Overview
Project Catalyst is a grant fund that lets anyone pitch an idea and ask the community to pay for it. Proposals cover software, developer tools, education, events, and research, and community members read them, score them, and decide which ones receive money. The funding is drawn from a shared treasury owned by the network rather than from a single company's budget.
That network is Cardano, and the treasury is a pool of ADA held by the blockchain itself rather than by any company. Project Catalyst was started by Input Output Group, the engineering company behind Cardano1, and stewardship of the programme later moved to the Cardano Foundation2. Catalyst runs in numbered rounds, called funds, and past rounds stay browsable with their proposals, budgets, and results.
Key Features
- Who can apply depends on the round. Through Fund14, applications were open to individuals and teams anywhere, with no requirement to belong to an established company3. The 2026 pilot is narrower: it accepts only product teams that can put a working solution live on Cardano within three months4.
- Earn ADA by reviewing proposals. Community reviewers score submissions against published criteria such as impact, feasibility, and value for money, and they are paid for the reviews they file5.
- Results you can check yourself. In the numbered funds, votes were anonymous and weighted by how much ADA each voter held, and tallies were published alongside on-chain data so anyone could confirm the outcome without unmasking voters3. Public voting is not part of the 2026 pilot, which selects through curation and a decision panel6.
- Funding tied to delivered work. Grants committed through Fund14 are still paid as agreed milestones are met and signed off7. The 2026 pilot pays on a different schedule: 40% upfront at onboarding, up to 40% once real usage shows up in Cardano network fees, and 20% for holding that pace4.
- A public record of where the money went. Each fund keeps its own archive page listing the challenges it set, the proposals submitted, and what happened to the teams that were funded8.
What to Expect
If you have an idea, expect a written application rather than a pitch meeting. You set out the problem, the plan, the people, and how you will show the work landed. Applications are taken only inside a published window, and the round in force sets the bar: the 2026 pilot asks for an existing product, one of four named integration areas, and a working solution live on Cardano within three months4.
If you want a say in where the money goes, the route depends on the round. Reviewing means reading submissions and scoring them against the criteria published for that round, which is paid work5. Voting decided the numbered funds, with ADA holders registering a wallet through Catalyst's own tooling so their voting weight matched their holdings3, but Fund15 voting is paused7 and public voting is not part of the 2026 pilot6.
If you are simply curious what a community treasury actually buys, the funds archive is the place to start. It lists the rounds, the ideas that were funded, and whether a team finished, is still building, or stopped short8. The documentation site spells out the rules for each stage, from what belongs in a proposal through to how milestones are approved and paid9.
