Cardano DReps Reject 12.29M ADA Pogun Funding Request

A Cardano governance action requesting 12.29 million ADA for Pogun failed to secure the required DRep support, preventing the treasury funds from being released. The outcome separates constitutional compliance from the decision to commit community capital to a commercial Bitcoin credit product. Pogun remains in development despite the vote.

DRep Vote Blocks Pogun Treasury Withdrawal

The final voting summary recorded 35.67% of DRep voting power in favor and 64.33% against. Without sufficient DRep support, the proposed treasury withdrawal could not be enacted.

The Constitutional Committee reviewed the same governance action separately. All seven recorded votes found the proposal constitutional, meaning the committee identified no conflict with the Cardano Constitution.

The two voting groups perform different functions. The Constitutional Committee assesses whether a governance action follows Cardano’s constitutional rules. It does not determine whether a product has sufficient users, whether its commercial model is viable or whether the requested funding represents an appropriate use of treasury capital.

DReps decide whether a proposal has enough support from delegated Cardano stakeholders. Pogun therefore passed the constitutional review but failed the capital allocation decision.

Pogun Offered Treasury a Revenue-Sharing Model

Pogun is an Input Output portfolio product developing fixed-term credit backed by Bitcoin. Its current model is based on direct agreements between lenders and borrowers, without pooled risk or automatic liquidations triggered by market prices.

The project is also developing Pogun Mirror, a BitVM-based collateral system designed to keep Bitcoin locked on its native network. A prototype test conducted on Bitcoin mainnet in August covered both a blocked fraudulent withdrawal and a completed valid withdrawal. Pogun’s website states that the test does not represent production readiness and that its Bitcoin collateral system is not yet live.

The funding request was structured differently from a conventional grant. Under the published terms, the Cardano treasury would receive 20% of Pogun earnings until the initial funding had been repaid, followed by an ongoing 5% share connected to Cardano-related Pogun products.

The publicly available proposal did not include an explicit requirement for Pogun to remain exclusive to Cardano. Input Output’s product page currently describes Pogun as multichain, while the company’s main website still identifies it as a Bitcoin and Cardano bridge.

That structure placed the treasury in a position closer to early commercial capital than a conventional funder of open-source infrastructure. DReps were asked to assess product maturity, execution risk and potential future returns alongside the proposed benefit to the Cardano ecosystem.

Pogun Continues Without Treasury Funding

The vote does not terminate Pogun. Its website remains active, the product is accepting waitlist registrations from borrowers, lenders and operators, and development can continue through other sources of capital.

Charles Hoskinson said that Input Output’s commercial ventures would select networks according to their technical and business requirements instead of automatically prioritizing Cardano. Pogun could therefore operate across several ecosystems or receive support from another network.

RealFi was not included in this governance action. Input Output continues to present it as a separate product connected to Cardano, and the Pogun decision does not alter its previously announced deployment plans.

The immediate consequences are limited to the rejected funding arrangement. The requested capital remains in the Cardano treasury, and the proposed repayment and continuing revenue share will not take effect.

For future commercial applicants, the Pogun vote establishes two separate requirements. A treasury proposal must comply with the Cardano Constitution, but it must also convince DReps that its maturity, risk, terms and ecosystem benefit justify the use of community capital. Pogun satisfied the constitutional requirement but did not secure approval for the investment itself.