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Cardano's full security, in a few kilobytes.

Mithril lets bridges, exchanges, wallets, and applications verify Cardano's state with the security of a full node, without running one. A compact certificate, signed by a quorum of stake, stands in for gigabytes of chain data. Full nodes bootstrap in minutes; light clients and wallets verify from a few kilobytes of cryptography.

Specialist Partner

Teragone

Teragone leads the Mithril workstream through their planned engagement window, with continuity arrangements coordinated by Intersect. The team has deep expertise in cryptography and has been closely involved with the Mithril protocol since its earliest releases. The handover model is the same one used across the wider partner program: milestones gated through Intersect, work shipped against public repositories, and a transition path defined before the engagement starts, not after.

What Mithril Is

Mithril is a cryptographic protocol, originating from research at Input Output Group (IOG), that uses stake-based threshold multi-signatures. At regular intervals, a quorum of stake pool operators jointly signs a snapshot of Cardano's state. The resulting certificate is small (kilobytes, not gigabytes), anyone can verify it, and it proves the state carries enough stake to be trusted. Beyond fast bootstrap, the same certificates let light clients in bridges and wallets verify transactions without running a full node.

Why It Matters

Decentralization grows when more people can take part. Mithril widens that door: with modest hardware and a trustworthy certificate, anyone can verify Cardano's state and stay current. For light clients, mobile wallets, and embedded use cases, it brings Cardano to places a full node never could, from a browser tab to a phone in your pocket.

What Mithril Delivers

Verification for wallets, exchanges, and infrastructure providers that need to confirm Cardano's state without running a full node

Transaction certification for light clients in bridges and light wallets, with the same security as a full sync

A public certificate registry, signed by stake pool operators on a regular cadence

And fast bootstrap for full nodes and full-node wallets: hours rather than days to come online. Smaller, faster, verifiable

What’s Live / What’s Next

Where we are

Mithril is in production. The certificate registry is continuously extended by participating stake pool operators. Teragone is delivering against the published roadmap, with releases and benchmarks shipped openly.

What’s next

Wider stake pool operator participation, increased decentralization, support for node diversity across Cardano's client implementations, and deeper integration with wallets and infrastructure providers. The engagement transition coordinated with Intersect remains the long-term continuity anchor.

Roadmap

Milestone-gated funding through Intersect. Engagement transition coordinated openly with the wider partner programme.

2024

Mithril mainnet release, SPO signing rollout

2025

Teragone engagement, client library expansion

H1 2026

Wider SPO participation, performance improvements

H2 2026

Wallet and infrastructure integration rollout

2027

Continuity transition complete, long-term home confirmed