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You're correct that Cato is not big-L Libertarian, and there's a good reason why.

Cato was founded by David Koch, who was the 1980 LP candidate for Vice President. Koch used his own millions to bankroll the campaign, and the result was by far the LP's best showing in a Presidential election, a whopping 1%.

The LP had two opposite reactions. The more practical members realized they were on to something, and got Koch to agree to back a candidate again in 1984. The radicals were horrified at their electoral success, feeling that it implied a lack of ideological purity, so they nominated the most radical, hard-line candidate they could find. The radicals finally prevailed on the fourth ballot, by one vote. The Koch supporters stormed out and never returned. Koch diverted his attention and funding to Cato.

The radicals have owned the party ever since, so it has remained irrelevant ever since, which is fine with them. It allows them to dedicate all of their time to collecting dues, choosing party officials, drafting platforms, issuing condescending press releases, and recruiting computer programmers and Trekkies as members. They also nominally run candidates for office, but only if they're absolutely certain that they can't win.