The Cardano Foundation has moved a step closer to blockchain-based financial transparency by having Grant Thornton Switzerland attest to its 2025 financial statements directly on the Cardano blockchain.

The move marks the first reported instance of an independent auditor placing a formal audit attestation for a major cryptocurrency organization on a public blockchain. Grant Thornton's audit opinion is dated March 25, 2026, while the Foundation published its accompanying Activity and Financial Insights Report on April 2. Grant Thornton is the Swiss member firm of one of the world's largest accounting networks, which places the attestation within the framework of conventional statutory auditing rather than a crypto-native review.

Audit Verification Moves Onto the Blockchain

The initiative uses Reeve, a financial data integrity platform designed to connect conventional accounting processes with public blockchain infrastructure.

The Cardano Foundation first used Reeve for its 2024 reporting cycle. That implementation provided blockchain-based verification of financial information but did not include an independent auditor's attestation. The 2025 process adds Grant Thornton's formal sign-off, allowing users to verify the relationship between the auditor's opinion and the reported financial information through the Cardano ledger.

The approach is intended to reduce reliance on documents controlled by a single organization. Conventional audits generally produce reports and supporting documents that can be replaced or modified over time. An on-chain record, by contrast, can provide a permanent cryptographic reference to information at a specific point in time.

The blockchain-based attestation allows the Foundation's financial data and the independent auditor's opinion to be cryptographically linked on the Cardano network, giving users a way to verify whether the underlying information has been altered.

The mechanism works by recording a cryptographic fingerprint of the financial data on the blockchain. If the underlying figures are subsequently changed, the resulting fingerprint would differ from the original record, making the discrepancy detectable.

Foundation Holds $361 Million in Assets

The Cardano Foundation reported total assets of approximately CHF 287.5 million, equivalent to about $361 million, as of Dec. 31, 2025.

Its reserves were primarily held in cryptocurrency. ADA accounted for 51.6% of the Foundation's holdings, while Bitcoin represented 25.5%. Cash equivalents and other financial assets accounted for the remaining 22.9%.

The Foundation recorded total expenditures of CHF 23.6 million during 2025, covering areas including ecosystem adoption, technology development, and governance initiatives.

The composition of the balance sheet means the organization remains substantially exposed to cryptocurrency price movements. With more than three-quarters of its reported reserves allocated to ADA and Bitcoin, changes in digital asset prices can have a material effect on the value of its treasury.

Transparency Becomes a Focus for Crypto Organizations

The Cardano Foundation is a nonprofit organization responsible for supporting and stewarding the broader Cardano ecosystem. Unlike publicly traded companies, such foundations are not structured around shareholder returns, making transparency to their communities an important part of accountability.

According to the report, blockchain-based audit verification could give community members a more direct method of checking financial disclosures. Rather than relying solely on a downloadable report or an organization's own publication system, users can independently confirm the existence and integrity of the recorded information on the public ledger.

The development could establish a model for other blockchain foundations and digital-asset organizations seeking to combine traditional independent audits with publicly verifiable blockchain records. Whether other major ecosystem treasuries adopt similar on-chain attestation practices is likely to indicate how far this approach extends beyond the Cardano ecosystem.

Crypto Treasury Strategy Remains Significant

The Foundation's decision to keep 51.6% of its assets in ADA and a further 25.5% in Bitcoin also reflects a continued commitment to holding digital assets as a major component of its treasury.

The $361 million asset base makes the Foundation's financial management significant within the Cardano ecosystem. At the same time, the substantial allocation to volatile cryptocurrencies means transparency alone does not eliminate financial risk.

The on-chain audit therefore provides greater visibility into the Foundation's finances without changing the underlying risks associated with its asset allocation. By combining statutory financial reporting, independent auditing, and blockchain verification, the Foundation is seeking to make its treasury information more transparent and independently checkable over time.

The initiative could ultimately broaden the use of public blockchains beyond payments and decentralized applications, demonstrating how the technology can also serve as a verification layer for conventional financial reporting.