About the 2025 product roadmap
2024 was a momentous year for Cardano, and upcoming developments will make 2025 even more exciting.
Ada holders now decide Cardano's future, and the community has already helped shape the 2025 plans. Discussions are currently underway across a host of areas including marketing and growth, research, and product enhancements. Here are some of the projects proposed to the community via the product roadmap process:
Scaling the Mainnet
Architectural improvements to the layer 1, new consensus methods, processing more transactions faster on the main chain – maturing elements like Hydra, Midgard, Gummiworm, Leios, Peras, and more.
Usability & utility
Improving the developer experience on Cardano with more capabilities and incentives for stake pool operators.
Interoperability & incoming liquidity
Collaborating with other blockchains for synergistic development and growing the layer 2 with Bitcoin DeFi, partner chains, Minotaur, Actively Validated Service (AVS) layers, and hybrid decentralized applications (DApps).
Scaling the Mainnet
If Cardano is to provide the world’s financial infrastructure, it needs to scale to the same order of magnitude as current financial systems. For example, average global credit card transactions averaged over 21,000 per second in 2022.
Cardano aims to support billions of users by 2030 by removing barriers to entry while maintaining decentralization, affordability, and security. These are the first steps along that road.
Cardano’s codebase has always been under continuous review, and this process will continue. The main areas under consideration in 2025 are modular design, performance optimization, formal methods and verification, and continuous investment in fundamental research.
Two new versions of Cardano’s Ouroboros consensus protocol are planned: Leios and Peras.
- PERAS
Peras uses stake pool operator confirmations to support faster transaction finality, reducing the time required for transactions to be considered final and irreversible. Peras reduces finality times from 12 hours to two minutes, enabling faster settlement and interoperability.
- LEIOS
Leios accelerates block production through parallel block creation, supporting scalability by enabling Cardano to process more transactions simultaneously, without compromising security.
Mithril’s lightweight cryptographic protocol allows nodes and light clients to quickly verify and exchange data without running a full node. Certificates support fast node bootstrapping, complement layer 2 solutions like Hydra, and lay the groundwork for decentralized data services and future ZK proof integrations.
Architectural improvements
Cardano’s codebase has always been under continuous review, and this process will continue. The main areas under consideration in 2025 are modular design, performance optimization, formal methods and verification, and continuous investment in fundamental research.
New consensus enhancements
Two new versions of Cardano’s Ouroboros consensus protocol are planned: Leios and Peras.
- PERAS
Peras uses stake pool operator confirmations to support faster transaction finality, reducing the time required for transactions to be considered final and irreversible. Peras reduces finality times from 12 hours to two minutes, enabling faster settlement and interoperability.
- LEIOS
Leios accelerates block production through parallel block creation, supporting scalability by enabling Cardano to process more transactions simultaneously, without compromising security.
Mithril certificates
Mithril’s lightweight cryptographic protocol allows nodes and light clients to quickly verify and exchange data without running a full node. Certificates support fast node bootstrapping, complement layer 2 solutions like Hydra, and lay the groundwork for decentralized data services and future ZK proof integrations.
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Usability & utility
Cardano is making blockchain accessible for everyday use while staying true to decentralization. With native support for identity, privacy, and regulatory compliance, it ensures trusted transactions, governance, and transparency – solving usability challenges without sacrificing its core principles.
Improving the experience for developers and functionality for users is crucial for driving broader Cardano adoption. Proposed improvements include multi-language libraries, improved procedure calls, custom chain indexers, decentralized APIs, local node support, and unified tracing standards.
Expanding the capabilities of Cardano's programmable assets will unlock new possibilities for decentralized applications (DApps).
These enhancements are crucial for unlocking the full potential of DApps. They expand on-chain asset functionality beyond simple transfers, enabling complex, programmable logic. These advancements will enable developers to build innovative DApps, exploring use cases like soul-bound tokens (tokens that can never be transacted to another wallet) for decentralized identity, mechanisms for custodian-regulated stablecoins, and royalty mechanisms to support creators.
In 2025, Cardano will encourage the development of new, independent implementations of the Cardano node. All these new nodes must conform to Cardano specifications.
Ensuring node conformity in Cardano relies heavily on rigorous formal specifications. Concrete, actionable instructions and guidelines for building and configuring nodes will ensure consistency and adherence to the established standards. This combination of precise specifications is essential for maintaining the integrity and stability of the Cardano network, guaranteeing that all participating nodes operate according to the agreed rules and protocols.
These services enable developers to access blockchain data and submit transactions without running a full node. Cardano’s approach emphasizes decentralization and plans to enable stake pool operators (SPOs) and desktop clients to serve as distributed data providers, reducing reliance on centralized operators.
Proposed upgrades to Cardano’s core node include a variety of measures to enable high throughput, save space, and implement new security measures. These changes will improve node stability, reduce costs, and enhance scalability.
The community has identified that incentives can be improved for SPOs. New protocol parameters modifiable by voting on governance actions could be introduced. For example, a min-margin parameter could set the minimum margin for a stake pool, or additional parameters could control the relationship between a stake’s pledge and its benefits.
The new local node service in the works is planned to provide an alternative to full node wallet, Daedalus, offering a full-node experience for users who want direct, trustless access to Cardano’s blockchain with less technical overhead.
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Interoperability & incoming liquidity
Increasing liquidity from other ecosystems is vital for expanding Cardano's user base.
Bitcoin Defi
Cardano can potentially become the smart contract and decentralized finance (DeFi) layer for Bitcoin, integrating both networks to unlock new capabilities and liquidity. Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs will enable Cardano to serve as a decentralized DeFi layer for Bitcoin. Plans for 2025 include evaluating merged mining and enabling Bitcoin users to interact with DeFi on Cardano.
Babel Fees
Babel fees will enable users to pay transaction fees in currencies other than ada, bringing fresh opportunities for new liquidity.
Users without initial ada holdings will transact on layer 1 through a decentralized marketplace, allowing partial transactions from multiple parties to be accepted and combined. It can also arbitrage the value in ada, providing users with the necessary ada to cover transaction costs and meet minimum requirements without requiring an initial purchase through an exchange.
Minotaur
Minotaur will allow chains to use multiple consensus protocols to generate the leadership schedule. Partner chains can have different protocol parameters from the main chain, and partner chain bridges will provide a decentralized open standard for seamless value transfer between partner chains.
Independent chains with customizable parameters will leverage Cardano's security while offering greater flexibility. The advantages are that incompatible chains with differing ways of arriving at the truth (consensus protocols) will be able to coexist and pass information to each other, and it becomes easier and safer to launch a new chain.
- Service Layers
Partner chains will allow blockchain networks to interact through decentralized service layers, enabling cross-chain transactions without requiring token bridging. This enhances interoperability and allows networks to provide services to others while maintaining decentralization.
- Actively Validated Services layer for partner chains
Actively Validated Services (AVS) is a new blockchain technology that enhances security, scalability, and flexibility within the Cardano ecosystem. It allows customizable partner chains to run independently while using Cardano’s secure layer 1 for transaction validation.
This means developers can test new features, build private chains, and create highly scalable DApps while leveraging Cardano’s secure Ouroboros proof of stake consensus. By separating transaction execution from settlement, AVS enables faster innovation, improved security, and seamless interoperability, making Cardano even more robust as adoption grows.
- Hybrid Dapps
Hybrid DApps will allow users to create complex, trustless multi-chain transactions without requiring developer involvement in bridging. These DApps can leverage Minotaur and threshold signatures to ensure atomic, cross-chain transactions, allowing users to interact with multiple blockchains seamlessly.
Growing The Layer 2
Independent chains with customizable parameters will leverage Cardano's security while offering greater flexibility. The advantages are that incompatible chains with differing ways of arriving at the truth (consensus protocols) will be able to coexist and pass information to each other, and it becomes easier and safer to launch a new chain.
- Service Layers
Partner chains will allow blockchain networks to interact through decentralized service layers, enabling cross-chain transactions without requiring token bridging. This enhances interoperability and allows networks to provide services to others while maintaining decentralization.
- Actively Validated Services layer for partner chains
Actively Validated Services (AVS) is a new blockchain technology that enhances security, scalability, and flexibility within the Cardano ecosystem. It allows customizable partner chains to run independently while using Cardano’s secure layer 1 for transaction validation.
This means developers can test new features, build private chains, and create highly scalable DApps while leveraging Cardano’s secure Ouroboros proof of stake consensus. By separating transaction execution from settlement, AVS enables faster innovation, improved security, and seamless interoperability, making Cardano even more robust as adoption grows.
- Hybrid Dapps
Hybrid DApps will allow users to create complex, trustless multi-chain transactions without requiring developer involvement in bridging. These DApps can leverage Minotaur and threshold signatures to ensure atomic, cross-chain transactions, allowing users to interact with multiple blockchains seamlessly.
Hydra achieves astonishing transaction speeds by dramatically improving concurrency, as Input | Output recently demonstrated by running the multiplayer Hydra Doom game at scale on Cardano.
The proposed roadmap includes an activity to explore using Hydra as a platform for decentralized governance discussions and voting, addressing the challenges of managing large volumes of information on layer 1.
Gummiworm is an infinitely scalable layer 2 solution being built by SundaeLabs using Hydra, increasing transaction speed and lowering transaction costs. Hydrazoa is an adaptation of the core protocol, with more lightweight and scalable Hydra heads.
Proposed projects such as these show how Hydra can bridge the gap between the security guarantees of on-chain transactions and the speed and cost of centralized exchanges.
Midgard from Anastasia Labs will enable high-throughput and low-fee transactions while maintaining Cardano's robust security and decentralization. It uses optimistic rollups, saving time and resources by assuming transactions are valid unless challenged.
Rollups aggregate off-chain transactions into compact representations on-chain. To achieve its efficiencies, Midgard also uses zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs and leverages Cardano’s EUTXO model.
Hydra
Hydra achieves astonishing transaction speeds by dramatically improving concurrency, as Input | Output recently demonstrated by running the multiplayer Hydra Doom game at scale on Cardano.
The proposed roadmap includes an activity to explore using Hydra as a platform for decentralized governance discussions and voting, addressing the challenges of managing large volumes of information on layer 1.
Gummiworm and Hydrazoa
Gummiworm is an infinitely scalable layer 2 solution being built by SundaeLabs using Hydra, increasing transaction speed and lowering transaction costs. Hydrazoa is an adaptation of the core protocol, with more lightweight and scalable Hydra heads.
Proposed projects such as these show how Hydra can bridge the gap between the security guarantees of on-chain transactions and the speed and cost of centralized exchanges.
Midgard
Midgard from Anastasia Labs will enable high-throughput and low-fee transactions while maintaining Cardano's robust security and decentralization. It uses optimistic rollups, saving time and resources by assuming transactions are valid unless challenged.
Rollups aggregate off-chain transactions into compact representations on-chain. To achieve its efficiencies, Midgard also uses zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs and leverages Cardano’s EUTXO model.
Keep up to date
This year, 2025, will be the most revolutionary in Cardano’s history. It’s the first year of full community governance, a radical experiment in the decentralized management of a blockchain. For more information, see the detailed proposal.