Adoption continued throughout 2025, solidifying its role as a comprehensive learning and enablement platform. The Academy saw 800% YoY growth across active users, Masterclasses, Certification, and badge issuance, alongside a complete rebrand of the Cardano Academy that included multilingual deployment and technical white label integrations with major Brazilian institutions such as SERPRO and the Brazilian Olympic Committee. Beyond these metrics, the Cardano Academy in 2025 delivered 10 live masterclasses to enterprise audiences and established localized certification pathways in Portuguese and Spanish; launched new professional development content across multiple domains; and continued course development across specialized subjects , including Aiken , governance, rewards , and open-source practices . In line with the Foundation’s commitment to open-source accessibility and education for all, every course was made available in open-source format to encourage participation and reduce barriers to entry. Additionally, through a number of important strategy distribution partnerships, the Academy achieved an expansive increase in reach in 2025. The launch of Cardano Fundamentals on Binance Academy extended access to over 44 million learners, while a collaboration with the Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) and Coursera introduced AI and Blockchain for Business Leaders: Cardano Edition . Building on a successful pilot launch, the Cardano Academy also formally launched the Venture Hub 2.0 . Introducing new structures for enterprise collaboration, startup growth, and innovation pipeline development, this program increases Cardano’s reach to enterprises by offering an integrated pathway that helps founders, enterprises, and developers move from learning to implementation. Beyond the Venture Hub, the Cardano Foundation’s strategic participation in Project Catalyst Fund 13 enabled partnerships with four globally recognized accelerators: Draper University, Techstars, CV Labs , and the UNDP SDG Blockchain Accelerator . Through proactive relationship management, a 180 million ada voting allocation, and ongoing program engagement, these partnerships collectively supported over 70 startups throughout 2025. Programs ranged from a five-week Silicon Valley residency featuring pitches to investors, including Tim Draper, to a United Nations initiative advancing blockchain for sustainable development – for which Cardano provided catalytic funding, attracting over 50 projects with more than 20 building on Cardano. Other work promoting blockchain for humanity continued to yield a massive impact in 2025. Notably, the Cardano Foundation’s partnership with Switzerland for UNHCR continued to demonstrate blockchain’s capacity for sustainable humanitarian funding. The “With Refugees” stake pool (WRFGS) – the first UN blockchain validator – grew to over 6.5 million ada with more than 200 individual delegators, making it the most capitalized and most supported impact staking initiative in the industry. Building on this foundation, the Cardano Impact for UNHCR Exchange-Traded Product (CASL) issued by issuance.swiss launched on the SIX Swiss Exchange in May 2025, representing the world’s first regulated financial product to convert blockchain staking rewards into continuous humanitarian funding. The initiative received first prize at the Reimagining Fundraising Innovation Challenge from a coalition of 14 major international NGOs, and was included in the Swiss Confederation’s Multistakeholder Pledge at the Global Refugee Forum in December 2025. Global visibility, regulatory participation, and ecosystem engagement For sustained blockchain adoption to scale, blockchain ecosystems cannot rely solely on technical excellence; this requires clear, credible communication that reaches regulators, enterprises, developers, and everyday users alike. Throughout 2025, the Foundation’s marketing, communications, and regulatory engagement continued to serve as the connective tissue, transforming complex progress into accessible insights, strengthening institutional confidence, and ensuring Cardano’s role in the global blockchain landscape was both visible and well understood. 18 Cardano Foundation Activity Report 2025 % 8 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cardano Academy YoY growth of educational reach and output % . 3 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Adoption investment Cardano Foundation 2025 spending