The Mithril Protocol
Supporting Cardano optimization, scalability and interopability
Why Mithril?
In 2025, the Cardano ecosystem performed 6,648 full node restorations using Mithril. At a conservative 8 hours per sync, that is 46,536 hours of setup time saved. The equivalent of one person sitting and watching a progress bar for 5 years and 4 months straight. Less setup time, more building time.
1. Introduction to Mithril
Powering Lightweight Access
Official Input Output article providing a high-level introduction to the Mithril protocol; its benefits and its use cases. (May 2025)
Read Article →Mithril In A Nutshell
An introduction for beginners. Found on the official Mithril docs website.
Read Article →Facilitating Strong Security
A slightly deeper but still beginner-friendly look at the technology behind Mithril from an IOG article just after the release of Mithril on mainnet. (Aug 2023)
Read Article →2. Explorers and Statistics
Mithril Explorer
The official Mithril Explorer. See the latest certificates as they are produced, registered SPOs and those that have recently left/joined the network.
Launch Explorer →Mithril Protocol Insights
Track protocol participation, usage, health and software version adoption over time via the official Insights page.
View Dashboard →Current Mithril Signers
Interactive current Mithril Signers list by HEPHY stake pool. Search by ticker and by stake with quick links to Cexplorer for more info and delegation options.
Launch Explorer →3. Documentation and Development
Official Documentation
Comprehensive guides for Stake Pool Operators onboarding as Signers, node builders looking to use Mithril Client to fast bootstrap and more...
View Docs →Mithril Aggregator API
Documentation for the Mithril Aggregator Server API for developers looking to integrate Mithril data into their workflows.
View Docs →Monthly Scaling Reports
Follow along with the monthly scaling reports from Mithril and Hydra development teams.
View Reports →4. Deep Dive: Research
Original Research Paper
Mithril: Stake-based Threshold Multisignatures - the original 2021 research paper by Pyrros Chaidos and Prof Aggelos Kiayias. Presented at CANS'24.
View Paper →Mithril GitHub
The official GitHub repository for the development of the Mithril protocol by Input Output.
View GitHub →Beyond Bootstrapping
See how Mithril can be used beyond simply fast bootstrapping of Cardano nodes and read about its role in the Cardinal protocol, a Bitcoin DeFi protocol from IOG.
View GitHub →