Blockfrost Tok Say Dem Go Begin Close Hosted API if ₳9.83 Million Cardano Treasury Proposal No Pass

Blockfrost dey plan to begin wind down their hosted Cardano API if the request for ₳9,832,979 from the Cardano Treasury no get enough support, Mahut confirm am during one governance discussion about the proposal.

Voting for the on-chain governance action still open till July 28, 2026. If dem approve am, e go fund continued operations for 18-month transition and move Blockfrost source code, domains, trademarks and infrastructure go community stewardship.

Cardano consensus protocol and block production no go dey affected if Blockfrost shut down. But wallets, applications, exchanges and other products wey dey use their API to access blockchain data or submit transactions go need migrate go another provider or run their own node and indexing infrastructure.

Blockfrost Confirm Plan to Wind Down Hosted API

Blockfrost dey provide hosted REST API wey dey allow developers read Cardano blockchain data and submit transactions without to maintain their own Cardano node, indexer and the supporting infrastructure.

The proposal to put Blockfrost under community governance don already public. For the latest discussion, Mahut talk direct about the team plan if the requested Treasury funding no pass:

“If this is not funded, we don’t plan to continue with Blockfrost as a service. So we will wind down the operations.”

Blockfrost present the same position for their official article about the service’s future. Their open-source code go still dey available, but the current hosted service no go continue under the present plan.

Dem never announce shutdown date, endpoint deprecation schedule or migration process. The statement dey describe operational wind-down, no be say service go stop immediately once voting close.

Other organizations fit continue use the open-source technology, but to run am independently go require hardware, network capacity, security, maintenance and continuous technical support. The current service still get public endpoints, existing integrations and operational infrastructure wey plenty Cardano application layer dey use.

Blockfrost start in 2020 by Five Binaries. Mahut talk say dem transfer the product go Input Output in 2024 and now na the company get am completely, na them submit the Treasury proposal. Mahut and Five Binaries no hold ownership again for the service.

According to the formal proposal, Blockfrost record 781,000 unique users, process 1.84 billion API requests and deliver more than seven terabytes of data during the latest measured month. The proposal still talk say more than half of Cardano transactions for most epochs dey submitted through Blockfrost.

Mahut talk say about 90% of the traffic wey the service dey handle dey come from the free tier.

Treasury Proposal Go Fund Operations and Community Transfer

The proposal dey request ₳9,832,979, wey dem value at $1,868,266 using the reference rate of $0.19 per ADA wey dem apply when dem prepare the budget.

Staffing represent 79.1% of the request. The allocation of ₳7,780,347, or $1,478,266, go fund six-person team wey include one project manager, one community manager and four developers.

Mahut talk say the figure cover pass employee salaries. E still include accounting, legal support, human resources and employment costs for team wey dey operate across several countries and time zones.

Another ₳1,894,737, or $360,000, dem allocate to compute resources, hosting, operational tooling and DevOps coverage. The infrastructure budget average approximately $20,000 per month.

The remaining ₳157,895, or $30,000, go cover the legal and accounting work wey dem need to establish the nonprofit and transfer Blockfrost intellectual property.

The Momentum proposal page describe independent, community-governed nonprofit. Input Output go comot from ownership and commercial control but dem go still hold temporary advisory role without voting rights during the transition.

The proposal expect say dem go establish the legal structure, transition architecture and one public usage dashboard during the third quarter of 2026. After that, community board go dey elected through on-chain vote during the fourth quarter.

Mahut talk say candidates go fit nominate themselves by submitting their professional background and relevant experience. DReps go elect the permanent board.

By the first quarter of 2027, the proposal expect say public API traffic across Cardano mainnet, Preview and Preprod go dey served through the new infrastructure. Blockfrost source code, domains, trademarks and other intellectual property go also move enter community stewardship.

During the funded period, the service must maintain at least 99% monthly availability. One public dashboard go track uptime, and quarterly technical and budget reports go document operations and expenditure. Any funds wey dem no use go return to the Cardano Treasury.

Blockfrost never select final sustainability model for the period after the transition. Mahut and community manager Beatrice Anihiri talk say na the elected board go decide that one.

The proposal present two possible structures. Under the first one, the nonprofit fit operate commercial services alongside the free public API. Revenue go fund the infrastructure, and any surplus go return to the Treasury.

The second model go keep the nonprofit focused on the open API, technical standards and development coordination. Independent providers go offer paid hosting, service-level agreements, support and custom development, and their contributions go help fund the free public layer.

Momentum public summary dey emphasize the partner-led model, but na the elected board go determine the final structure after the transfer.

Financial Disclosure and Oversight Questions Still Open

Mahut no disclose Blockfrost current monthly revenue or operating expenses during the discussion. E talk say the business dey operate approximately break-even and say most revenue dey support the free tier and reward operators wey dey participate for the decentralized IceBreakers program.

The proposal provide detailed budget for the future nonprofit but e no include financial statements for the existing commercial operation. So DReps get the proposed transition costs and Mahut description of the current financial position, but dem no get the underlying revenue and expense figures.

People still raise questions about transaction handling and data integrity inside IceBreakers, system wey allow stake pool operators and other node operators to contribute infrastructure to Blockfrost.

Mahut talk say responses from IceBreaker operators dey compared with Blockfrost internal infrastructure before dem deliver to users. Data wey different from the internal quorum, including responses from nodes wey never fully synchronize, dem dey reject am.

Submitted transactions dey randomly share among IceBreaker operators and dem dey mirror am through Blockfrost own nodes. Mahut still discuss trusted execution environments and hardware attestation as possible method to verify say responses dey come from approved software and infrastructure. That option no be confirmed deliverable under the proposal.

When dem ask whether users fit technically verify say Blockfrost employees no dey inspect transactions before block inclusion, Mahut talk say no such mechanism dey currently. So users dey place some level of trust for Blockfrost when dem submit transactions through the service.

E talk say the future board fit get controlled access to internal processes and verify say operational safeguards dey followed without to publicly expose customer data. The proposed governance model go add institutional oversight, but e no go provide users independent cryptographic method to verify staff behavior.

The discussion still raise questions about legal due diligence wey cover ownership, liabilities and the Blockfrost reported break-even position. Dem no present supporting documentation to address those issues during the session. Mahut refer the questions to the legal teams wey dey work for Input Output and Intersect.

Intersect go administer the proposal through formal contract and milestone-based payments. Dem go release funds after dem complete and independently verify specified deliverables, and the legal entity plus transfer of intellectual property go dey established during the funded transition.

The governance session no be neutral debate between supporters and opponents. The host openly endorse the proposal and encourage DReps to vote in favor, and Mahut conclude by asking DReps to record vote regardless of their position.

Voting go close on July 28. If dem approve am, e go start the contracted transfer of Blockfrost go community stewardship while the hosted API go still dey during the transition. If dem reject am, the software go still remain publicly available, but Blockfrost stated plan go shift from transferring the hosted service to winding down the infrastructure wey significant part of Cardano application layer dey use currently.