Cardano Foundation and Fireblocks say native tokens will get full custody support by March 2027

The Cardano Foundation and Fireblocks announced on 24 September that Cardano Native Tokens (CNTs) will be fully supported on the Fireblocks platform, meaning the banks, exchanges, payment firms and fintechs that use Fireblocks would be able to custody, send and receive those tokens through the same controls they apply to other digital assets. The two organizations put the announcement out as a Cardano Foundation press release.

According to that release, Fireblocks has supported Cardano's native currency, ADA, since 2021, but using CNTs on the platform has until now required additional manual steps. Native support would cover tokens using both the Cardano Token Registry standard (CIP-26) and Cardano's on-chain metadata standard (CIP-68). The Foundation says the feature is expected to be available by March 2027 — roughly 18 months out — and that the two sides also "plan to scope" further DeFi and ecosystem integrations in 2027. No specifics on those integrations were given.

The release describes Fireblocks as "the enterprise platform securing $16 trillion in digital asset transactions" and says more than 100 banks use its controls. Those figures come from the companies themselves and were not independently verified here.

Key facts

• Cardano Native Tokens to be fully supported on Fireblocks; availability expected by March 2027 (Cardano Foundation press release, 24 Sep 2026).
• Support will cover CIP-26 (Token Registry) and CIP-68 (on-chain metadata) tokens (same release).
• Fireblocks has supported ADA since 2021; CNTs previously required manual steps (same release).
• Fireblocks self-describes as securing $16 trillion in digital-asset transactions, used by 100+ banks (company figures, via the release).
• Further DeFi/ecosystem integrations to be "scoped" in 2027 — no details disclosed (same release).

The real-world read This is a partnership announcement written by one of the partners, so read it as such. The concrete, checkable commitment is narrow: CNTs become standard assets in Fireblocks by a target date six months into 2027. Everything beyond that — "institutional demand," a token economy "opened" to institutions — is framing, not delivered product. The dollar and bank counts are marketing metrics supplied by Fireblocks and repeated by the Foundation; treat them as claims, not audited facts. Note also that this is capability, not commitment: making CNTs custodiable does not mean any bank has agreed to issue or hold them. The named executives — Cardano's Frederik Gregaard and Fireblocks' Stephen Richardson — are describing why the deal should matter, not reporting adoption that has happened. And "expected by March 2027" is a plan; ship dates slip.

Opinion, and whose Gregaard argued that removing custody friction "removes one of the biggest practical barriers to institutional demand" for stablecoins and tokenized assets on Cardano. Richardson said banks weigh both the network and the infrastructure, and framed the deal as supplying the latter. Both are interested parties speaking about their own partnership.

This is news coverage, not financial advice.

Sources

• Cardano Foundation blog, "Fireblocks to add full support for Cardano Native Tokens," Siobhán Calpin, 24 Sep 2026 — primary source and anchor; provided the timeline, technical standards, executive quotes and all figures. Marked by the Foundation as a press release, and written by one of the two partners — a marketing document, treated accordingly.