The Cardano ecosystem recorded a number of main developments over the previous week. Most notably, the launch of the Leios public testnet led exercise. There have been additionally upcoming decentralized finance (DeFi) initiatives, renewed ecosystem funding, and an application-level safety incident involving the SecondFi pockets.
Right here’s what occurred within the Cardano ecosystem within the final week:
Leios Public Testnet Goes Reside
Cardano formally launched the general public testnet for Leios, its next-generation scaling protocol, on June 23. Named Musashi Dojo after the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, the testnet marks one of many community’s most recognized technical milestones in years. Furthermore, the improve is seen as a serious enhance to Cardano’s transaction throughput by as much as 65X. A mainnet laborious fork is focused for November 2026.
Musashi Dojo is stay! The Leios public testnet is right here.
Large credit score to IO’s Leios group, and to the collaborators who made this potential: @Cardano_CF, @IntersectMBO & @blinklabs_io. This was a really collective effort.
Come discover. Take a look at it. Break it.https://t.co/EI6nlxHqYF… pic.twitter.com/AD21vZ2Hv7— Enter Output Group (@IOGroup) June 23, 2026
The rollout is structured into 5 phases: Earth, Water, Hearth, Wind, and Void. These will progressively check the protocol from preliminary design validation to adversarial testing earlier than mainnet deployment. Consequently, the testnet permits stake pool operators (SPOs) to deploy Leios-enabled block producers. Builders also can start testing decentralized purposes (DApps), wallets, and infrastructure forward of the improve.
RealFi Testnet Set for July Launch
Enter Output World (IOG) additionally introduced that Section 1 of its RealFi testnet will launch on July 6.
The mission goals to enhance capital effectivity by enabling stablecoins to generate yield as a substitute of remaining idle. The initiative represents IOG’s newest effort to increase decentralized finance (DeFi) use circumstances inside the Cardano ecosystem.
Massive information: the RealFi Section 1 Testnet goes stay on 6 July. 🚀
That is our first public step towards next-generation stablecoin infrastructure on Cardano – and a direct response to an issue we have been vocal about:
Crypto’s clearest success story has scaled as cash. However not as… pic.twitter.com/uQe68ds6iM
— RealFi (@realfi_co) June 24, 2026
Mission Catalyst Returns with 2 Million $ADA
Cardano’s group funding program, Mission Catalyst, will return in August with a 2 million $ADA grant pool.
A brand new Catalyst pilot fund will begin in August 2026, with a complete grant pool of 2M $ADA.
We stay up for working with the group and supporting the Cardano builders. Extra particulars quickly.
Learn the announcement on the Discussion board and share your ideas.https://t.co/MbM7xZ7IKc
— Mission Catalyst (@Catalyst_onX) June 26, 2026
The upcoming funding spherical will prioritize tasks constructing round applied sciences reminiscent of Pyth, Brale, stablecoins, programmable tokens, and on-chain identification. It will present contemporary capital for builders and ecosystem builders.
AlphaGrowth Proposes Treasury-Funded DeFi Initiative
In the meantime, AlphaGrowth unveiled PRIME, a proposal with a imaginative and prescient to speed up DeFi adoption on Cardano.
1/11
Cardano DeFi is prepared for prime time.
Right this moment we’re introducing PRIME:
a 12-month AlphaGrowth-run program to assist Cardano entice liquidity, deepen DeFi utilization, and turn into a first-class vacation spot for capital. pic.twitter.com/nJ11h3jQWr
— alphagrowth (@alphagrowth1) June 22, 2026
The agency plans to request 120 million $ADA from the Cardano treasury to fund the initiative. It is usually showcasing its earlier work with main blockchain ecosystems together with Compound, Uniswap, and Arbitrum. Notably, it says it helped assist greater than $1 billion in whole worth locked (TVL).
SecondFi Exploit Prompts Safety Reminder
The week additionally noticed a safety incident involving SecondFi, previously often known as the Yoroi pockets. A vulnerability reportedly resulted within the theft of roughly 16 million $ADA.
SecondFi acknowledged that affected customers might be absolutely compensated and suggested customers to comply with updates via its official channels.
Replace https://t.co/23F2M0YrUp
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) June 24, 2026
Addressing issues, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson emphasised that the blockchain itself was not compromised. He acknowledged that Cardano’s protocol, cryptography, and core infrastructure stay safe.
He described the exploit as an remoted application-level challenge slightly than a network-wide vulnerability.
Cardano’s native token $ADA traded at $0.1439, declining 0.8% over the previous 24 hours regardless of a sequence of ecosystem developments.
