Cardano Accelerator Program Announces Spring '26 Cohort

The Cardano Accelerator Program (CAP) is one of the vehicles of the Foundation's Venture Hub, whose mandate is to support the adoption of Cardano in three ways:

• drive venture acceleration through the Cardano Accelerator Program (CAP);
• enable enterprise adoption through the Enterprise Enablement Program (EEP);
• and support both programs through the Partnerships & Funding arm.

This year, the Venture Hub has earmarked up to 2 million ada for potential deployment to CAP participants. Alongside this, dedicated resources have been allocated to strengthen investment and partnership pathways within the Venture Hub, working with strategic partners to bolster venture growth and long-term success.

Delivering a curated participant experience

CAP accepts small cohorts to ensure high-touch guidance for selected ventures, increasing their visibility and success in their development within the Cardano ecosystem. The program provides structured support across two integrated tracks:

• Technical
• Business

Through tailored technical sessions, go-to-market guidance, regulatory workshops, and strategic advisory, finalists receive focused mentorship designed to accelerate product readiness and long-term scalability.

The program begins with an in-person kick-off week and culminates in a Demo Day, where ventures present to a curated network of investors and ecosystem partners. Each participating team receives a CHF 10,000 contribution from the program to support their milestone delivery, plus dedicated guidance from the Foundation and its industry collaborators.

Advancing DeFi and RWA innovation

Following a competitive selection process, Toto Finance, Libertum, Nobon, Colossus, and The Mint have been selected as finalists for the Spring 2026 cohort of the CAP. This cohort reflects growing institutional engagement with decentralized finance (DeFi) and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization across the Cardano ecosystem.

The selected finalists operate across tokenized commodities, regulated digital asset issuance, climate finance infrastructure, institutional staking and custody, and asset-referenced tokens. Together, they demonstrate how blockchain infrastructure can support transparent, secure, and scalable financial applications.

Toto Finance

Toto Finance is building institutional-grade infrastructure for tokenized commodities. By transforming physical assets such as precious metals, energy, and gemstones into asset-backed digital tokens, Toto aims to modernize settlement, custody, and global trade flows. Its vertically integrated stack combines compliant infrastructure, instant settlement, and redemption logic to bridge traditional finance and decentralized markets.

Libertum

Libertum provides institutional-grade tokenization infrastructure for RWAs. Through its modular T-Suite and decentralized exchange layer, Libertum enables compliant issuance, lifecycle management, and liquidity for tokenized assets across jurisdictions. With regulatory licenses secured and live asset pipelines, the platform focuses on connecting regulation, liquidity, and programmable ownership into a scalable operating system for digital finance.

Nobon

Nobon develops digital infrastructure for climate finance. Its unified platform streamlines due diligence, investor workflows, compliance checks, and transaction settlement for climate-linked assets. By reducing friction in climate project financing and introducing standardized digital rails, Nobon supports transparent capital allocation toward sustainable infrastructure and impact-driven investments.

Colossus

Colossus delivers institutional blockchain infrastructure that bridges secure digital asset custody with yield generation. The platform enables financial institutions to manage staking and governance across more than 20 blockchains while maintaining high standards of compliance, operational transparency, and risk control. Its model connects asset holders, custodians, and yield providers within a unified institutional framework.

The Mint

The Mint is developing regulated, asset-referenced tokens designed from the ground up for compliance and transparency. Its initial implementation, Greenland Reserve Coin (GNRC), demonstrates a disciplined issuance model backed 1:1 by verified physical gemstones. Built with MiCA alignment in mind, The Mint seeks to establish Cardano as a long-term settlement layer for regulated real-world assets.

Each finalist demonstrated a clear commitment to advancing DeFi and RWA innovation on Cardano, aligning with the Foundation’s strategic focus on strengthening Cardano’s role as a trusted public digital infrastructure.

Strengthening the Cardano venture ecosystem

As the program’s second cohort, Cohort Spring 2026 builds on the lessons of the pilot phase and reinforces the Foundation’s continued commitment to supporting commercially viable, compliance-ready solutions within the Cardano ecosystem.

By focusing on ventures operating at the intersection of blockchain infrastructure, institutional adoption, and practical utility, the CAP advances measurable ecosystem growth. The Foundation looks forward to working closely with this Spring’s cohort as they refine their products, expand partnerships, and prepare for Demo Day.

Applications for the next CAP cohort will open later this year. The Foundation encourages all ventures building on Cardano to apply and join a program designed to accelerate both technical excellence and market readiness.

Funding, investment, and/or financial contributions are not guaranteed; program terms and conditions apply. Please get in touch with any questions.