Input Output will transfer control of Cardano’s Haskell node, Plutus platform, Daedalus wallet, and Hydra scaling tool to outside specialist firms starting in August, with the full transition expected to conclude by 2027.
The handover occurs just one day before the Van Rossem hard fork activates on July 18 at 21:44 UTC, upgrading Cardano to Protocol Version 11 and reducing smart‑contract execution costs.
ADA rose roughly 2% to about $0.165 on Friday, yet remains nearly 95% below its 2021 all‑time high.
Input Output announced on Friday that it will hand over control of core blockchain infrastructure—including the Haskell node, Plutus smart‑contract platform, Daedalus wallet, and Hydra scaling technology—to external specialist firms beginning in August.
The transition will be overseen by Se7en Labs, a development agency with experience in Solana infrastructure, and Teragone, a cryptographic research team that currently leads development of Mithril, Cardano’s stake‑based signature protocol. At least three independent node implementations—in Haskell, Rust, and Go—will run in parallel, supervised by the community bodies Intersect and Pragma. The process is slated to run through 2027.
The blockchain’s new motto is “Built by many, owned by all.”
Founder Charles Hoskinson described the move as the final push of the Voltaire era—the governance and decentralization phase Cardano has been pursuing since 2024. “Our partners are ready, and the ecosystem now offers many diverse options,” he said in the IOGroup announcement.
Cardano’s protocol and governance are already decentralized. Now its engineering is too.
“The last stage of the Voltaire era is full decentralization of node and reference blueprint development. Since 2024, IOG and its partners have carefully managed a process that will conclude… pic.twitter.com/zCCgu6ahco
— Input Output Group (@IOGroup) July 17, 2026
Tomorrow—July 18 at 21:44 UTC—the Van Rossem hard fork will go live on mainnet. Approved on July 13 with 77.63% support from delegated community representatives, the upgrade advances Cardano to Protocol Version 11 and introduces new Plutus built‑in functions aimed at lowering smart‑contract execution costs.
Cardano, trading as ADA, is up roughly 2% for the day, hovering near $0.165 with a market capitalization of about $6 billion. Open interest in ADA futures stands at approximately $193 million, and the long‑to‑short ratio is 2.84, indicating most traders are still anticipating a price increase.
For Input Output, the handover marks the close of a chapter. The company will redirect its efforts toward research and new ventures through IO Labs and IO Ventures, leaving the community to determine whether a decentralized engineering model can outperform the current approach.
Is Buying the Dip Advisable?
Based purely on the charts, an impulsive purchase may not be wise. ADA has yet to approach its 2024 peak near $1.20, and the technical picture remains subdued: the price has been drifting lower since August 2025, with the 50‑week exponential moving average sitting below the 200‑week average.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) rests at 34. RSI gauges momentum on a scale from 0 to 100, where readings above 70 signal overbought conditions and below 30 indicate oversold levels. The Average Directional Index (ADX), which measures trend strength, points to a strong bearish long‑term trend. Buying at these levels therefore resembles a leap of faith rather than a conviction‑based trade.
Nevertheless, ADA has surprised traders in the past. If the Van Rossem upgrade delivers on its promised cost reductions, the Leios upgrade arrives on schedule, and decentralized engineering proves more productive than the current model, those holding ADA at around $0.16 could see substantial upside.
