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The 91% figure does not mean that 91% of ADA is locked or that holders lose access to their coins. It refers to how much of a particular treasury-withdrawal allowance a governance period has used. One 2026 governance record says 42,604,371 ADA remained from a 500,000,000 ADA allowance. Cardano’s treasury itself is a protocol-controlled ADA pool funded each five-day epoch by transaction fees and part of the ADA released from reserves. Spending requires an on-chain governance decision and is constrained by a Net Change Limit (NCL), which limits net outflows during a defined period.
What Cardano’s treasury is
Cardano’s treasury is a protocol-controlled pool of ADA intended to finance approved ecosystem work. It is not a personal account, a company cash balance or a portion of every holder’s wallet that has been frozen. The treasury is part of the network’s monetary and governance rules, so its balance and spending are handled through ledger mechanisms and on-chain decisions.
Funding and spending are separate processes. The funding rules determine how ADA arrives in the pool; governance determines whether ADA can leave it. A withdrawal therefore cannot be treated as an automatic grant or as a payment made by a single foundation or administrator.
How the treasury is funded each epoch
An epoch lasts five days. At the end of each epoch, Cardano’s reward pot is formed from transaction fees collected during the preceding epoch and a share of ADA released from reserves. The official treasury explanation assigns 20% of that reward pot to the treasury; the remainder is available to stake pools and delegators.
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Transaction fees
Fees paid for using the network are one component of the reward pot. As a result, treasury income from fees varies with network activity rather than arriving as a fixed cash payment. More or less transaction demand changes the size of the pot from one epoch to another.
Reserve emissions
The other component is ADA released from reserves under Cardano’s monetary rules. Reserve emissions decline as the reserves are drawn down, so this part of treasury income is recurring but finite. The combination means that future treasury capacity depends on both remaining reserves and actual network use.
What happens to undistributed rewards
Rewards that are not paid out return to reserves. This prevents an unpaid reward allocation from automatically becoming a permanent treasury balance. A project can also return unused funding through a treasury donation, which replenishes the treasury balance for later governance decisions.
How ADA leaves the treasury
ADA leaves the treasury only after an on-chain governance decision. A proposal must identify what the money is for and how the work will be delivered; submitting a request does not itself authorize a transfer.
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Information a withdrawal proposal must provide
- Its purpose and the work or service being funded.
- The delivery period, so the requested spending has a defined timetable.
- Expected costs and the conditions under which money must be refunded.
- Whether the recipient received treasury funding during the previous 24 months.
- A budget for independent audits and oversight.
- The administrators responsible for handling and reporting the funds.
- Compliance with the applicable Net Change Limit.
These requirements are designed to make a withdrawal assessable before a vote and reviewable after money has been released. They also make repeat funding and potential conflicts easier for voters to identify.
An example of the kind of work treasury money can support
A 2026 governance record lists a proposal titled “Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026.” The example illustrates that infrastructure maintenance can be presented as a treasury withdrawal, but it does not make any particular hardware-wallet brand mandatory and does not guarantee that the proposal was approved or paid.
What the Net Change Limit controls
The Net Change Limit is a constitutional spending guardrail. It caps the net amount of ADA that the treasury may pay out during a specified period. It is therefore a limit on treasury flows, not a limit on the amount of ADA an individual may hold or transfer.
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The proposed revenue-linked mechanism
CIP-0173 proposes a canonical ledger mechanism in which governance configures both a percentage and an epoch window. Under that proposal, the cap would be calculated as:
floor(netChangeLimit × windowRevenue ÷ 100)
This formula links the permitted net change to revenue measured over the chosen window. CIP-0173 is a proposal for the mechanism; its formula should not be read as proof that every historical governance period used the same parameters.
Why the NCL is different from treasury income
| Question | Treasury funding | Net Change Limit |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | ADA entering the protocol-controlled treasury. | Maximum net ADA that may leave during a defined period. |
| Primary basis | Transaction fees from the prior epoch plus a share of reserve emissions. | A governance-approved ADA amount or, under the proposed CIP-0173 mechanism, a percentage applied to revenue in an epoch window. |
| Timing | Calculated every five-day epoch. | Applies across the governance-defined window and its covered epochs. |
| Who sets it? | Protocol monetary and reward rules. | DReps agree the period’s limit through an information action. |
| What happens when money is unused? | Undistributed rewards return to reserves; recipients may donate unused treasury funding back. | Unused headroom remains available only within the applicable period unless the rules or a later action change the window. |
| Does it affect a holder’s wallet? | No direct lock or deduction from an individual balance. | No; it constrains treasury withdrawals, not personal ADA ownership. |
What the “91% cap” report actually says
A 2026 DRepTalk governance record concerning a hardware-wallet maintenance withdrawal states: The period has consumed 91% of its cap, with 42,604,371 ₳ of headroom left of 500,000,000 ₳.
In plain terms, that record describes utilization of a particular 500 million ADA withdrawal allowance. Approximately 91% had been consumed, leaving the stated 42,604,371 ADA available under that allowance.
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The number is not a percentage of Cardano’s total ADA supply, the circulating supply, the treasury balance or any holder’s wallet. It does not mean that 91% of ADA is locked, that 91% of the treasury is frozen, or that holders can spend only 9% of their balances.
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Why the headroom matters
The practical reading is that proposals competing for the same period have less room before reaching that period’s ceiling. A new request may need to fit within the 42,604,371 ADA of reported headroom, be scheduled for a later window, or wait for a revised governance limit. That is an interpretation of the cited cap and headroom figures, not a claim that the protocol suddenly changed holder balances or imposed a new wallet restriction.
Do not confuse the 500 million and 350 million figures
A separate Cardano GovTool governance action set the NCL at 350,000,000 ADA for 2026–27, covering epoch 613 (13 February 2026) through epoch 713 (3 July 2027), unless superseded. The DRepTalk record instead refers to a 500,000,000 ADA cap for its stated period. The available evidence does not establish that these are the same allowance. They should be treated as separate governance records unless an authoritative action explicitly connects them. A headline that combines the two figures without naming their periods can mislead readers about the currently available budget.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who decides how treasury ADA is spent
Cardano’s governance structure distributes responsibility rather than assigning treasury control to one operator. DReps participate in decisions about the limit and withdrawal actions, while the Constitutional Committee is part of the approval path. The Constitution’s requirements for purpose, delivery, audits, oversight, administrators and refund information give those bodies criteria to evaluate.
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- Whether the requested amount and delivery period are specific enough to measure.
- How the proposal fits under the period’s remaining NCL headroom.
- Whether the recipient has received funding in the previous 24 months and, if so, what changed.
- Who administers the funds and how independent auditing will occur.
- What triggers a refund and how unused ADA can return to the treasury.
Approval is therefore both a spending decision and an accountability decision. A proposal can be technically eligible yet still compete with other requests for scarce headroom.
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What the limit means for ADA holders
No direct restriction on ownership
The NCL does not lock ADA in user wallets, reduce a holder’s balance or prevent ordinary transfers and staking. It operates at the treasury-withdrawal layer. The 91% utilization statement should be read in that narrow context.
Potential effects on ecosystem funding
A high utilization rate can make treasury funding less flexible during the remaining part of a window. Applicants may have to reduce a request, sequence work, seek a later period or compete more directly with other proposals. This can delay or reprioritize ecosystem projects even when the treasury’s underlying balance is larger than the remaining permitted outflow.
Why treasury capacity changes over time
Reserve emissions decline as reserves are used, while fee income follows network activity. Consequently, a future period’s available funding need not match a previous period’s. Returned grants and donations can increase the treasury balance, but they do not automatically rewrite an NCL that is already in force.
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How to interpret a future cap notice
- Identify the source and date. A governance discussion, a formal GovTool action and a constitutional rule can describe different stages of the process.
- Find the exact period. Record the covered epochs and calendar dates. “Current” is meaningful only when the window is specified.
- Separate allowance from utilization. Check the original cap, the amount used and the remaining headroom; a percentage alone is incomplete.
- Check the unit. Confirm that the figure is ADA and whether it is a net-outflow limit rather than treasury income or total supply.
- Look for superseding actions. A later governance decision can replace an earlier limit or define a new window.
- Read the proposal constraints. Purpose, delivery period, audits, administrators, refund conditions and prior funding history determine whether a withdrawal can be evaluated responsibly.
Common mistakes to avoid
- “91% of ADA is locked.” Incorrect: the cited 91% is utilization of a specific treasury-withdrawal allowance.
- “The treasury receives 20% of every ADA transaction.” Incorrect: 20% applies to the reward pot, which is built from prior-epoch fees and reserve emissions.
- “A large treasury balance means unlimited spending.” Incorrect: the NCL can restrict net outflows during the relevant window.
- “The 350 million ADA action and the 500 million ADA report are automatically the same cap.” Not established; their periods and governing records must be checked separately.
- “An approved-looking proposal proves payment occurred.” A proposal must pass the on-chain governance process; its title alone does not establish execution.
The practical bottom line for holders
Cardano’s treasury is replenished each five-day epoch from a defined share of the reward pot, but reserve-based income declines and fee-based income varies with network use. Governance, not an individual administrator, controls withdrawals, and constitutional requirements add disclosure, auditing and refund expectations. The NCL limits net treasury outflows over a named period. Thus, the reported 91% figure is best understood as a warning that a particular allowance was nearly used, with 42,604,371 ADA of the reported 500 million ADA headroom left—not as a restriction on personal ADA.
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