Cardano Rejects 12.29 Million ADA Pogun Request—and Puts Input Output on Notice

By Isaac • September 20, 2026 11:09 pm •

Cardano’s decentralized governance just delivered the kind of result decentralization is supposed to make possible: it told one of the network’s founding companies no.

Delegated representatives allowed Input Output’s request for 12.29 million ADA to build Pogun, a Bitcoin-focused credit and liquidity platform, to expire without ratification. The rejection does not kill Pogun.

It does make the project prove itself without assuming Cardano’s treasury will underwrite it.

CryptoSlate reports that 35.67% of delegated representative voting power supported the withdrawal while 64.33% opposed it. The Constitutional Committee reached a different conclusion, recording seven yes votes, but that review did not supply the DRep approval needed to release the funds.

The proposed arrangement was more than a simple