The Cardano Foundation's total assets fell 45 percent to 287.5 million Swiss francs from $659 million at the end of 2024, according to figures.

BeInCrypto, a blockchain media outlet, reported on April 2 that the Cardano Foundation said in its "2025 Activity & Financial Insights" report that the main factor behind the decline was the impact of a drop in Cardano (ADA) prices, rather than a change in the composition of its holdings. The foundation's year-end ADA holdings stood at 561 million tokens, down from 599 million in 2024. Its bitcoin holdings also fell to 656 BTC from 1,054 BTC over the same period. The foundation explained it moved some of its bitcoin holdings into lending and collective investment vehicles.

The foundation also appeared to make its holding structure more defensive rather than simply shrinking assets. The share of cash and financial assets rose to 25.5 percent from 8.3 percent over a year. Financial assets increased to $55 million from $18 million, including third-party loans, equities and investment funds.

The foundation appeared to be seeking to improve its ability to respond to market volatility through this asset reallocation. It said it could operate for more than a year with cash and financial assets alone without selling additional cryptocurrency. This is interpreted as a measure to reduce the impact of token price declines on its finances while securing operational continuity.

The foundation allocated its 2025 spending of $29.7 million to technology (40.3 percent), adoption (39.6 percent) and governance (20.1 percent). It placed the biggest weight on technology and ecosystem expansion while maintaining a direction of managing network operations and the institutional base at the same time. Personnel costs fell 25 percent from a year earlier, while spending related to outsourcing and external services rose. This shows its spending structure is shifting toward using more external specialised resources while reducing internal costs.

The foundation presented real-world asset (RWA) infrastructure, expanding the stablecoin market and strengthening decentralised finance (DeFi) liquidity as key tasks for 2026. Although its asset size has shrunk, it is interpreted as a sign its future strategy will continue to focus on expanding real-world use and financial infrastructure within the Cardano ecosystem rather than staying only on defensive moves.