’s Cardano Ballot providing a mechanism
for attendees to vote on various aspects of the agenda.

09 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

Cardano Statistics
As of 31 December 2022

Wallets Plutus scripts Delegated wallets

3.83 million 4,705 1.25 million

Total assets minted Native assets minted (Jan - Dec 2022)

7,431,265 4,775,817

Stake pools Total transactions Staked

3,220 57.9 million 71%

10 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022
 Operational
Resilience
Ensuring a robust and reliable
Cardano blockchain.

11 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Developer Portal Delegation to Stake Pool
The Developer Portal assists all those building
Operators (SPO)
on the Cardano ecosystem, leading to greater Delegation allows ada users to delegate the stake
participation on-chain and thus increasing the associated with their ada to a stake pool, a Cardano
operational resilience of the Cardano infrastructure. node that holds the combined stake of multiple
The builder tools section expanded from 19 participants giving them an added opportunity to
available tools in January 2022 to 62 in December. contribute to the network’s security and maintenance.
Facilitating cooperation across the Cardano
technology stack encourages innovation and As the Cardano ecosystem and infrastructure
delivers benefits to a bigger part of the community. continues to evolve, the delegation methodology
of the Cardano Foundation as regards its ada must
During 2022, the Foundation also built out the develop in tandem. We adjusted the process of
showcase section of the Portal, enabling developers delegation to stake pool operators in 2021 to shift
to present to a wider audience the projects they the focus to supporting the people who forge tools
currently have running on mainnet. There were and create value on Cardano.
63 such showcase projects in January 2022,
expanding to 104 projects by December. Similarly, Elevating these operators has helped to foster a
the developer spotlights provide an in-depth look culture of community-driven development and
at some of the exciting projects in the Cardano collaboration, and move from a more coincidental
ecosystem and the people behind them. approach to one better attuned to what the
community needs. We aim to ensure that more
open source solutions are created that will aid the

161 Testnet for UZH ecosystem in growing stronger.

88 The testnet for the University of Zurich, Integration Support for Exchanges
Contributors in established by the Cardano Foundation in 2022,
The Cardano Foundation provided technical
December 2022 will deliver a better understanding of the
support for the integration of ada onto over twelve
Contributors in Cardano infrastructure and ecosystem, while
different exchanges in 2022, including Coinberry,
January 2022 spreading knowledge on proof-of-stake systems.
WealthSimple, Bitget, and Bitrue

83%
Increase
The project with UZH aims to provide greater
insight into the use of blockchain technology
across a variety of sectors.

12 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Decentralized Application Backend (DAB) Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIP) THE
The launch of the decentralized application
backend (DAB) solution by the Cardano Foundation
and EMURGO brought several benefits to Cardano’s
developer community. Chief among them is the
A Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) is a
formalized design document for the Cardano
community. A community-driven component of the
governance pipeline, CIPs help to organize and
Vasil
Hard-Fork
ability for developers to easily deploy a decentralized catalog thoughts and technical proposals. The
application to interact with smart contracts on Foundation intends the CIPs to become the primary
Cardano. This also increases the range of options mechanisms for proposing new features and In September 2022, using Cardano’s hard
for developers to build solutions. collecting community input on an issue, with a view fork combinator (HFC), the Vasil hard fork
to encouraging a community-led ecosystem. merged the previous protocol with the latest
The DAB will also enable apps and wallets to connect one, ushering in the Basho phase. The
to Cardano without a full node, ensuring faster In 2022, the Cardano Foundation reworked and Foundation’s Integration team played a
and more flexible integrations. During the Annual improved the CIP process to address gaps that critical role in obtaining the necessary
State of the Cardano Developer Ecosystem survey, had arisen since its inception. In order to aid this information on how third parties interact
the community voted the DAB as one of the services process, we participated in regular CIP meetings with the infrastructure, plus provided
most used by developers, in large part due to the and designated a full-time CIP editor. Additionally, technical assistance to exchanges and other
way it facilitates third party development of the Foundation helped transition CIP meetings from third parties, keeping them up to speed on any
applications, and ultimately simplifies interactions Crowdcast to Discord and remains active in technical news and tracking the progress
with the Cardano infrastructure. For more on the assisting to develop the structure of these meetings, of upgrades.
Developer Survey, see page 20. which provides the community with a space for
discussions. Named after Vasil St. Dabov, a much-loved
Catalyst Voting Cardano community member, the update
increased decentralization and introduced
Any blockchain ecosystem requires a diverse and varied range of actors to ensure lasting vibrancy. Consequently, new functionalities. Among other things, it
the Cardano Foundation has become an active participant in Project Catalyst since Fund 7. provided upgrades to network capacity as
well as to Plutus, Cardano’s smart contract
Project Catalyst acts as a prelude to on-chain governance in the Cardano ecosystem by allowing the
programming language. These changes
community to self-determine priorities for growth. The Foundation’s participation reflects our support for primarily focused on the decentralized
innovation, collaboration, and diversity of values and opinions. As of October 2022, Project Catalyst had application (DApp) development on Cardano.
received and processed over 6.1 thousand proposals, reached over 1.7 million votes, and funded around Vasil will boost optimization, support
1,200 projects, including 800 in 2022 alone. As part of the process to date, each funding round consists of applications’ growth, and increase the
specific challenges that proposals attempt to solve. The Foundation votes on Project Catalyst challenges with network’s throughput. In time, this will further
14.5 million ada. We prioritize projects developing Cardano’s core infrastructure as well as those building strengthen the developer community.
bridges and aiming to do good at scale.

13 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Education
Contributing to blockchain
education and regulatory clarity.

14 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 20+ Events Attended Regulatory Engagement
For many organizations, public permissionless block- In 2022, among other responses to
chain remains an emerging and misunderstood form of regulatory consultations, the Cardano
infrastructure. The Cardano Foundation is committed to Foundation engaged with the Financial
explaining its numerous advantages. Our participation in
Stability Board’s consultation on the
workshops and group discussions about the significance
international regulation of crypto-asset
of blockchain and Trade Tech applications at the World
activities. In our response, we advocated
Economic Forum (WEF) reached a host of new stakeholders.
for an adequate, risk-based legal and
As the only participating industry representatives, it
regulatory framework, built on sensible
proved particularly fruitful in spreading awareness of
and suitable principles that will be
Cardano and its value proposition.
beneficial to realizing the potential
Throughout 2022, the Foundation continued education of both digital assets and blockchain
efforts on the potential of blockchain and its applications, technology.
engaging with stakeholders to share expertise and clarify
concepts. Team members from the Foundation attended The Foundation also interacted with
over 20 events across the globe, facilitating and participating policymakers across the globe. From
in a range of conferences, panels, and debates. London to Brussels to Singapore, our
team explained the potential of
The Foundation’s panel dedicated to women in Blockchain, blockchain and the advantages of the
held in Zurich last July, highlighted a range of female voices Cardano infrastructure as well as of its
in the space and discussed how blockchain offers the ecosystem.
opportunity to create a truly inclusive global operating
system. As the Foundation noted at the event “Blockchain, While attending the Blockchain for
Crypto, and Philanthropy”, transparency and trust underpin Europe Summit in Brussels, team
this inclusiveness. The Cardano Foundation also delivered members of the Foundation met with
the keynote address at the “Upbit Developer Conference”, policymakers and stakeholders,
which focused on smart contracts and how Cardano can advocating for evidence-led blockchain
be used for product certification and proof of origin. regulation and highlighting the
technology’s potential use cases.
In other 2022 events, the Foundation addressed topics such as
how the Cardano infrastructure can upgrade philanthropy In addition, we chaired roundtables at
and help the world to achieve its climate goals, blockchain’s the Singapore Fintech Festival, hosting
utility for economic sustainability, and the specific benefits leaders from governments, central
of the Cardano infrastructure and ecosystem. banks, and businesses.
15 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022
 UZH Partnership Blockchain Education
In 2022 the Cardano Foundation launched a During the Cardano Summit 2022, the
three-year sponsorship of a PhD position in Foundation announced a comprehensive
blockchain analytics at the University of blockchain education course, with the Alpha
Zurich (UZH), a natural extension of Program just launched in Q1 2023. The full
Cardano’s academic heritage as the first course will cover a variety of subjects, such
blockchain infrastructure founded on as blockchain fundamentals and generations,
peer-reviewed research and developed cryptography, structure and components,
with evidence-based methods. consensus algorithms, and Cardano
specificities. It will provide in-depth training
Our relationship with UZH had already to those interested in blockchain technology.
begun in 2021 when we participated in
their International Blockchain Summer With content created and reviewed by experts,
School. We contributed to the Summer the course will offer information in sessions
School again in 2022 to encourage further organized to accommodate different learning
exploration of blockchain use cases. styles. The program will progressively allow
students to move from beginner to advanced
As part of the three-year partnership, the blockchain knowledge.
Cardano Foundation also established a
research collaboration with the University’s
Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Swiss Digital Asset Market
Technologies Group (BDLT). The BDLT will Report 2022
provide tools for the Foundation to further
The Foundation proudly took on the double
promote governance principles on Cardano
role of partner to and participant in the Swiss
with a focus on consensus protocols.
Digital Asset Market Report in 2022. The
Furthermore, it will perform an extensive
report highlighted the growth of the sector in
study of the economics, incentives, and
Switzerland and showcased how innovation-
scalability of projects on the Cardano
friendly policies can create and provide legal
infrastructure.
certainty to burgeoning businesses. We hope
that this report will inspire business leaders
and policymakers to better cater for and grow
a qualitative blockchain sector.

16 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Adoption
Creating the conditions for
increased blockchain utility.

17 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Cardano Ballot Switzerland for UNHCR Forensic Tools
Developed by the Foundation’s Metadata Tools team The Foundation designs its
Integration
in collaboration with SundaeSwap, the Cardano Ballot Global Impact Challenges to Blockchain forensic tools are an
arose within the larger scope of the Summit 2022. It unite the Cardano ecosystem emerging technology that help
provided the Cardano community with a way to vote in creating a broad positive to combat cyber and financial
for speakers and award nominees, guaranteeing that impact, while also highlighting crime. They prove crucial in
every vote had on-chain verification. The “one person,
one vote” approach ensured each vote had an equal
the unique possibilities of the
Cardano infrastructure. In this
3.5 million ada recovering and analyzing
evidence of hacks, thefts,
Stake delegation to Switzerland for UNHCR
weight, giving those with fewer funds, or even empty spirit, we launched the second to support forcibly displaced people ransoms, and sanctions evasion.
wallets, the same voting weight as those with more Impact Challenge at last year’s
substantial amounts of ada in their wallets. Cardano Summit, this time with In 2022 alone, the Cardano
the UN Refugee Agency’s national partner in Switzerland. Foundation supported the
Alongside the Ballot, the team also developed a new integration of six forensic
open source Wallet Connector. Although designed for The project takes an innovative approach to the use of blockchain providers: Blockchain Intelligence
the Summit 2022, this Cardano Foundation solution for philanthropy. Instead of the usual crypto-philanthropy approach Group, CoinFirm, Alethea,
serves the large ecosystem. It created an open where donors make direct crypto donations to a charity, the Scorechain, Merkle Science,
source connector that diminishes the amount of work collaboration between the Foundation and Switzerland for UNHCR and TRM Labs. These tools
developers have to perform in order to connect and establishes the possibility for continuous support. Ada holders can provide access to business
authenticate a Cardano wallet. The team also made delegate to a stake pool and any potential reward from the stake pool and regulatory information in
available two extra repositories for open source will automatically go towards supporting Switzerland for UNHCR’s the areas of digital forensics,
signature verification, and the Ballot itself will be mission. In this way, Switzerland for UNHCR may receive long-term anti-money laundering (AML),
refactored into an open source library, giving others support, and donors can continually help while still keeping their and know your customer (KYC).
the possibility to further refine it and to deploy it for original delegated stake.
different uses. Understanding and highlighting
The official launch of the charity stake pool WRFGS happened in how blockchain technology
January 2023 at the “Blockchain for Good” conference in Davos. The can mitigate risk, increase
Cardano Foundation made the initial delegation to the stake pool with operational efficiency, and play a
3.5 million ada. Taurus, a leading infrastructure provider, operates role in the fight against financial
the pool. crime becomes an important step
for wider adoption.
The UNHCR’s Innovation Programme will receive 20% of the stake
pool rewards, while the remaining 80% will fund on the ground
missions supporting forcibly displaced people.

Ball t The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

18
 veritree Progress Ogmios Memorandum of Understanding with
The Cardano Foundation’s first Global Impact Over the past year, the Cardano
the Georgian Government
Challenge called on the community to contribute Foundation supported the development In 2022, the Cardano Foundation partnered with Georgia’s
ada in order to plant one tree for every ada donated. and maintenance of Ogmios, a National Wine Agency, the Bolnisi Winemakers Association,
In return, donors received a token record of lightweight bridge interface tool. Ogmios and Scantrust to leverage the Cardano infrastructure in
ownership for each tree they sponsored. Ultimately, has facilitated access to the Cardano the production, promotion, and reach of Georgian wine.
over 1 million ada was given to veritree, a infrastructure by giving users the
global land and tree restoration enterprise. opportunity to build on Cardano in The pilot programme will involve the production of
programming languages beyond 100,000 bottles of wine, using grapes harvested in
Owing to the transparency and traceability offered Autumn of 2022. Each bottle will come equipped with a
Haskell. Ogmios provides a more
by Cardano, the data becomes permanent, label that includes a unique and secure QR code, allowing
approachable interface (JSON over
immutable, and accessible. GPS coordinates, consumers to verify the authenticity and provenance of
WebSocket or HTTP) than the bespoke
photos, and other specific information are easily the wine. The National Wine Agency will use Cardano to
Cardano’s client protocols, which for a
stored and shared via Verified Land Restoration create public and verifiable records of wine certification
long time have required developers to
NFTs. Consumers can observe their tree’s growth data.
know and write in Haskell.
and verify their donation at all times. 125,000 trees
redeemable on the Cardano blockchain were Designed to increase trust in Georgian wine, the scope
Ogmios also supports all the features
planted in Kenya to celebrate 2022’s Earth Day of the Cardano Foundation’s track-and-trace solution will
introduced by the Vasil hard fork and
in April, with a total of 350,000 trees already go from 20 wineries and 200,000 total bottles to 8,000
has already had significant use
planted in the Cardano Forest to date. wineries and 25 million bottles by 2032.
throughout 2022. In particular, the
community has developed several client
libraries in different languages, like
TypeScript, Go, Java, and Kotlin among
others. They make interacting with
Ogmios, and thus with Cardano’s nodes,
even more straightforward.

100,000
350,000 bottles will be verified on Cardano

19
trees planted
 Developer Ecosystem Survey Etter Edition 01 Kupo v2
Last year marked the inaugural Annual State of The Cardano Foundation facilitated the launch of 2022 saw the rollout of Kupo v2. Developed by the
the Cardano Developer Ecosystem survey. It Etter Edition 01, a showcase of the potential at the Open Source team at the Cardano Foundation,
comprised 31 questions with the aim of gathering intersection of blockchain technology and art. Kupo is a lightweight chain-indexing solution,
information to provide an accurate perception of providing fast access to and filtering of blockchain
key target-areas for improvement. Additionally, the Developed as a hybrid physical and NFT generative
data. Kupo indexes elements of the chain in a
survey’s findings will assist the efficient planning art project, the Etter Edition 01 came as a
database and provides a high-level interface
and coordination of open source effort amongst co-creation by Christian Etter and Alexander E.
(JSON over HTTP) to retrieve the indexed data easily
builders, so as to promote effective collaborations Brunner. Swiss based Web3 infrastructure provider
and efficiently. It is a crucial component for many
that can further strengthen the ecosystem. NMKR minted the NFTs themselves, which are
decentralized applications that need access to
redeemable as physical pieces of art on the
historical information.
The results of this survey are open source and Cardano infrastructure.
freely available for supplementary analysis. They Five Binaries (Blockfrost), SundaeSwap,
In addition to the artistic talent, the project
will continue to help in determining which libraries cexplorer.io, jpeg.store, and others now use Kupo
highlighted how Cardano can facilitate the creation
and tools prove critical to the Cardano ecosystem, V2 in production - a testament to its utility for users
of NFTs with advanced metadata features.
while also allowing the Foundation to discern across the Cardano ecosystem.
gaps in available tools or libraries. It will similarly
aid in pinpointing possible deficiencies in existing
solutions. Going forward, we plan to conduct annual
surveys to evaluate what has been accomplished,
what worked, and which areas may still require
attention.

20 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Cardano
Summit 2022

21 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Cardano Summit
From Ho Chi Minh City to São Paulo, the Cardano
Summit 2022 was a global celebration, with a main
stage event in Lausanne, community-led events
spanning most continents, a virtual Summit Lodge,
and a grand total of more than 50 locations and over
30,000 participants overall. A true testament to the
reach of the Cardano community.

The Foundation’s Cardano Ballot provided a

community-driven mechanism for selecting the day
2 speakers and helping to shape the agenda. It further
allowed the community to vote on, and consequently
decide the winners of the inaugural Cardano Summit
Awards.

In taking on the organization of last year’s Summit,

the Foundation immediately decided to embrace the
spirit of decentralization and governance. We wanted
to boost community input, celebrate those building
Cardano and on Cardano, plus encourage the
ecosystem evolution. Consequently, we ensured the
organization of workshops along our themes covering
a variety of topics like marketing strategies, regulatory
and tax considerations, or monitoring and metrics.

Day 1 of the Summit began with over 20 sessions

and 45 speakers. From proof of stake and finance to
open source principles and blockchain for good, the
Summit encompassed the most relevant discussions

22 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 happening in the field of blockchain and approached some alternative possibilities to
existing problems. It equally served as a stage for several announcements. The day closed
with the inaugural Cardano Summit Awards.

Continuing the momentum, day 2 offered presentations as well as panel discussions

addressing topics like digital identity, finance, brands, or gaming. Day 2 speakers were
voted for and chosen by the community itself, using a previous selection of candidates also
nominated by the community. The day concluded with a closing party, where those present
on the ground in Lausanne joined together to close out the Cardano Summit for 2022.

Many participants highlighted that the Cardano Summit stood out among blockchain-
related conferences due to the density of attendees building to make a real difference in
the world.

23 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

 Be
rli
Cardano Summit Across the World

n,
Ge
rm
an
y
30,000+
Attendees 40+
Sessions
44,000+
Logins for
virtual events
50+
Global
locations
15+
6,000+ Workshops
Registrations for Bangkok, Thailand

community events

80+
Speakers
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

24 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022

June 2022 Dec 2022
Financial Summary
In 2022, the Cardano Foundation significantly increased its

$45m headcount and associated costs, with a view to support its

increased activities around operation resilience, education,
$48m
Cash & cash adoption, and open source. Cash & cash
equivalents In order to ensure the funding of its strategic objectives, the
equivalents
(11%) Cardano Foundation Treasury applies a conservative approach that (21%)
guarantees sufficient resources at all times, in particular in the case
of a bear market.

The Cardano Foundation was able to build a significant liquidity $166m

$322m buffer, allowing it to support its current level of activities for more
than 2 years. The increase in the non-crypto proposition of the ADA (71%)
ADA (81%) Treasury has been funded mainly via the sale of ada rewards and Bit-
coin into short term placements with low credit risk.

The Foundation was not directly affected by industry risk events

throughout 2022. The Cardano Foundation allocates its assets to
robust counterparties.

$31m The Foundation predominantly holds its ada (ADA) and Bitcoin (BTC)
in cold storage solutions. A portion of the assets are held with Swiss
BTC (8%) crypto custodians and Swiss banks. $19m
The 2022 year-end audit for the Cardano Foundation will be BTC (8%)
conducted by Grant Thornton and will conclude in May 2023.

Market value of Market value of

assets: $398m (100%) assets: $233m (100%)

25 The Cardano Foundation Annual Report 2022