News linked to both this project and an event.
According to CoinDesk, the Cardano wallet SecondFi was attacked due to a vulnerability in its transaction signing software. A total of 16.1 million ADA (approximately $2.4 million) across 374 wallets was stolen, and the platform has announced permanent closure. The vulnerability allowed attackers to derive private keys from transaction data visible on-chain. The Cardano network itself was not affected, nor were hardware wallet users. An investigation by Groom Lake, a blockchain intelligence company hired by EMURGO, revealed that the primary attackers were sophisticated and well-funded. Some indications point to North Korea's Lazarus Group, but this has not yet been officially confirmed. SecondFi plans to release a wallet export tool in early August and launch a zero-knowledge recovery portal later in the month. EMURGO has established an asset recovery wallet, with the specific distribution time to be determined.
Cardano ecosystem wallet SecondFi announced that due to a cryptographic defect in its wallet software, approximately 16.1 million ADA (worth around $2.6 million) were stolen. The platform will gradually shut down the SecondFi and Yoroi wallet services. This incident has affected 374 wallets. SecondFi stated that an independent investigation by blockchain intelligence agency Groom Lake identified the attackers as a sophisticated external actor and found indicators potentially linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group, though attribution has not yet been confirmed. SecondFi is developing a recovery tool based on zero-knowledge proofs to help affected users recover assets while limiting the information that needs to be shared. The tool is still being tested and will undergo third-party audits before its planned release in August. SecondFi is also preparing a wallet export feature to allow users to migrate their assets to other services. The platform has not announced a direct compensation plan, nor has it indicated whether it will use its own funds to compensate users.
According to an official post from Midnight Foundation (@midnightfdn), the Wanchain Cardano<>BNB cross-chain bridge suffered a security attack. Currently, multiple major exchanges including KuCoin, Kraken, Binance, Bybit, OKX, and MEXC have responded rapidly, taking preventive measures to restrict the flow of stolen assets, including freezing relevant accounts and addresses, blacklisting the attacker's wallets, and suspending NIGHT token deposit and withdrawal services. The exchanges confirmed that this incident is an isolated third-party bridge vulnerability and is unrelated to the Midnight Network mainnet and the NIGHT asset itself.
the Midnight Foundation has provided an update on the handling of the cross-chain bridge attack event involving Wanchain Cardano and BNB. Multiple exchanges including KuCoin, Kraken, Binance, Bybit, OKX, Gate, and MEXC have coordinated risk control actions, temporarily freezing the involved accounts and associated addresses, adding the hacker wallet to a blacklist, and pausing NIGHT token deposits and withdrawals as needed to curb the transfer and cashing out of stolen assets.The Foundation specifically noted that this security incident is an isolated incident related to a third-party cross-chain bridge, and the Midnight mainnet and native NIGHT assets have not been affected. The project team continues to collaborate with major exchanges and ecosystem partners to advance traceability investigations, reminding the community to rely on official disclosures for information and to be cautious of misinformation.
Odaily Odaily News The Cardano network completed the Van Rossem hard fork upgrade on July 18, upgrading the mainnet protocol version to 11 (Protocol Version 11). This upgrade not only brings smart contract performance optimizations but also marks the first time Cardano has completed a protocol upgrade led by its community governance system, rather than being directly driven by the founding team.Previously, Cardano hard forks were mainly coordinated by core organizations such as the engineering firm Input Output (IOG), which is responsible for development. In contrast, the Van Rossem upgrade was fully facilitated through Cardano's on-chain governance system for proposal, discussion, and voting, becoming the first major upgrade autonomously approved by network participants since Cardano entered the Voltaire governance era.According to on-chain data, the Cardano mainnet upgraded from version 10 in epoch 643 to version 11 in epoch 644, officially activating on July 18 at 21:44 UTC. The upgrade received final approval on July 13, requiring consensus from the representative bodies, the Constitutional Committee, and stake pool operators.Among them, DReps (Delegated Representatives), who vote on behalf of ADA holders in governance, approved the proposal with a 78.97% support rate, exceeding the 60% requirement; all seven members of the Cardano Constitutional Committee confirmed the upgrade complies with constitutional requirements; and stake pool operators, responsible for running the network's infrastructure, approved the upgrade with a 53.02% support rate.The Van Rossem upgrade primarily includes technical improvements such as optimizing the Plutus smart contract platform, reducing smart contract execution costs, and enhancing ledger validation rules. This upgrade also paves the way for the future Dijkstra-era hard fork and the Ouroboros Leios scaling solution.Ouroboros Leios aims to enhance the processing capacity of Cardano’s proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It is expected to launch in 2026, potentially significantly increasing the network's transaction throughput while maintaining security.For ordinary ADA users, this upgrade does not bring significant operational changes; wallets do not need updating, and transfer methods and fees remain the same. However, in the long run, Plutus optimizations could lower the operational costs of decentralized applications (DeFi, NFTs, etc.), providing lower-cost infrastructure for ecosystem development.Cardano stated that the greatest significance of Van Rossem is not merely the technical upgrade, but the shift in governance model—the future direction of the network will be determined by community votes, rather than being entirely controlled by the founding team. This means ADA holders now truly possess governance rights to participate in protocol evolution for the first time. (CoinDesk)
According to Cointelegraph, Cardano completed the van Rossem hard fork on Saturday, upgrading the mainnet to version 11. This upgrade is expected to reduce smart contract execution costs and lay the foundation for the subsequent Dijkstra era hard fork and Ouroboros Leios scaling upgrade. On-chain data shows that the network transitioned from protocol version 10 to version 11 at epoch 644. The report noted that this is also the first hard fork driven by the governance mechanism in Cardano's history.
Cardano activated the Van Rossem hard fork at 21:44:51 UTC on July 18, 2026, upgrading the network to protocol version 11 with no downtime reported. This upgrade is a change within the Conway ledger era, aimed at reducing the operational cost of Plutus smart contracts, enhancing ledger security, and adding new cryptographic tools. Van Rossem includes 5 Cardano Improvement Proposals, covering BLS12-381 multi-scalar multiplication, on-chain array types, multi-asset value processing optimization, list operation acceleration, and built-in modular exponentiation. Staking pools are now prohibited from reusing the same Verifiable Random Function key across the entire network, and each pool must hold a unique key tied to its identity. This upgrade was completed through Cardano's on-chain governance process, from proposal to activation via on-chain voting. Delegated representatives passed the proposal with a 77.63% approval rate, staking pool operators had a 52.7% approval rate, and the Constitutional Committee voted 6-0-0-1. The total balance of wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA has risen to its highest level since 2023, currently controlling over a quarter of ADA's circulating supply. Cardano will next advance Ouroboros Leios and plans to achieve a target of over 1,000 transactions per second during testing in 2026.
: Cardano development company Input Output will transfer control of key blockchain components such as the Haskell node, Plutus platform, and Daedalus wallet to external professional teams starting in August, as part of a multi-year decentralization advancement plan. Independent companies such as Se7en Labs and Teragone will be responsible for certain core infrastructures. At least three versions of Cardano will be maintained in Haskell, Rust, and Go languages, under community supervision and formal specification management. Cardano currently faces relatively weak network activity and a significant decline in the price of its ADA token. Founder Charles Hoskinson characterizes this restructuring and related ecosystem setbacks as necessary "growing pains" in the process of moving towards full decentralization.
Odaily, Cardano wallet service provider SecondFi has launched an asset recovery wallet check tool, allowing users to preliminarily check whether their relevant wallets have been affected by the previous security incident.SecondFi stated that the addresses currently displayed in the tool are based on the team's preliminary review data of the security incident and are not final. The list may not be complete and does not represent the final scope of recovery.
: Cardano wallet service provider SecondFi has released an update on the security incident recovery progress, stating that EMURGO has established an asset recovery fund to return assets to users affected by the attack.SecondFi stated that emergency measures have been taken to protect and restore access to some assets. The team is currently discussing appropriate custody mechanisms with Intersect to ensure the safe return of assets to users.Furthermore, SecondFi is collaborating with a Cardano community-led working group to advance the on-chain recovery plan. Due to the recovery plan being more complex than initially expected, the overall recovery time may exceed the previously estimated two weeks.
Odaily, Cardano wallet service provider SecondFi has released an update on the security incident, stating that the team has completed the final balance snapshot of affected user assets. Several rounds of snapshots were continuously recorded during the incident response period to serve as the basis for subsequent asset recovery and reconciliation. SecondFi stated that the engineering and security teams are advancing the asset recovery plan. It is estimated that asset repayment can begin in approximately two weeks — one week allocated for finalizing a viable technical solution and another week for testing and review. The specific timeline may be subject to minor adjustments as progress unfolds. The platform will resume operations only after passing a comprehensive security review. Currently, users only need to submit a support request via the official website's ticketing system, with no additional action required.
: According to official announcements, Binance will update the collateral ratios and tiered collateral ratios for Portfolio Margin and Portfolio Margin Pro at 14:00 (East Eight Time Zone) on June 26, 2026. This involves assets such as ADA, TRX, DOT, ARB, OP, ENA, and VIRTUAL. At the same time, Binance Futures will adjust the leverage and margin tiers for certain USDⓈ-M perpetual contracts at 14:30 (East Eight Time Zone) on June 26, 2026. The affected contracts include BICOUSDT, ANIMEUSDT, WCTUSDT, 1000SATSUSDT, ZKCUSDT, BASEDUSDT, DOODUSDT, PLAYUSDT, TNSRUSDT, SOPHUSDT, and SIGNUSDT.
that, according to an official announcement, Binance will update the leverage and margin tiers for several USDT-margined perpetual contracts at 14:30 Beijing time on June 19, 2026, involving SIRENUSDT, VELVETUSDT, RESOLVUSDT, TRUSTUSDT, THEUSDT, MAVUSDT, SANTOSUSDT, ORDIUSDT, DIAUSDT, and INXUSDT. Additionally, Binance will adjust the collateral rates for ADA and FDUSD in portfolio margin starting from 14:00 Beijing time on the same day.
according to an official announcement, Binance will update the collateral ratios and tiered collateral ratios for Portfolio Margin Pro at 2026-06-12 06:00 UTC (14:00 Beijing time), involving assets such as U, CAKE, CRV, TAO, LINK, SHIB, and ADA. Additionally, at 2026-06-12 06:30 UTC (14:30 Beijing time), adjustments will be made to the leverage and margin tiers for USDⓈ-M perpetual contracts, including 1000000MOGUSDT, ZORAUSDT, ONTUSDT, BLURUSDT, AXLUSDT, TOSHIUSDT, RONINUSDT, ROSEUSDT, BRETTUSDT, METUSDT, MINAUSDT, NMRUSDT, MOVEUSDT, and SAHARAUSDT.
Well-known crypto bankruptcy claims investor Thomas Braziel (@Bkclaims) disclosed that original documents from the Isle of Man he obtained show that the earliest Cardano Foundation structure involved Charles Hoskinson, Jeremy Wood, Ken Kodama, and others. Subsequent documents indicate that Hoskinson served as the Foundation’s “Enforcer”—a key role responsible for ensuring the Foundation’s Board of Directors adhered to its charter. Notably, the Cardano ICO launched as early as September 2015, whereas the Swiss Cardano Foundation was not formally established until September 2016. During this interim period, the terms of service and risk disclosures consistently listed the “Foundation” as the issuer or supporting entity. Moreover, historical records from the Swiss Cardano Foundation also confirm the existence of a predecessor foundation based in the Isle of Man, which reportedly received approximately 1,090 BTC.
According to Cointelegraph, TapTools, a real-time Cardano analytics platform, announced it will gradually shut down over the next two weeks. Since the beginning of this year, the platform has lost two co-founders, its Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and a backend developer. This exodus has resulted in a critical knowledge gap, rendering the platform unable to maintain normal operations. TapTools also cited high operational costs—including infrastructure, development, and support—as another key reason for the shutdown. The platform stated it remains open to external acquisition or financing. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson accepted partial responsibility, noting he had previously proposed an “index program” to rescue struggling projects, but the initiative failed to materialize.
According to The Block, the Cardano Foundation confirmed that the Cardano Summit 2026 will not be held this year, as the on-chain treasury funding proposal failed to reach the required supermajority threshold of 66.67%. The revised proposal sought a grant of 7.8 million ADA—approximately $2 million—but ultimately secured only 65.21% support from DReps’ staked voting power and was therefore rejected. The summit had been scheduled to take place in Singapore on October 5–6. Separately, EMURGO’s sponsorship proposal for TOKEN2049 has been approved.
Odaily, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stated when discussing the removal of Section 604 of the CLARITY Act that this provision could subject open source developers to long-term legal liability for others' use of their code. He pointed out that once developers publish open source software, even if someone subsequently misuses the code without consent, the developer could still be held permanently accountable, calling this a serious threat to the open source innovation environment.
According to CoinDesk, Input Output, the core development company behind Cardano, has submitted nine funding proposals totaling $46.8 million to the community treasury for fiscal year 2026—a sharp reduction of approximately 52% compared to last year’s $97.5 million—marking its first step toward gradually reducing reliance on community funds. The nine proposals center on two key initiatives: First, the Leios consensus upgrade, expected to boost Cardano’s transaction throughput by 10x to 65x and target over 1,000 transactions per second (TPS); testing is scheduled for June, with full deployment planned by year-end. Second, Pogun—a Bitcoin DeFi system enabling Bitcoin holders to borrow and earn yield via Cardano without entrusting assets to centralized custodians; its lending functionality is slated for public release in Q2. Voting is being conducted by roughly 1,000 democratically elected representatives (DReps), with ballots closing on May 24. The outcome will test whether the Cardano community now views Input Output as just another ordinary funding applicant. Meanwhile, Cardano’s newly launched stablecoin USDCx has achieved a circulating supply of 14.6 million tokens within weeks of launch, and the network’s total value locked (TVL) has risen from $137.5 million to $142.7 million.