Interview | Cardano Foundation CEO on Reeve launch, staking risks, and governance roadmap

The Cardano Foundation released last week its 2024 Financial Insights Report directly on the Cardano blockchain using its newly launched tool, Reeve. This marks the first time the Foundation takes advantage of on-chain infrastructure to publish verifiable financial data.

The 2024 report notes that $29.2 million was allocated across Cardano’s (ADA) three core focus areas, including adoption, operational resilience, and education, up from $19.2 million in 20223. An additional $7.1 million was allocated toward operational capacity, supporting governance, infrastructure, and legal efforts. As of year-end, the Foundation held $659.1 million in assets, mostly denominated in ADA, and generated its primary income from staking 599.2 million ADA tokens.

The shift to on-chain financial reporting was accomplished through Reeve, a user-friendly interface that allows anyone to access, verify, and interpret the Foundation’s financial data without requiring deep technical expertise. It’s part of a broader effort to expand decentralized governance capabilities, anchored by the recent Chang hard fork, a major step toward enabling fully on-chain decision-making within the Cardano ecosystem.

What I found interesting is that Reeve looks to be more than just a reporting dashboard. Rather, it’s a signal that the blockchain community is maturing. For years, critics have pointed to the opacity of Web3 foundations. Now, with Reeve and the Chang upgrade working in tandem, Cardano appears intent on addressing that criticism head-on with verifiable, on-chain evidence.

That said, transparency doesn’t erase the challenges of sustainability. A treasury heavily reliant on ADA staking rewards is still exposed to market swings. And while Cardano’s cash flow strategy seems prudent, it raises the broader question: what does long-term financial resilience look like for blockchain foundations that depend so heavily on their own tokens?

In the Q&A that follows, Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation, speaks with crypto.news about the Foundation’s reasons for moving financial reporting on-chain, the implications of the Chang upgrade, how it measures impact, risk management strategies for its crypto-heavy treasury, and the long-term sustainability of staking rewards as a revenue model.

The full Q&A with Frederik Gregaard is below:

crypto.news: The Foundation chose to publish its financial report on the Cardano blockchain using Reeve, emphasizing verifiability and accountability. What prompted this move to on-chain financial reporting? What advantages does an on-chain report bring in terms of transparency, and are there tools to help less-technical stakeholders audit and understand the data?

Frederik Gregaard: The Foundation moved to on-chain reporting to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and accountability as stewards of an open-source ecosystem. Reeve enables organizations to publish financial statements on‑chain, establishing a new standard for transparency, accountability, and trust in financial reporting. By publishing its 2024 accounting on‑chain, stakeholders can easily access statements via Reeve’s user-friendly interface to view, filter, and download readable versions of the data–no deep expertise required. We are looking forward to enterprises globally using Reeve. 

CN: The report mentions the Chang hard fork as a key step toward enabling decentralized governance on Cardano. How significant is the Chang upgrade for Cardano’s roadmap to community-led governance, and when can the community expect to see fully on-chain governance mechanisms (such as voting or treasury decisions) in action as a result of this fork?

FG: Chang Hard Fork represents one of the most significant milestones since Cardano’s inception. With this transition to a fully decentralized governance model, we’re on the path to becoming the world’s largest decentralized ecosystem. Cardano now runs on a secure, decentralized governance system that gives every ADA holder a voice. More information can be found here.

CN: In 2024, the Foundation allocated $29.2 million to its core focus areas (adoption, operational resilience, education), an increase from a reported $19.2 million in 2023. What drove this increase in spending year-over-year, and how do you measure the impact of these investments? 

FG: The $29.1mn are the total operational expenses for 2024. The allocation to the core focus areas forms part of the overall operational expenses and amounts to $22.1mn. The resulting increase compared to 2023 of $2.9mn reflects the Foundation’s intensified efforts around the Chang hard fork, expanded educational programs, and new enterprise partnerships.

The Foundation measures impact through tangible deliverables like the people engaging in the Cardano Blockchain Certified Associate program, the impact our partnerships create–e.g. by reaching tens of thousands of employees at organizations like Petrobras and SERPRO–, and the number of concrete adoption use cases, such as our partnership with Masumi to build a decentralized AI agent network. The launch of Reeve is also an example of the great results coming out of the investments.

CN: The Foundation’s assets stood at $659.1 million as of the end of 2024, with 8.3% allocated in cash and the rest in crypto. Given a crypto-heavy treasury, how does the Foundation approach risk management? Do you have guidelines for diversifying assets or converting crypto to fiat to fund operations, and how do you avoid negatively impacting the market when using ADA holdings for expenses?

We’ve built our investment approach to keep the Foundation funded well into the future in line with our statutory purpose, understanding that blockchain adoption is a gradual process. We follow a cash flow matching strategy that lets us plan crypto-to-fiat conversions well in advance, helping us avoid forced sales or sudden market disruptions. Our financial planning is based on multiple market scenarios and reviewed on a regular basis. When selling ADA or converting it into fiat, we proceed carefully and gradually to minimize any impact on the market.

CN: The report indicates the Foundation’s primary income source is derived from staking its 599.2 million ADA holdings. How sustainable is it for a non-profit to rely on staking rewards as a main driver of revenue? What would happen if ADA’s price or network yield changes significantly? Are there plans to develop other revenue streams or funding sources?

FG: Our core mission is to support blockchain adoption, and our treasury strategy is built around this goal. While staking rewards provide a key source of income, we diversify our investments and actively explore additional revenue streams to strengthen the Foundation’s long-term financial resilience.