Project Catalyst and Intersect MBO collectively distribute millions of ADA to fund community-driven initiatives, yet there is no integrated on-chain and off-chain auditing system to ensure transparency, accountability, and efficient use of treasury funds. While on-chain tracking can offer visibility into fund movements, no unified system exists across funding programs to detect suspicious transactions, prevent self-dealing, or monitor post-disbursement activity. Off-chain auditing relies heavily on self-reported milestones assessed against proposer-defined KPIs, without independent evaluation of financial efficiency, redundant funding, or project impact.

Without an integrated framework, there is no way to track whether projects receive funding from multiple sources for the same deliverables. Catalyst and Intersect operate separately, with no cross-referencing of grants, allowing double-dipping and inefficient allocation. On-chain visibility doesn’t confirm how funds are used, and off-chain verification doesn’t assess if budgets are reasonable or if outcomes justify costs. Community participation in governance and oversight is limited by fragmented reporting, a lack of financial data, and no structured tools to evaluate funding efficiency.

This proposal introduces a dual-layer auditing system—on-chain financial tracking and off-chain deliverable verification. On-chain analysis will monitor fund flows, flag anomalies, and increase transparency. Off-chain audits will validate milestones, identify redundant funding, and evaluate cost-effectiveness. This integrated system provides governance bodies, working groups, and the community with real-time financial insights and clear reporting.

Governance bodies will gain structured tools to detect inefficiencies, refine funding models, and adjust policies based on data. Proposers will benefit from greater trust in a system that rewards transparency, filters out low-impact projects, and recognizes those that deliver real value. The broader community will be empowered with open data, improving decentralized decision-making.

Phased over nine months, this initiative starts with data collection and reporting, then expands into benchmarking and review of funded projects. The final phase delivers on-chain tools, public dashboards, and a sustainable, community-led oversight model. By preventing fund misallocation, reducing waste, and optimizing ROI, this system will enhance long-term sustainability and credibility

Project Catalyst and Intersect MBO distribute millions of ADA to fund community-driven initiatives, yet lack a comprehensive auditing system to ensure transparency, accountability, and efficient use of treasury funds. On-chain tracking is either missing or fragmented across funding programs, making it difficult to detect suspicious activity, prevent self-dealing, or monitor post-disbursement fund flows. Off-chain auditing, meanwhile, relies on self-reported milestone updates without independent verification of budget efficiency, redundant funding, or funding system integrity.

Without an integrated auditing framework, there is no structured way to detect double-dipping—when projects receive funding from multiple sources for the same deliverables. Since Catalyst and Intersect operate independently, there’s no cross-referencing of grants, which opens the door to inefficiencies and potential misuse. While on-chain systems can offer visibility into financial transactions, they fail to assess whether funds are spent as intended. Off-chain verification ensures milestone tracking, but lacks scrutiny into budget reasonability, optimal fund usage, or whether outcomes justify funding levels.

This lack of unified oversight limits community participation in governance and transparency. Without standardized reporting and shared financial insight, governance bodies and the broader community are unable to evaluate funding efficiency or assess project outcomes across funding cycles. The current process checks for delivery, but not financial accountability or funding optimization.

This proposal addresses these gaps by introducing a dual-layer auditing system—combining on-chain transaction analysis with off-chain deliverable audits. On-chain monitoring will track fund movement and detect anomalies in real-time. Off-chain auditing will independently verify milestones, flag redundant funding, and evaluate cost-effectiveness. Together, this framework will enable data-driven decision-making, strengthen community oversight, and ensure that treasury funds are allocated to high-impact, verifiable projects. By enhancing transparency, this system will build trust and integrity into Catalyst and Intersect’s funding mechanisms.

Implementing a comprehensive on-chain and off-chain auditing system will significantly enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency across Cardano’s major funding programs—Project Catalyst and Intersect MBO—delivering measurable value to all stakeholders. By ensuring that funds are effectively allocated, properly tracked, and independently verified, this initiative creates a data-driven governance framework that strengthens the integrity of Cardano’s treasury distribution, reduces inefficiencies, and maximizes long-term return on investment (ROI) for the community.

The Cardano Treasury, governance bodies, proposers, and the broader ecosystem will benefit from this enhanced oversight. By integrating on-chain financial tracking with off-chain verification of deliverables, this proposal ensures real-time visibility into fund movements and project performance, confirming that funded projects meet obligations without redundancy, inefficiency, or misuse of ADA.

For the Treasury, this reduces financial waste by detecting double-dipping and redundant funding across Catalyst and Intersect. Introducing cross-referenced funding data and cost-effectiveness assessments will optimize future allocations, enabling the treasury to fund more impactful projects while minimizing unnecessary spending.

Governance bodies, including Catalyst admins and Intersect committees, will gain a decision-making tool powered by structured financial insights. By tracking fund movements and verifying off-chain milestones against reasonable cost benchmarks, this system helps identify inefficiencies, refine funding models, and adjust policies based on actual performance.

Proposers benefit from fairness and credibility. Projects that deliver real value will be recognized and trusted by investors, partners, and the community. A unified auditing system eliminates low-value or fraudulent initiatives, reinforcing a merit-based funding environment.

The broader Cardano community gains access to open financial data and performance analytics. This empowers members to participate in governance discussions using verified insights rather than speculation, supporting stronger decentralized decision-making.

Ultimately, this initiative strengthens trust in Cardano’s funding ecosystem by ensuring every ADA is allocated responsibly, efficiently, and transparently—establishing Cardano as a leader in decentralized funding governance.

This 40-week initiative (Aug 2025–June 2026) will establish an integrated on-chain/off-chain auditing system to enhance financial transparency, accountability, and efficiency in Project Catalyst, Intersect MBO, and future Cardano Treasury programs.

Phase 1 (Weeks 1–4): Set up data pipelines, extract on-chain transactions, and structure a funding database of proposals, milestones, and distributions. Done: Operational data system with clean, structured financial records.

Phase 2 (Weeks 5–8): Build transaction tracing and wallet clustering tools to identify fund flows, suspicious transfers, and self-dealing. Done: Analysis engine maps movements and flags anomalies.

Phase 3 (Weeks 9–12): Develop risk scoring and pattern recognition models to detect loops, circular funding, and misalignments with off-chain data. Done: Risk detection live, producing alerts and reports.

Phase 4 (Weeks 13–14): Integrate Xerberus SIREN for real-time fraud detection and wallet blacklist referencing. Done: Real-time alerts on high-risk activity enabled.

Phase 5 (Weeks 15–18): Build a public-facing dashboard visualizing fund flows, risk scores, and treasury allocations. Done: Dashboard live with real-time data and reports.

Phase 6 (Weeks 19–20): Full system testing and deployment with documentation and governance alignment. Done: System live and governance-ready.

Phase 7 (Weeks 21–36): Off-chain audits of 2,000 Catalyst proposals and all Intersect grants. • 7.1 (Feb): 500 proposals, large Intersect grants audited, initial report delivered. • 7.2 (Mar): 500 more audits with ROI and impact analysis. • 7.3 (Apr): 500 audited with KPI and benchmarking models. • 7.4 (May): Final 500 audited, governance report + policy recommendations. Done: 2,000 audits, impact analysis, and policy proposals delivered.

Phase 8 (Weeks 37–40): Propose long-term integration into Intersect MBO as a permanent oversight function. Done: Transition plan and funding sustainability model completed.

Final Outcomes: • Real-time on-chain fund tracking and risk analysis. • Full off-chain audit of 2,000 proposals. • ROI + cost benchmarking models. • Treasury oversight dashboard. • Policy improvements for fund allocation and milestone validation. • Governance integration ensuring long-term audit sustainability.

This proposal delivers a complete, scalable solution for decentralized treasury auditing in Cardano.

This proposal requests 500,000 ADA to cover team salaries, infrastructure costs, audit execution, software tools, and contingency reserves. The funding will be used to implement on-chain transaction monitoring, off-chain proposal auditing, infrastructure development, reporting, and governance integration for Project Catalyst and Intersect MBO.

Final Cost Breakdown by Category

Personnel – 398,000 ADA

This covers the full-time and part-time team members managing technical development, auditing, reporting, and governance oversight. • Jose Velazquez (Project Lead & Governance Coordinator): 72,000 ADA • Part-Time Developer/Marketing Specialist: 24,000 ADA • Three Off-Chain Auditors: 80,000 ADA • Lead Blockchain Engineer: 76,800 ADA • Senior Backend Developer: 57,600 ADA • Senior Frontend/Visualization Developer: 18,000 ADA • DevOps Engineer: 21,600 ADA • Project Manager: 48,000 ADA

Infrastructure & Software Development – 102,000 ADA

Covers the tools and infrastructure needed to run blockchain analytics and maintain dashboards: • High-Performance Cloud Computing Resources: 23,002 ADA • API Access and Third-Party Services: 1,600 ADA • Software & Development Tools: 1,832 ADA • Contingency (5%): 37,783 ADA • Intersect Audit Fee (5%): 37,783 ADA

Budget Allocation Summary • Leadership & Governance: 96,000 ADA • On-Chain & Off-Chain Auditing: 80,000 ADA • Technical Development: 222,000 ADA • Infrastructure & Software: 102,000 ADA • Total: 500,000 ADA

This budget ensures that all deliverables are completed over a 40-week timeline, while establishing a sustainable and transparent financial oversight framework for Project Catalyst and Intersect MBO. The 5% audit fee paid to Intersect will guarantee quality assurance and compliance review of all audit methodologies and reports.

Phase-Based Distribution (Each Phase = 5 Weeks)

Each phase will be allocated: • 49,750 ADA for personnel • 12,750 ADA for infrastructure and software • Total per phase: 62,500 ADA

There are eight phases, ensuring stable resource allocation, predictable execution, and sustained progress over the entire project lifecycle.

This 40-week project (August 2025 – June 2026) will be delivered by a skilled team specializing in blockchain analytics, auditing, governance, and software development. The team will handle on-chain transaction monitoring, off-chain audits, risk analysis, ROI benchmarking, dashboard reporting, and governance integration for Catalyst and Intersect MBO.

Leadership & Oversight • Jose Velazquez (Project Lead): Oversees coordination, stakeholder engagement, treasury reporting, and governance alignment. Supports off-chain audit planning. • Javier Acosta (Technical Lead): Leads on-chain tracking, treasury flow analysis, and integration with Xerberus SIREN. Builds financial scoring and risk detection models.

Blockchain & Infrastructure • Lead Blockchain Engineer: Develops analytics engines, transaction tracing algorithms, and wallet clustering models. • Backend Developer: Creates data models and API integrations for transaction tracking and risk analysis. • Frontend Developer: Builds user-friendly dashboards and visual tools to display analysis and risk reports. • DevOps Engineer: Manages cloud infrastructure, deployment pipelines, and system monitoring. • Project Manager: Coordinates timelines, budget tracking, and inter-team communication.

Auditing & Transparency • On-Chain Analyst: Monitors treasury fund flows, detects self-dealing, and supports fraud alert integration. • Three Off-Chain Auditors: Audit 2,000 Catalyst proposals and Intersect grants. Verify milestone completion, benchmark ROI, and flag redundant or inefficient funding. • Part-Time Developer & Content/Marketing Specialist: Maintains the dashboard, creates transparency reports, and supports community engagement.

Work Allocation • Phases 1–6 (Weeks 1–20): Set up infrastructure, on-chain tools, and dashboards. • Phase 7 (Weeks 21–36): Conduct 2,000 off-chain audits (500/month), publish insights and efficiency benchmarks. • Phase 8 (Weeks 37–40): Final reports, policy recommendations, and long-term governance transition plan.

Team Summary • 10 members: Project Lead, Technical Lead, Blockchain Engineer, Backend/Frontend Developers, DevOps, Project Manager, On-Chain Analyst, 3 Off-Chain Auditors, and Part-Time Developer/Marketing Specialist.

This structure ensures timely delivery, transparent reporting, and a scalable oversight framework for Cardano treasury funding.

The success of this initiative is driven by a multidisciplinary team of professionals with deep expertise in blockchain analytics, governance, smart contract development, financial auditing, and software engineering. Together, they will execute a comprehensive on-chain and off-chain auditing framework to enhance treasury transparency, accountability, and efficiency across Project Catalyst, Intersect MBO, and future Cardano Treasury funding initiatives.

Jose Velazquez serves as the Project Lead and Governance Coordinator, overseeing project execution, stakeholder engagement, and governance integration. A funded proposer in Funds 7, 8, and 12, and a member of the Intersect Budget Committee, Jose brings substantial experience in treasury oversight, auditing, and governance innovation. He leads the auditing strategy, aligns the project with Intersect’s quality assurance goals, and helps integrate policy recommendations emerging from both on-chain analytics and off-chain evaluations.

David Tacuri contributes as both the Senior Frontend/Visualization Developer and an Off-Chain Auditor. He is an experienced smart contract developer and full-stack engineer who has worked on numerous Catalyst-funded proposals. David will design interactive dashboards to present transaction insights while assisting with proposal verification, milestone validation, and benchmarking efforts.

Roberto Cerrud plays a dual role as Lead Blockchain Engineer and DevOps Specialist. With over 18 years of experience in software development, Roberto is a Plutus and Atala PRISM Pioneer and a blockchain instructor with Emurgo. He will develop the project’s analytics engine, clustering algorithms, and fraud detection modules while managing secure deployment pipelines, high-performance infrastructure, and DevOps configurations.

Fernando Yánez serves as the Senior Backend Developer and Full Stack Engineer, contributing to both backend systems and user-facing interfaces. With experience in software development and infrastructure design, Fernando is responsible for building scalable transaction models, integrating APIs for data aggregation, and helping manage the transparency dashboard and user experience.

Caleb Montiel, a Cardano DRep, Ambassador, and Intersect grantee, serves as an Off-Chain Auditor. As founder of the Paraguay Community Hub and host of multiple constitutional workshops, Caleb brings a strong governance and community background. He will help verify milestone reports, detect redundant funding, and support report drafting from an oversight and public accountability perspective.

A third Off-Chain Auditor position is available as a scalable role, allowing the team to expand if the proposal volume requires additional audit capacity. This flexible slot ensures that the auditing workload remains manageable while maintaining accuracy and efficiency.

The Full-Stack Developer & Content/Marketing Specialist (Part-Time) role is shared by Fernando Yánez and optionally supported by Caleb Montiel. Responsibilities include maintaining the public-facing treasury dashboard, preparing governance transparency reports, and creating accessible educational content to communicate findings with the broader Cardano community.

All technical systems, backend infrastructure, and auditing methodologies are coordinated by this highly capable team of governance advocates, developers, analysts, and community leaders—ensuring every ADA spent is traceable, justifiable, and aligned with measurable impact.

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Expanded Profile – Technical Oversight

Javier Acosta serves as the Technical Lead and Data Analysis Coordinator. He is a seasoned software developer with over eight years of experience in blockchain technologies, specializing in UTxO-based architectures and data-driven governance solutions within the Cardano ecosystem.

His technical expertise includes: • Blockchain Infrastructure & Data Analysis: Developing data pipelines for fund tracking and financial monitoring. • UTxO-Based Blockchain Development: Deep understanding of Cardano protocol mechanics, DeFi modeling, and smart contracts. • On-Chain Transaction Monitoring & Risk Detection: Skilled in pattern detection, clustering, and fraud analytics. • Catalyst & Treasury Governance: Strong understanding of decentralized funding workflows, treasury distribution models, and governance tooling.

Javier has been an active contributor to the Cardano developer community, assisting in governance and financial oversight projects. His role is pivotal in ensuring the audit framework is technically sound and scalable. In addition to leading platform architecture, Javier will assist as the On-Chain Analyst, developing clustering models, fraud detection algorithms, and leading Xerberus SIREN integration.

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Supplemental Role Descriptions

The project will also include several technical and support roles, all covered by the team listed above: • Lead Blockchain Engineer – Responsible for blockchain data extraction, tracing, and analytics engine development. • Senior Backend Developer – Builds financial risk models and data systems for transaction analysis. • Senior Frontend/Visualization Developer – Designs interactive dashboards and visualization tools for public reporting. • DevOps Engineer – Manages infrastructure deployment, security, and performance optimization. • Project Manager – Oversees milestone progress, budget tracking, and team coordination. • On-Chain Analyst – Tracks treasury flows and detects self-dealing or suspicious activity post-disbursement. • Off-Chain Auditors – Verify milestone completion, assess ROI, identify redundant funding, and benchmark financial requests. • Full-Stack Developer & Content/Marketing Specialist – Maintains dashboard visibility, prepares governance reports, and distributes findings through outreach and educational channels.

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Conclusion

With Javier Acosta leading the technical strategy, Jose Velazquez steering governance integration, and a team of highly qualified blockchain developers, auditors, and governance experts, this initiative brings together the capabilities needed to execute a world-class financial oversight framework. Their combined experience ensures a secure, transparent, and data-driven system that strengthens Cardano’s treasury ecosystem and reinforces accountability at every level of grant funding.

This initiative is not just a one-time improvement but a foundation for permanent quality assurance in Project Catalyst, Intersect MBO, and any future Cardano treasury funding mechanisms. Our goal is to help teams achieve effective treasury fund usage, communicate their ROI to the community, and provide transparency in fund allocations, fostering community trust and long-term support for future funding rounds.

To ensure financial sustainability, we propose multiple paths. Intersect MBO or Catalyst could formally integrate this system, either rehiring us as the dedicated quality assurance team or incorporating the auditing framework into their governance structures. This would make funding oversight an ongoing process, ensuring treasury resources are used efficiently. Alternatively, if Intersect chooses to open-source the auditing tools and methodologies, we could provide consulting, implementation support, and technical maintenance services to governance bodies and funding programs that adopt this framework.

A service-based contract model could also sustain this effort, where Intersect, Catalyst, or other governance bodies pay for continuous auditing, financial oversight, and fund utilization reporting. This ensures real-time treasury monitoring, fraud prevention, and cost optimization remain active governance priorities. Additionally, treasury audit insights could generate revenue by providing customized funding analysis, risk assessments, and efficiency reports to governance stakeholders, reinforcing data-driven decision-making and trust in decentralized funding.

Beyond transparency, the data generated from these audits can be leveraged to support contract negotiations and reduce operational costs for Intersect MBO, Project Catalyst, and any other funding sources derived from the Cardano treasury. By identifying inefficiencies, eliminating redundant spending, and optimizing fund allocation strategies, this initiative ensures that Cardano’s governance bodies operate more efficiently while maintaining accountability and trust in treasury management.

This proposal has received endorsement from experienced Catalyst community members with a background in milestone review, proposal evaluation, and fraud detection. Below is a testimonial that highlights the need for a robust audit framework:

“In my experience as a Milestone Reviewer, I’ve encountered proposers attempting to submit fraudulent invoices, claim expenses with unverifiable company data, and push for fund release outside the established criteria. Off-chain validation is often difficult—some proposers manipulate data to appear legitimate, and on-chain validation without scrutiny can mask deeper issues.

As a Proposal Assessor, I’ve also tried to check whether projects had received funding outside Catalyst. One case was Cardax, a DEX that rugged despite having both Catalyst and private investment. Without cross-referencing off-chain funding or real-world deliverables, it’s easy to miss overlaps or redundancy.

Auditing shouldn’t just verify that code exists—it should analyze whether the work is original, whether budgets match deliverables, and whether proposers are using strawmen to bypass rules like the 5-proposal-per-person limit. I’ve seen cases where team members front proposals under different names, making it harder to track poor performance or abuse.

I’ve talked with others in the community about the importance of scrutiny—ideally not in the style of ‘witch hunts,’ but serious, structured oversight like what you’re proposing. We need frameworks that apply proportionate scrutiny—low-budget projects may not require deep audits, but higher-value proposals definitely should.

Between Funds 4 and 9, there was a Discord task force looking into review system abuse. We need something like that again. A dedicated audit group is essential in any decentralized system to track misuse and prevent treasury exploitation.

I strongly support this proposal. Without rigorous auditing, none of our strategic priorities matter. Treasury security must come first.” — Anonymous Milestone Reviewer and Long-Term Catalyst Community Member

This endorsement illustrates the practical urgency behind establishing a permanent, scalable oversight system. The feedback aligns closely with our proposal’s design, which emphasizes proportional scrutiny, original work validation, and detection of redundant or deceptive funding behavior.