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 proposal delivers a fully open-source tokenization platform that positions Cardano as a leader in real-world asset (RWA) innovation. By creating a secure, compliant, and extensible framework for issuing programmable assets, the platform lays the foundation for sustainable economic models that benefit both local industries and the broader Cardano ecosystem.

Key Benefits Include: 1. Sustainable Treasury Returns with Governance Flexibility From the initial 550,000 ADA Treasury grant, the platform will begin returning funds after a two-year runway, followed by 25% annual repayments over the next three years. However, Cardano DReps will be empowered to vote on how these profits are allocated—either to: • Return the funds to the Treasury, or • Reinvest into further platform development and deployment 2. Launch of Foundational Programmable Assets The platform will initially support two critical programmable asset types: • Time-Locked Investment Tokens: Restrict early transfers or resales, providing investor protection and regulatory alignment • Real Asset-Backed Tokens: Represent tangible assets such as livestock or farmland, backed by verifiable documentation 3. Future Asset Expansion Through Reinvestment If the community chooses reinvestment, the platform will expand to support: • Revenue-Sharing Tokens: Distribute profits or yields automatically to token holders • Fractional Ownership Tokens: Enable shared ownership of high-value assets to increase access and liquidity 4. Comprehensive Open-Source Contribution Beyond smart contracts and technical components, the platform will release all supporting infrastructure to the community under an open-source license, including: • Legal frameworks for asset tokenization and compliance • Insurance policy structures for asset-backed risk mitigation • Operational playbooks, documentation, and governance templates This ensures that any region, DAO, or entity can replicate or adapt the model for their own local context. 5. Ecosystem Growth & On-Chain Utility Built entirely on Cardano, the platform will generate transaction volume and fees, fostering native economic activity while proving Cardano’s real-world viability in finance, agriculture, and asset digitization.

LeadGenDAO brings real business value to the Cardano ecosystem by helping dApps grow through client and investor connections. By enabling trained community members to generate qualified leads, we support project sustainability, user adoption, and on-chain economic activity. The return on investment is direct: 200+ high-quality leads across 20+ Cardano projects, which empowers community contributors with new earning opportunities, expanding Cardano’s real-world impact.

The Cardano Summit 2025 is a strategic initiative, spearheaded by the Cardano Foundation and fortified by regional ecosystem partners (EMURGO, Rare Evo, Wada, Catalyst Africa Town Hall, Ada Solar), to accelerate the global adoption of Cardano technology. Each partner will command the execution of a regionally focused Cardano Summit Event. While each maintains regional autonomy, all six entities will synergize in the events' development. The core ethos and driving benefits of the Cardano Summit are:

Simplify developer onboarding through targeted Cardano Dev Days events globally.

Drive adoption through targeted education for first-time and novice users, unlocking Cardano's potential for all.

Showcase tangible impact of real-world use cases, capturing mainstream attention and demonstrating Cardano's value. Forge powerful collaborations between developers, entrepreneurs, users, enterprises and regulators.

Strategize and solve scaling and interoperability challenges, securing future scalability.

Attract capital, talent, and media, securing vital resources for the growth of Cardano as a leading L1.

Ignite innovation & celebrate success: Rally the community, celebrate achievements, and build unstoppable momentum.

A community-led marketing fund allows for startups and marketers to showcase their innovations and engage with a broader audience through various mediums. The fund allows for fund/project distribution through a decentralized workforce, harnessing the power of community collaboration and utilizing the diverse skillsets of the Cardano ecosystem.

• Create a specialized proposal system to allow ecosystem projects and community members to launch Cardano marketing campaigns

• Ensure there is available funding for a wide range of marketing budgets to promote diverse types of campaigns throughout the global ecosystem

• Administer the process efficiently and fairly

• Develop standard operating procedures and guidelines to uphold Cardano brand integrity, proper project management, and fair use of spend

• Transparent reporting of successes, lessons learned, and metrics regarding the overall community-led funding program

Rare Network will administer a Community-Led Marketing Fund of $500,000 USD providing accessibility for the Cardano ecosystem to budgets from $1,000 to $30,000 USD, available for marketing campaign launches occurring July 1st, 2025 through March 31st , 2026.

This will benefit project teams who will bring decentralized exposure to the Cardano ecosystem who may have the skills to execute, but not the proper funding to produce. Properly administered community-led marketing has been proven worthy of spend, time and time again, if the project management to follow is executed properly. With Rare Network's expertise and trust built throughout the Cardano community, we can ensure that funds are utilized fairly and that marketing campaigns are carried out in a feasible and satisfying impactful fashion.

The demonstrated value will be:

• Increased Brand Exposure Worldwide
• Scale via a Decentralized Workforce
• Showcase a wide variety of projects through diverse marketing campaign categories throughout regions globally
• Onboard more users and builders to the Cardano ecosystem
• Catch up to speed and compete with larger, equal, and smaller market cap blockchains who somehow have more spend and robust marketing strategies in place currently compared to Cardano (even some L2s spend more than Cardano who is a leading L1).

DigiFT: The Heart of Cardano's Institutional RWA Strategy

DigiFT uniquely sits at the heart of the Cardano community Institutional RWA strategy.

Benefits:

• DigiFT is a licensed Smart Contract enabled RWA platform.
• Increased TVL, offered natively on Cardano, and improved transaction volumes.
• DigiFT delivers mainstream institutional finance to Cardano, including:
  • UBS uMINT (Money Market Fund Token) with US$ 9.0 BN AUM
  • Invesco iSNR (US Senior Bank Loan Fund Token) with US$ 6.0 BN AUM
  • Full regulatory approval by Singapore MAS and Hong Kong SFC

Competitive Advantage:

Working with DigiFT, Cardano will:

• Leapfrog competitor chains (e.g., SOL, AVAX) with established DeFi ecosystems
• Establish itself as the premier blockchain for institutional RWA integration

Technical Implementation:

DigiFT will deploy its regulatory authorized on-chain RWA smart contract exchange on Cardano, including:

• Mint/Burn smart contracts
• Subscribe/Redeem smart contracts
• Attracting transaction volumes and providing RWA use cases

Stablecoin Integration:

• DigiFT will list the Cardano Stablecoin on our Smart Contract Exchange
• Provides instant use case paired against high-grade institutional assets
• Regulatory approved Real Time Liquidity (RTL) Pools for "instant" on-chain redemption:
  • Offered 24/7
  • Will attract institutional users of UBS and Invesco products
  • Supports NET MINT GROWTH of the native Cardano Stablecoin (USDA)

Ecosystem Impact:

This integration will:

• Renew interest through accelerated RWA on-chain growth
• Drive mainstream finance adoption
• Revitalize and incentivize Cardano developers, projects and users
• Provide important regulated, stable, safe and secure income assets
• Establish Cardano L1 chain as institutional-grade infrastructure

Regulatory Compliance:

DigiFT is accepted by:

• Various regulatory bodies
• Financial institutions
• Technology providers

Creating a compliant ecosystem featuring:

• Security
• Permissioned access
• Interoperability
• Smart contract capabilities for regulated RWAs

Bridging Traditional and Decentralized Finance:

DigiFT's "Day 1" regulatory infrastructure:

• Bridges TradFi and DeFi
• Provides Cardano access to global institutional RWAs (e.g., UBS/Invesco)
• Serves as a unique RWA rally point for unified liquidity
• Offers material upside AUM growth potential for Cardano

a. Wallet Support for Cardano Native Assets: USDA is pursuing strategic partnerships with firms like Zoida Markets, and in talks with BitGo, Zodia Custody, CipherBC, etc. Our goal is to enhance Cardano Native Assets by improving reach, reliability, and pricing through collaboration with key custodians, and wallet infrastructure providers—ultimately boosting distribution, liquidity and user adoption. b. Availability of USDA / Native Assets on Exchanges, OTC Desks and NEO Banks: Anzens is focused on bringing USDA to CEXs, NEO banks, OTC desks, and other key distributors to expand its reach. By enabling USDA pairs for Cardano tokens on exchanges, we aim to boost usability, drive adoption through spot listings, and support broader participation via derivatives trading. Enabling USDA with NEO banks would offer USDA <> Fiat pairs in exotic currencies

c. Drive USDA adoption to unlock real-world utility: Anzens would be initiating cross integration with real estate developers, remittance companies and other payment companies to bring USDA as part of their backend settlement network, helping Cardano gain adoption beyond the crypto space.

d. Access to Fiat on and off-ramps: Encryptus has piloted ADA-to-fiat off-ramps for Yoroi Wallet users, enabling users to convert ADA to local currencies across 70+ countries—including India, China, Philippines, Nigeria etc—via bank transfers, without relying on SWIFT or card networks. Encryptus aims to build stronger on-ramps with local payment rails.

The funds from this proposal would be utilized to:

1. Develop Onramp Capabilities: Current ADA onramps via cards are costly and don’t support Cardano Native Assets. Encryptus aims to solve this by offering low-cost onramps through local bank transfers and mobile wallets—cutting costs by up to 60%. This will ease access to ADA and native assets. Ideal for Cardano DeFi and wider eco-system. Phase 1 of the services would include countries in LATAM, Africa and parts of Asia with a Phase 2 expansion to developed economies.
2. Cardano’s deterministic fee structure makes it well-suited for payment use cases. However, integration with traditional payment systems has been a challenge. Encryptus is addressing this by developing alternative payment solutions—such as global bill payments, school fees, and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) products—on the Cardano blockchain. These initiatives showcase Cardano’s practical value to Web2 users, helping to broaden its adoption and real-world relevance.

Beneficiaries would be the:

• Issuer of CNTs, Cardano Web 3.0 projects helping with the growth of their token (from TGE to DEX liquidity seeding to CEX listings)
• Retail Cardano traders and investors benefiting from institution-grade liquidity when transacting on DEX and CEX

Example of success:

• Snek market making started on November 10th with SNEK/USDT price at 0.0017. Flowdesk managed to successfully provide liquidity in ultra-volatile conditions with the token surging by more than 5x and ensuring that CEX liquidity is at minimum $20k within +/- 2% and ensuring that DeFi protocols pools are arbitrage-free.

Our proposal addresses these specific issues by establishing the Cardano InsurToken Protocol, a blockchain-based platform designed explicitly for tokenizing Insurance Industry Assets. Initially, we focus specifically on insurance premium financing assets, leveraging PremFina’s established premium finance business and Fineqia’s blockchain and digital asset expertise. By tokenizing these assets on Cardano’s secure and scalable blockchain infrastructure, we achieve several immediate and strategic benefits:

1. Liquidity and Accessibility: Tokenization converts traditionally illiquid premium finance receivables into tradable digital assets, unlocking immediate liquidity. Tokens representing fractionalized ownership can be traded globally on Cardano’s decentralized exchanges, significantly lowering investment barriers and opening access to retail and institutional investors alike.

2. Transparent and Secure Yield Distribution: Through the use of Plutus smart contracts, investor distributions derived from the premium repayments become automated, secure, and transparent. Investors benefit from consistent yields (~8–10% APY), delivered seamlessly into their wallets, removing intermediaries and enhancing investor confidence.

3. Expansion Potential into Insurance-Linked Securities (ILSs): After successfully establishing premium finance tokenization, our protocol will expand into tokenizing ILS assets. These provide investors exposure to non-correlated returns driven uniquely by insurance risk events, creating valuable portfolio diversification opportunities within Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem.

4. Cross-Protocol Integration and Ecosystem Growth: Our tokens will integrate into broader DeFi platforms (e.g., Pi Protocol), providing collateralization, yield farming, and liquidity provisioning opportunities. This deepens the utility of Cardano-based assets, significantly increasing Cardano’s Total Value Locked (TVL) and institutional adoption.

Strategically, this project clearly aligns with Cardano’s RealFi ambitions—bridging real-world financial systems with blockchain, thus positioning Cardano as a market leader in regulated, compliant asset tokenization. It showcases Cardano’s blockchain as a credible institutional solution, setting the stage for broader adoption across financial sectors globally.

If the proposal is implemented, the benefits would be multifaceted, impacting several key areas of the Cardano community in Japan, as well as the broader global Cardano ecosystem. Here's a breakdown of the expected benefits for each community:

1. Benefit to Cardano's Developer Community in Japan

• Increased Developer Adoption: The proposal’s emphasis on hands-on events, workshops, and educational campaigns will lower the barrier to entry for Japanese developers, allowing them to understand and start building on Cardano’s platform. By providing localized resources and developer support, more Japanese developers will be encouraged to use Plutus (Cardano’s smart contract platform) to build decentralized applications (dApps).
• Expanded Developer Ecosystem: With developer meetups and community-building activities through Telegram/LINE groups, the proposal fosters a collaborative environment, encouraging Japanese developers to share resources and knowledge, thus expanding the Cardano developer ecosystem in Japan.
• Access to Educational Materials: The proposal will provide translated materials and tutorials in Japanese, making it easier for developers to learn and apply Cardano’s technology. This will be especially beneficial for developers not fluent in English, ensuring broader participation in Cardano’s growth.

2. Benefit to the General Cardano Community in Japan

• Increased Public Awareness: The proposal’s social media strategy (through X, Telegram, and LINE) will enhance public awareness of Cardano’s unique features and recent developments. With a dedicated focus on localized content and community engagement, the proposal will improve the public perception of Cardano, correcting misconceptions and highlighting its capabilities in decentralized finance (DeFi), scalability, and security.
• Brand Credibility: Through KOL marketing and media exposure in Japanese outlets such as CoinPost and Cointelegraph, Cardano’s brand credibility will be significantly strengthened, positioning it as a trusted platform in the Japanese Web3 space. This could help shift sentiment from skepticism to active support.
• Stronger Community Engagement: By growing communities on Telegram and LINE, Japanese Cardano users will have more opportunities to connect, share insights, and participate in discussions, fostering a more engaged and active Cardano community in Japan.

3. Benefit to Cardano’s Institutional and Enterprise Community

• Institutional Visibility: The cross-marketing strategy with AKINDO, Gumi, and other partners will increase Cardano’s visibility within Japanese institutions and enterprises. By showcasing Cardano’s enterprise capabilities and involvement in initiatives such as tokenization of gold, Cardano can attract corporate interest from industries looking to explore blockchain solutions.
• Enterprise Adoption: The scalable media exposure and institutional outreach will introduce Cardano to a wider enterprise audience in Japan, encouraging larger companies to consider using Cardano for supply chain management, digital asset creation, or tokenized finance. As enterprises become more familiar with Cardano’s technology, we could see real-world deployments and partnerships emerge, driving further growth for the platform in Japan.
• Partnerships in Key Industries: By participating in industry events and establishing strategic partnerships with Japanese companies, Cardano could solidify its place in the growing blockchain adoption space within industries like finance, gaming, and NFTs. This could lead to enterprise-led initiatives and innovative use cases powered by Cardano.

4. Benefit to the Broader Global Cardano Ecosystem

• Increased Global Recognition: As Cardano strengthens its position in Japan, one of the most important crypto markets in Asia, it will bolster its global reputation. Success in Japan could inspire other regions to look at Cardano as a viable blockchain platform for developers, enterprises, and investors alike.
• Expansion of Cardano’s Ecosystem: The efforts to attract developers and enterprises in Japan will directly contribute to Cardano’s overall ecosystem growth, with new dApps, services, and projects potentially being built on the platform. The Japanese market, with its strong gaming industry, NFT interest, and financial innovations, could provide Cardano with high-profile use cases that would resonate globally.
• Positive Network Effect: As Japanese developers, enterprises, and consumers engage with Cardano, their involvement could lead to a network effect where global visibility and demand for Cardano products and services increase. This could attract further investment into the ecosystem, boosting Cardano’s standing within the broader blockchain space.

5. Long-Term Sustainability and Growth

• Building a Sustainable Ecosystem: By fostering local communities, building relationships with influencers, and engaging institutions, the proposal ensures that Cardano’s expansion in Japan is not just a one-time event but a sustainable effort that continues to grow over time. These grassroots initiatives will lay the foundation for long-term success, making Cardano a prominent platform in Japan's blockchain ecosystem.
• Local Innovation: The proposal’s focus on developer adoption and community engagement will lead to local innovation within Cardano’s ecosystem. By tapping into Japan’s strong technology sector, Cardano may see new ideas, dApps, and use cases emerge, fostering continuous innovation and ensuring the platform’s relevance in an ever-changing blockchain landscape.

Conclusion

By implementing this proposal, the Cardano ecosystem in Japan stands to benefit from increased public awareness, developer adoption, enterprise partnerships, and media coverage. The targeted efforts outlined in the proposal aim to build a more engaged and knowledgeable Cardano community, foster strategic partnerships with key players in Japanese industry, and correct misconceptions to shape a more positive perception of the platform. This will not only contribute to Cardano’s growth in Japan but also enhance its global reputation and long-term sustainability in the blockchain space.

NODO, Web3 ecosystem expansion platform for emerging markets, has onboarded 450,000 users (majority of them are from African countries) and major partnerships within the Web3 ecosystem to Intersect and drive the long term adoption and growth of the Hub-based system globally. NODO can bring the following benefits to the Cardano Community.

Positioning Intersect as a Market Leader in Cardano Community Engagement: Collaborate with market leaders of Cardano Communities in emerging markets and worldwide to enhance brand visibility and credibility. Drive Retail & Institutional Community Sentiment about Cardano: Engage with Cardano's emerging market and global communities to drive direct acquisition and participation on the Intersect platform. Create compelling content, host events, and facilitate discussions to foster a vibrant and active community around Cardano & Intersect MBO. Build Awareness of Cardano Use Cases & Build Marketing Awareness Showcase successful use cases of Cardano technology in emerging markets and beyond to generate positive market buzz and create success testimonials.

NODO, Web3 ecosystem expansion platform for emerging markets, has onboarded 450,000 users (majority of them are from African countries) and major partnerships within the Web3 ecosystem to Cardano ecosystem in Africa and drive the long term adoption and growth of the Hub-based system globally. NODO can bring the following benefits to the Cardano Community.

1. Ecosystem Expansion in Underserved Markets

• Establishing Cardano Hubs in Lagos, Nairobi, and Douala will provide consistent, physical spaces for education, events, and developer collaboration.
• These hubs will serve as a launchpad for engaging Africa’s fast-growing tech-savvy population with Cardano use cases.

2. Tangible Adoption & Growth

• With monthly AMAs and quarterly offline meetups, the program expects to engage over 1 million live listeners and 10,000 new ADA wallet addresses within 12 months.
• The reach extends beyond NODO’s 430,000 registered users and 8M+ site views, tapping into over 2,000 Web3 projects from NODO/Adaverse’s network.

3. Enterprise and Developer Activation

• Strategic outreach will onboard dozens of African Web3 startups, partners, and developer teams to the Cardano ecosystem.
• The program will lay the foundation for a sustainable Cardano engineering community, contributing to open-source tools, DeFi primitives, and dApp development on Cardano.

4. Measurable ROI for the Cardano Community

• Boosts ecosystem participation through wallet creation, active community channels, and developer engagement.
• Provides ongoing media visibility and data-backed reporting from all campaign activities.

By enabling stablecoin (USDA) adoption across high-impact African startups—particularly those operating in or reaching Francophone markets—this project offers:

• Scalable adoption of Cardano technologies through real-world integrations;
• Inclusion of hundreds of thousands of unbanked users via startups already reaching those markets;
• Demonstrated use cases that improve transaction speed, reduce costs, and build resilience against currency volatility;
• Expanding Cardano's reach into new geographies and industries;
• Organic Cardano community growth in Francophone Africa—an untapped demographic representing 70% of the global French-speaking population, establishing Cardano as the first-mover blockchain in Francophone Africa;
• Strengthening Cardano’s developer base via education, tooling, and talent pipelines;

This aligns with Cardano goals of Incoming Liquidity, L2 Expansion, Developer Tools, and User Experience.

This initiative positions Cardano for influence at the highest levels of global crypto and mainstream media, making the ecosystem more visible, credible, and compelling to innovators and institutions alike.

Who Benefits?

• Founders and builders across Cardano whose projects need visibility to grow and gain traction.
• Ecosystem partners and dApps seeking institutional attention, integration, and investment.
• Cardano leadership and policy voices looking to connect with public stakeholders to co-shape blockchain adoption roadmaps.

Demonstrated Value / ROI

Strategic Visibility: Elevates Cardano’s presence in high-value publications and platforms, positioning it as an intention-driven Layer 1 with real-world relevance - cutting through the noise in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Narrative Leadership: Proactive storytelling ensures Cardano isn’t just part of the conversation but defining it - setting the agenda during pivotal industry moments and reinforcing its voice as a driver of innovation.

Grassroots Empowerment: Empowers founders, developers, and ecosystem teams to own and tell their stories - transforming builders into influential advocates who expand Cardano’s presence from the ground up.

Institutional Credibility: Media validation builds legitimacy, paving the way for deeper meaningful engagement with enterprises, investors, and policymakers.

Global Resonance: Scales Cardano’s message beyond crypto-native circles to reach decision-makers and innovators across key markets, playing a pivotal role in setting the direction of travel for the industry on a global scale.

Bottom Line

This work ensures that Cardano’s voice isn’t just heard - it resonates with authority. It elevates the ecosystem’s relevance, amplifies its innovations, and secures Cardano’s place as a defining force shaping the future of blockchain — one that is structured, sustainable, and designed for the long run.

This initiative equips Cardano with the intelligence it needs to compete, connect, and grow - all while backed by data, not assumptions.

Who Benefits?

• The entire Cardano community, from developers to ecosystem partners, as well as institutional supporters and end-users.
• Catalyst participants and governance stakeholders who can make better decisions with clearer insights.
• The marketing and communications teams who can better deploy Cardano messaging that actually resonates, globally.

Demonstrated Value / ROI

Sharper Differentiation: Clear benchmarking against other Layer 1s to define what makes Cardano different, and why it matters.

Smarter Campaign and Higher Marketing Efficiency: Messaging and narratives will be tested and validated before launch. Insights will help allocate resources to the most impactful narratives, channels, and audiences, maximizing reach while minimizing waste.

Faster Adoption: By addressing barriers to understanding and engagement, audience insights remove friction, and can help bring in the next wave of developers, enterprises, and ecosystem partners.

Increased Community Confidence: A transparent, research-informed strategy signals to the community that Cardano is not only mission-driven but also market-smart, instilling confidence in its direction and decisions.

Stronger Perception: Real-time brand tracking and sentiment analysis ensure Cardano stays ahead of the narrative and top-of-mind globally.

Bottom Line

This work makes every dollar spent on marketing smarter, every campaign more effective, and every message more aligned with what the world needs to hear from Cardano right now.

The Wachsman proposal is designed to:

• Sharpen Cardano’s market positioning through competitor benchmarking.
• Drive ecosystem awareness and engagement by understanding what resonates with different user segments.
• Validate messaging and narrative strategies to ensure campaigns are evidence-based and adoption-focused.
• Support innovation uptake by translating complex product developments into audience-relevant communications.

In short, the proposal enhances how Cardano’s innovations are understood, adopted, and advocated, making it a strong fit for the Marketing and Innovation category.

Events provide a dynamic platform for developers, entrepreneurs, founders, and enthusiasts to showcase their innovations, connect with potential investors, and engage with a broader audience. By creating a platform for businesses and solutions in the blockchain industry to showcase their values and support adoption efforts , we are harnessing the power of community collaboration and utilizing the diverse skillsets of Cardano events hosts, marketers, and start-ups worldwide to showcase the Cardano ecosystem.

• Create a specialized proposal system to allow ecosystem projects and community members to attend, host, and create meaningful opportunities through in-person and virtual events

• Ensure there is available funding for a wide range of production budgets to promote diverse types of events throughout the global ecosystem

• Administer the process efficiently and fairly

• Develop standard operating procedures and guidelines to uphold Cardano brand integrity, proper project management, and fair use of spend

• Transparent reporting of successes, lessons learned, and metrics regarding the overall community-led funding program

Rare Network will administer a Community-Led Events Fund of $500,000 USD providing accessibility for the Cardano ecosystem to budgets from $500 to $30,000 USD, available for events production occurring July 1st, 2025 through March 31st , 2026.

This will benefit project teams who will bring decentralized exposure to the Cardano ecosystem who may have the skills to execute, but not the proper funding to produce. Events in the past have been proven worthy of spend, time and time again, if executed properly. With Rare Network's expertise and trust built throughout the Cardano community, we can ensure that funds are utilized fairly and that events projects are carried out in a feasible and satisfying impactful fashion.

The demonstrated value will be:

• Increased Brand Exposure Worldwide
• Scale via a Decentralized Workforce
• Showcase a wide variety of projects through diverse event categories throughout regions globally
• Onboard more users and builders to the Cardano ecosystem
• Catch up to speed and compete with larger, equal, and smaller market cap blockchains (even some L2s spend more than Cardano who is a leading L1) who somehow have more spend and robust events strategies in place currently than Cardano.

If implemented, this proposal will deliver the following benefits to both the Cardano ecosystem and real-world communities in Africa:

• Boost ADA liquidity and trading volume by collaborating with leading African exchanges such as Busha, driving institutional-grade market-making and broader retail participation through improved price stability and trading incentives.

• Introduce USDA as a trusted, dollar-pegged stablecoin across remittance-focused apps and fintech platforms including Ejara and Nestcoin, enabling secure, low-cost cross-border payments and savings—especially for users affected by currency devaluation.

• Bridge Cardano DeFi with active user bases by embedding ADA/USDA access into consumer-facing wallets and platforms, unlocking real utility via lending, swapping, and stable yield generation, powered by the Cardano stack.

• Facilitate onboarding and financial education via regional community hubs, integrating wallet tools, user training, and localized support to scale adoption sustainably and inclusively.

ROI for the Cardano Community includes:

• Substantial increase in transaction volume and TVL (total value locked) as Cardano-native assets are adopted across high-need, high-growth African markets.

• Meaningful growth in DeFi participation from previously untapped user segments, driven by real economic needs (remittances, saving, yield-seeking).

• Tangible expansion of ADA and USDA use in day-to-day finance, increasing network stickiness and long-term value capture.

• Increased developer and enterprise engagement in Africa, leading to deeper Cardano infrastructure integration and broader ecosystem resilience.

Sandsphere Core provides open-source infrastructure that helps the entire Cardano community: Fractionalized yield-bearing investment contracts (Aiken) to accelerate protocol development

USDA integration wrapper to support stablecoin adoption across dApps

Multisig controller module to power pooling, cooperatives, and DAOs

Real-world deployment in Africa and MENA to validate global use This empowers builders, strengthens Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem, and fulfills the network’s mission of programmable, inclusive financial access, in line with the Cardano Commercial Roadmap.

Additional benefits include:

1.⁠ ⁠Asset-backed adoption: Brings real-world value to the Cardano Blockchain, positioning it as a global asset registry, increasing TVL, liquidity pools and cross-chain investment. 2.⁠ ⁠Institutional adoption: Private equity and sustainability funds are far more comfortable on regulated-friendly blockchains with energy efficiency such as Cardano, especially inline with Cardano’s Commercial Roadmap. 3.⁠ ⁠Recurring transaction volume: Stablecoin liquidity on Cardano, impact reporting, dividends and governance actions.

Key Impact Areas: Stablecoin Expansion, Market Maker & Exchange Growth, DeFi Incentives & TVL Growth, Cross-Chain Expansion, Institutional DeFi & RWA

Eternl addresses this need with a secure, feature-rich wallet available across multiple platforms. Eternl is a wallet for all ADA holders.

Integrating Maestro’s infrastructure to enable Cardano as the smart contract layer for Bitcoin would generate substantial benefits across several layers of the Cardano developer ecosystem:

1. Cardano DeFi Developers: Developers of DeFi applications (such as lending protocols like Fluidtokens) will gain immediate access to Bitcoin’s immense liquidity pool, significantly expanding their potential user base andTVL. Maestro’s integration enables developers to tap directly into Bitcoin’s economic activity, dramatically increasing capital efficiency and profitability. Demonstrated value includes:

• Significant growth in TVL, user engagement, and protocol revenues.
• Easier user onboarding from Bitcoin-native communities.

2. Wallet Developers (Tokeo, Begin, Lace, etc.):
   Wallet applications will benefit from vastly expanded user functionality. By supporting direct Bitcoin-to-Cardano interactions, wallets can offer their users advanced features like Bitcoin-backed lending, staking, governance, and seamless cross-chain payments. Demonstrated value includes:

• Increased wallet adoption and user retention.
• Expanded revenue streams through cross-chain transaction fees and premium DeFi services.

3. Layer 2 Solutions and Protocols (Midgard, Sundial, zkFold, BitcoinOS, Midnight):
   Cardano’s Layer 2 ecosystems will benefit by directly integrating with Bitcoin’s user base. L2 solutions gain additional utility and liquidity, allowing their technologies (privacy layers, zero-knowledge rollups, sidechains) to achieve broader adoption and market validation. Demonstrated value includes:

• Accelerated adoption and developer traction for L2 solutions.
• Enabling innovative financial products and privacy-oriented services previously unavailable to Bitcoin holders.

4. Cardano Ecosystem Overall: The direct Bitcoin integration positions Cardano uniquely in the broader blockchain landscape. It would transform Cardano into the default execution and innovation layer for Bitcoin DeFi, attracting both institutional and retail adoption. Demonstrated value includes:

• Enhanced market positioning as the leading decentralized finance ecosystem linked to Bitcoin.
• Substantial increase in ecosystem visibility, credibility, and investment inflows.

Ultimately, the proposed integration presents Cardano with an opportunity to become the primary hub for Bitcoin’s smart contract innovation and DeFi, unlocking extensive economic value, developer growth, and cross-chain collaboration.