Cardano has 42.6M ADA left under its 500M ADA treasury withdrawal limit
In brief
- Thirty enacted treasury withdrawals totaled 457,395,629 ADA as of Oct. 16, per CryptoSlate.
- About 42.6 million ADA, or 8.5% of the allowance, remains through roughly July 3, 2027.
- Cardano's treasury held about 1.378 billion ADA in epoch 661, according to Koios data.
- Refunds, fees and donations don't restore the allowance because the limit counts gross withdrawals.
- A 22 million ADA copper reserve request remained unratified and unenacted.
How the limit works
Cardano's Net Change Limit agreement covers epochs 613 through 713, running from Feb. 13, 2026, to around July 3, 2027. That leaves about 8.5% of the allowance for the rest of the period.
The name's a little misleading. The NCL measures gross withdrawals, so reserve allocations, transaction-fee income, donations and returned grant money don't offset what's counted against the ceiling. It also counts withdrawals already debited during the period (including those made before the limit was raised), while expected, draft or unratified withdrawals don't count at all.
Koios data cited by CryptoSlate showed the treasury at about 1.378 billion ADA in epoch 661, up from about 1.337 billion ADA in epoch 650.
That's roughly 40.9 million ADA of growth, and the withdrawal allowance hasn't moved.
Who agreed to 500 million ADA
An InfoAction submitted July 2 recorded the 500 million ADA limit, and its final voting summary from epoch 647 showed 62.35% stake-weighted DRep support, as reported by CryptoSlate. The Cardano Constitution requires agreement of more than 50% of active voting stake for an NCL and prohibits withdrawals above the applicable limit. An InfoAction only records that agreement (it doesn't withdraw funds or enact a protocol parameter). The Cardano Foundation's Aug. 5 meeting notes recognized the increase, and it was still the latest NCL in InfoAction records checked on Oct. 16.
Withdrawal authority isn't gone. Governance can agree a new limit, and the constitutional cap applies only to additional withdrawals. Programs funded earlier can keep paying for work from money already allocated. The Constitutional Committee reviews whether actions comply with the charter, while each treasury withdrawal still needs its own approvals.
The copper reserve test
The Cardano Strategic Copper Reserve request seeks 22 million ADA. Proposed in epoch 661, it was unratified and unenacted as of the Oct. 16 snapshot. In a hypothetical where it's enacted in full before any other new withdrawal (and the limit stays unchanged), headroom would fall to 20,604,371 ADA.
The project commits to returning realized net copper-sale proceeds and unused funds by month 36, without guaranteeing recovery of the original ADA principal. Any refund would replenish treasury assets. It wouldn't reopen the gross-withdrawal allowance, so the immediate cost against the cap would be the full 22 million ADA.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't Cardano's growing treasury increase its withdrawal allowance?
The Net Change Limit measures gross withdrawals. Reserve allocations, transaction-fee income, donations and returned grant money don't offset the amount counted against the 500 million ADA ceiling, so the allowance stays unchanged even as the treasury balance rises.
How was Cardano's 500 million ADA treasury limit approved?
An InfoAction submitted July 2 recorded the 500 million ADA limit, and its final voting summary from epoch 647 showed 62.35% stake-weighted DRep support. The Cardano Constitution requires more than 50% of active voting stake to agree a Net Change Limit.
Can Cardano still fund projects once the allowance runs out?
Governance can agree a new limit, and the constitutional cap applies only to additional withdrawals. Programs funded by earlier withdrawals can keep paying for work from money already allocated.
How would the copper reserve request affect the remaining allowance?
The unratified 22 million ADA request would cost the full amount against the cap regardless of any later refund. Hypothetically, if it were enacted in full before any other new withdrawal with the limit unchanged, headroom would fall to 20,604,371 ADA.
