Cardano cUSD introduces a yield-bearing stablecoin design, offers benefits across various segments of the Cardano community and provides demonstrable value to the ecosystem as a whole:

For ADA Holders & Stakers:

• Unlock Staked Liquidity: Mint cUSD against staked ADA without unstaking, boosting capital efficiency.
• Flexible Yield Control: Optimize risk/reward by directing staking yield towards debt reduction or separate accrual.
• Enhanced ADA Utility: Increases the incentive to hold and stake ADA.

For Cardano DeFi Users:

• Stable & Efficient Stablecoin: Access a decentralized, Cardano-native USD-pegged stablecoin (cUSD).
• Advanced DeFi Strategies: Enable leveraged staking, self-repaying positions, and new yield opportunities.

For Developers & Protocols:

• Open-Source & Composable: Provides a core, open-source, easily integrable stablecoin primitive.
• Fuel Ecosystem Innovation: Catalyzes synergy and the development of more sophisticated DeFi solutions on Cardano.

Overall Value & ROI for Cardano:

• Drive TVL & Network Activity: Increase Total Value Locked and on-chain transactions/fees.
• Boost Competitiveness: Position Cardano as a leader in innovative stablecoin design, attracting users and capital.

Strengthen Network Effects:

• Enhance the overall utility and value proposition of the Cardano blockchain.

This proposal addresses the need for reliable ecosystem funding to support hundreds of Cardano builders and startups, alongside upgrading the core structural and operational limitations facing Catalyst, laying the foundation for its long-term sustainability and decentralization. Through these three interlinked workstreams: Catalyst Interface Development, Hermes Decentralized Infrastructure, and the execution of three Funding Rounds the return on investment for this proposal is measured in tangible, ecosystem-wide outcomes, including:

1. For the Ecosystem: Significant reduction in operational costs, with potential savings of up to 50% in future Catalyst cycles from 2026 onward and broader and more meaningful community participation by strengthening Cardano’s decentralized innovation funding infrastructure with expanded governance functionality and funding flexibility, with support for multiple voting mechanics and the ability to participate using Cardano Native Tokens beyond ADA.
2. For Cardano Developers, Entrepreneurs, and Community Builders: Continued assurance of community-led funding, giving hundreds of community builders the confidence to plan and scale their projects, supported by a trusted, experienced, and committed Catalyst operations team. ₳61 million to be deployed across three funding rounds, including the launch of a Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF) initiative, designed to reward high-impact contributions that have already been delivered - even if not initially funded through a Catalyst vote. The results are increased support for early stage R&D, open-source, regional, and community-led initiatives, guided by more equitable and representative voting mechanisms.
3. For End Users : Seamless, scalable, and accessible Catalyst infrastructure delivered through unified, device-agnostic interfaces lowering barriers to participation, particularly in mobile-first regions, enabled by enhanced user interfaces and experience and production-grade decentralized infrastructure powered by Hermes, replacing legacy federated systems with peer-to-peer architecture. The sum of these parts aligns directly with Cardano’s broader goals of decentralization, transparency, and system resilience. Plus the introduction of optionality between delegated and direct voting that improves governance legitimacy, with greater transparency, auditability, and resilience across funding and decision-making processes due to investment in interfaces and infrastructure.

If implemented, this proposal will significantly strengthen the UTxO blockchain ecosystem by fostering collaboration among key stakeholders—including UTxO-based chains, academic blockchain centers conducting UTxO research, developers, and investors building UTxO-based services. By creating a space for shared knowledge and reusable technology, the initiative will reduce duplication of effort and accelerate technical progress across projects. In addition, the proposal will deliver public-facing educational content that demystifies the UTxO model, helping general users and developers better understand its advantages. This outreach and education effort will support onboarding of new participants into UTxO ecosystems—especially Cardano—thereby expanding its user base and increasing developer engagement. Ultimately, the proposal benefits the entire community by promoting a more interoperable, scalable, and vibrant UTxO environment centered around innovation and inclusion.

This proposal will provide a user-friendly dashboard that consolidates critical ecosystem data.

Voters: The dashboard will provide real-time insights into voting trends, and current fund analytics, helping voters make informed decisions. The inclusion of the Banzhaf Power Index (BPI) as part of the governance analytics will offer insights into the distribution of voting power, ensuring voters understand their influence in the governance process. Additionally, access to social engagement data (e.g., Reddit and Forum discussions) will help voters gauge community sentiment.

Proposers: Proposers will gain access to detailed analytics on funding rounds, voting patterns, and historical data, enabling them to refine their submissions and better align with community priorities. Insights from social engagement metrics will help proposers understand community sentiment and tailor their outreach efforts. Furthermore, GitHub data (e.g., commits, pull requests, and active contributors) will provide proposers with a clearer picture of project development activity, helping them benchmark their progress and improve collaboration.

Data Analysts: Advanced visualizations and interactive tools will allow analysts to explore funding data, social activity, and developer metrics in depth, uncovering trends and insights that support data-driven decision-making. The integration of GitHub data will provide a comprehensive view of developer activity, while social engagement analytics will offer insights into community sentiment and participation. These features will empower analysts to generate actionable insights that benefit the entire ecosystem.

Delegated Representatives (DReps): The voting power analysis, including the BPI, will help DReps understand the distribution of influence in the system, empowering them to better represent their constituents and advocate for equitable governance. Access to real-time funding data, social engagement metrics, and developer activity will enable DReps to stay informed about community priorities and emerging trends, ensuring they can make decisions that reflect the needs and interests of the ecosystem.

General Community Members: Real-time token pricing data will provide financial context to ecosystem activity, helping users stay informed about market trends. A unified platform for accessing Catalyst data, social engagement metrics, and developer activity will make it easier for community members to stay engaged and contribute meaningfully to the ecosystem. By consolidating these features into a single dashboard, the proposal will enhance transparency, foster informed participation, and empower all members of the Cardano community to engage more effectively in the governance and growth of the ecosystem.

For Builders: EchoFeed empowers dApp developers with reliable market data and flexible aggregation tools, eliminating the need to build and maintain complex data pipelines. This allows teams to focus on core product innovation rather than infrastructure challenges, accelerating development cycles for sophisticated DeFi applications. For Researchers: The platform provides historical datasets and analytical capabilities, enabling deeper market analysis and strategy testing. Academics and quantitative analysts gain access to normalized, blockchain-native data streams that support financial research on Cardano's ecosystem. For Oracle Providers: EchoFeed serves as a high-quality data source that oracle services can integrate, improving the reliability and diversity of on-chain data feeds. By handling the heavy lifting of data aggregation and quality control, it allows oracle projects to focus on secure blockchain delivery mechanisms. This project incorporates MIT-licensed open-source components designed to enable transparent work that can be reused by the community.

EchoChain provides developers building on Marlowe with a purpose-built oracle solution that integrates real-world data. Developers gain access to market data (e.g., ADA/USD prices) significantly reducing the time of building data-dependent applications. The protocol ensures compatibility with Marlowe's state model, enabling more complex smart contracts. End users benefit from EchoChain through more sophisticated and reliable applications that react autonomously to real-world conditions. This project incorporates MIT-licensed open-source components designed to enable transparent work that can be reused by the community.

Proposal Benefit If implemented, this proposal will deliver transformative technical value to the Cardano ecosystem, accelerating development across critical areas of the network stack. The proposed initiatives—ranging from ledger conformance testing and Plutus re-execution tooling, to Genesis synchronization optimization, history expiry, and the development of a Cardano node emulator—are strategically aligned with Cardano’s long-term goals of scalability, performance, and verifiability.

Each project targets a specific technical challenge within the core infrastructure:

Peras, Canonical Ledger State, and Canonical Block and Transaction Diffusion Codecs improve interoperability, clarity, and consistency across the ecosystem.

Conformance Testing for Ledger and Consensus, alongside Black Box Ledger Testing, ensures protocol correctness and future-proofing through robust validation frameworks.

Plutus Script Re-Executor and Block Cost Investigation provide practical tools for performance benchmarking and Plutus optimization, directly benefiting DApp developers and toolmakers.

The Genesis Sync Accelerator and Hoarding Node address network-level performance bottlenecks, improving bootstrap times and reliability.

The Cardano-node-emulator and History Expiry initiative contribute to better testing, debugging, and long-term node sustainability.

Collectively, these projects support developers, researchers, node operators, DReps, and governance actors by reinforcing the reliability, performance, and maintainability of Cardano’s core systems.

The return on investment to the Cardano community is clear:

Faster network upgrades

Reduced onboarding friction

Improved protocol transparency

Better tooling for smart contract teams

More resilient and testable infrastructure

Backed by Tweag by Modus Create and a consortium of trusted ecosystem contributors, this proposal combines deep technical experience with proven delivery capability. It not only addresses current pain points but lays the groundwork for Cardano’s continued success as a scalable, decentralized, and open blockchain platform.

Brick Towers provides self-custodial Swiss Banking Services. Within a safe regulatory environment, including asset protection laws in Switzerland, Brick Towers develops urble.io, a retail non-custodial banking platform that empowers individuals to manage savings or (retirement) funds, either for themselves or jointly with their families, in an interactive and engaging way that seamlessly allows the addition of DeFi products to the portfolio without the need for a bank account. The consequence of such a well-designed self-custodial banking service platform is to pave the way for a massive adoption by end-users via a clean and intuitive exposure to the Cardano DeFi ecosystem, improving the visibility of Cardano DeFi products and Cardano Native Tokens as investment and potentially yield-bearing products. Such a service not only directly onboards rather conservative market participants, but also indirectly via asset managers that can use the service to experience the Cardano DeFi ecosystem in a safe, coherent, and familiar way to manage savings and funds. Brick Towers believes that the Cardano blockchain, ecosystem, and community, in line with its long-term objectives, are the right foundation for our platform with a lot of DeFi potential yet to unlock. With Brick Towers’ banking and institutional platform background knowledge, we enable end-users to build Cardano-centric savings accounts to unlock that potential. This includes:

• ADA Staking
• Cardano Native Tokens, Stablecoins, URBLE governance token
• Positions in Lending and DEXs
• Tokenized real-world assets on Cardano
• Cross-chain assets from Cardano Partner Chains

In summary, by providing banking services that include crypto assets on Cardano, this increases traction and adoption by a new cohort of users who are otherwise left out of question and lowers the entrance barriers for everyone. This increases the utility and value of Cardano overall and therefore benefits all ADA holders and operators. This is amplified by exposing Cardano investments (store of value, yield) in a unified way in the context of asset and portfolio management.

This proposal and the resulting framework created by it would bring direct benefits to voters and Catalyst dReps by providing a clear, transparent and reusable framework for proposal evaluation within Project Catalyst.

For voters, the framework incentivizes informed decision-making and trust in the decentralization of the voting process. For Catalyst dReps, it offers guidance on how to best represent their delegators in a consistent and community aligned manner, according to shared principles and values.

This framework will also leverage the Catalyst Voices implementation developed by the Catalyst team, which aims to implement vote delegation and improve the governance experience within Catalyst. Our framework intends to support this effort by providing transparent guidelines and best practices that empower both voters who delegate their ADA voting power and Catalyst dReps to make informed and representative decisions.

By supporting more structured and value/mission driven voting proccess, the framework incentive decentralization of ADA voting power and amplify the voice of underrepresented smaller communities.

The return on investment lies in improved legitimacy, qualified and broader participation, and decision quality across Catalyst ecosystem. With greater voter confidence, clearer Catalyst dRep accountability, and tools that are open source and community maintainable, this project strengthens the management of Cardano’s treasury and governance at a critical moment in its evolution.

Additionally, this proposal will produce multilingual educational content—including video tutorials and written guides—to onboard new participants into Catalyst governance and support dReps in applying the framework effectively. These materials will be designed for accessibility and reusability, enabling other communities to replicate and build upon the framework’s methodology. This educational layer amplifies the project's impact by promoting informed participation and increasing the overall reach and understanding of governance tools within Catalyst.

CCIP CCIP provides a single interface through which dApps and Web3 entrepreneurs can securely meet all their cross-chain needs. CCIP can be used to transfer data, tokens, or both across chains. CCIP supports three main capabilities:

• Arbitrary Messaging: Send arbitrary data (encoded as bytes) to a receiving smart contract on another blockchain. Developers use this to trigger actions such as rebalancing an index, minting an NFT, or executing functions with custom parameters.
• Token Transfer: Transfer tokens to a smart contract or directly to an EOA (Externally Owned Account) on a different blockchain.
• Programmable Token Transfer: Transfer tokens and arbitrary data in a single transaction. For example, a user could transfer tokens to a lending protocol with instructions to use them as collateral, borrowing another asset to be sent back to the user.

Some use cases include:

• DeFi composability (e.g., Cross-Chain Liquidation Protection)
• Cross-chain name services
• Cross-chain NFT minting
• Gaming and other scenarios requiring cross-chain execution

We propose a hybrid on-chain/off-chain solution to enable cross-chain messaging on the Cardano network. This solution will allow seamless communication between Cardano and other blockchain networks, enabling efficient token transfers and other cross-chain operations.

1. For SPOs: Real-time access to block production and stake pool performance, without delays from epoch boundaries or outdated data.

2. For DReps and CC members: Tools for tracking governance activities and accessing voting-related data in clear and transparent way.

3. For developers: Access to fully free REST API that provides Cardano data in easy-to-use JSON format — helpful for building tools, dashboards, or integrating blockchain data into other applications.

4. For general users: The site works smoothly on all devices, and we keep improving it based on user feedback.

5. For the Cardano ecosystem: AdaStat is a lightweight and open tool that helps Cardano stay decentralized and easy to understand - especially for new users. All of this helps Cardano grow: stronger infrastructure, clearer data, and better long-term adoption.

Cardano QuestHub offers a transformative solution that directly addresses the current lack of structured contribution and learning pathways within the Cardano ecosystem. By combining skill development, community participation, and programmable rewards, the platform introduces a new model for inclusive ecosystem growth. One of the most immediate benefits is the creation of an on-chain contribution economy, where every completed task or validated skill results in a provable digital outcome, either through the minting of a soulbound token (SBT) or direct token reward. This ensures that users who invest time and effort into building Cardano are fairly compensated and recognized.

Furthermore, the project will lower the barrier to entry for new participants, especially from emerging regions where access to traditional education or technical onboarding is limited. By providing structured, incentivized quests such as tutorials, challenge-based learning, and community micro-tasks, QuestHub enables anyone to gradually build up real blockchain literacy while earning in parallel. This approach naturally supports Cardano’s mission of global inclusion by creating accessible and equitable pathways into Web3 contribution.

Another core benefit of QuestHub is the introduction of verifiable on-chain reputation. Through the use of soulbound tokens, contributors accumulate a trackable history of completed missions, validated skills, and community impact. These records can serve as credentials for future project teams, DAOs, or employers in the ecosystem, effectively turning Cardano into a proving ground for Web3 talent. This has long-term implications for employment, grants, and governance.

From a governance and ecosystem perspective, QuestHub supports decentralized validation and funding mechanisms through its DAO-based QuestBoard. This enables the community to propose and approve quests, allocate micro-grants, resolve disputes, and even guide ecosystem priorities by spotlighting high-impact tasks. It empowers DReps, SPOs, and Catalyst-funded projects to directly engage the wider community by posting tasks and rewarding real value, thereby improving transparency and accountability in the use of treasury funds.

Finally, QuestHub helps showcase the practical power of programmable assets and smart contracts on Cardano. The platform becomes a real-world demonstration of what is possible with native tokens, automation, and on-chain logic. It not only encourages adoption of Cardano’s technical features but also sets a precedent for future open-source contribution layers and decentralized work platforms on the blockchain.

The funds will provide a partial subsidy to projects so they can afford to be present at exhibitions that will benefit them. Part of the funding will enable us to be able to provide support to the projects to ensure they get the most out of the event.

Majority of people these days are traders that only look at number go up or number go down.

Nobody asks where the numbers come from or who is using the chain.

The benefit of this proposal is bringing back the people that basically advertised the chain by word of mouth in 2021, and used the chain to do things.

We had a lot of things built by the Philippine community. We had comics, free entry into an aquarium for NFT holders, games built on Cardano. They're all dead now because no one paid attention to them. We need people to use this chain. It's literally what drives the fees. Not only do stakepools and the treasury collect fees whenever the chain is utilized, the people using it teach their friends and relatives about it so they too can use it. Your ROI is literally bringing back the liquidity and community that thinks that Cardano is no different from any other scam Luna chain out there.

The Cardano Stable Index (CSI) introduces a decentralized, algorithmic basket of native stablecoins. The index will be fully collateralized and transparently managed on-chain. Initial basket:

• 25% DJED
• 25% USDM
• 25% iUSD
• 25% USDA

Users will be able to mint or redeem the index token 1:1 based on basket value, ensuring composability, simplicity, and resistance to volatility in any single stablecoin.

The Solution: The Paid Open Source Model

This budget proposal introduces a Paid Open Source Model to ensure that essential open-source projects receive structured funding. It includes:

• A Maintainer Retainer Program to fund developers maintaining critical repositories.
• Bug bounty and security initiatives to identify and fix vulnerabilities.
• Developer advocacy and engagement programs to onboard and retain contributors.
• An incubation framework to support promising open-source projects and help them scale.

By implementing this model, Cardano will create a predictable, transparent, and sustainable funding mechanism that supports long-term open-source development, improves security, and accelerates ecosystem growth.

This proposal offers internationally accredited and certified training in blockchain technology, thus allowing greater engagement with the university sector in the region and generating greater adoption and usability of the Cardano platform.

The implementation of this proposal will enhance Intersect’s operations and strengthen community-driven governance in Cardano by improving internal processes and optimizing resources. The proposal focuses on six key areas:

1. More Efficient Processes and Internal Structure Description: Review Intersect MBO’s internal structure and processes to standardize formats (e.g., reports, meeting minutes), working group roles and responsibilities, communication with the community (e.g., official channels, frequency of updates), and other operational elements (e.g., workflows, decision protocols). Tools like AI-powered platforms (e.g., Pipefy) will help optimize time and resources. Beneficiaries:

• Intersect MBO Members: Gain more efficient internal operations, boosting trust in the organization.
• General Cardano Community: Feel better represented and more confident in the ecosystem.

2. Greater Community Trust Description: Implementing regular reports and public dashboards—including financial audits and operational metrics—will ensure the community has access to transparent and clear information. Beneficiaries:

• Intersect MBO Members: Make better-informed decisions.
• General Cardano Community: Build trust through increased transparency.

3. Increased Community Participation Description: Organize regular town halls and surveys to enable the community and other stakeholders to influence governance directly. Beneficiaries:

• General Cardano Community: Gain a stronger voice in decision-making.
• Committees and Working Groups: Become more involved in key processes like budgeting.

4. More Inclusive Governance Description: Include the community, committees, and working groups in decision-making to reduce perceived centralization and ensure decisions reflect collective interests. This also responds to Charles Hoskinson’s call for more community-driven governance. Beneficiaries:

• Committees and Working Groups: Their inclusion in structures like the Budget Task Force (as suggested by @AdamRusch on X) will enhance their impact.
• Other Stakeholders (e.g., Cardano Foundation): Inclusive governance helps reduce tension and align objectives.

5. Resource Optimization Description: Review Intersect’s current organizational structure, budgeting, and project management to eliminate redundancies, reduce expenses, and build a more efficient organization. Beneficiaries:

• Intersect MBO Members: See better resource management and increased confidence in operations.
• General Cardano Community: Savings could be reinvested into initiatives like tech development or educational programs.

6. Alignment with the Voltaire Era Description: A more efficient, transparent, and inclusive governance framework will strengthen Cardano’s transition into the Voltaire era, where decentralized community governance is key. Beneficiaries:

• General Cardano Community: A stronger governance model can attract more developers and users.
• Other Stakeholders (e.g., Cardano Foundation): Benefit from a more robust and decentralized ecosystem.

Demonstrated Value and Return on Investment (ROI)

Demonstrated Value:

• More effective and inclusive governance will improve trust in Intersect MBO and increase participation in Cardano governance—crucial for the Voltaire era.
• Improved governance could attract more users and developers, increasing Cardano’s adoption and network value.
• Including more stakeholders will reduce conflict and foster ecosystem-wide collaboration.
• Transparent and streamlined processes will build greater community confidence.

Return on Investment (ROI):

• Operational Cost Savings: Optimizing operations could reduce costs by 10–15% by redefining Intersect MBO’s internal structure, processes, and expenditures.
• Increased Community Participation: The proposal could boost participation by 20%. With 630 current members, this could mean 126 more active contributors to the ecosystem.
• Impact on Network Value: Increased engagement and adoption may lead to a 5% rise in ADA’s market value, resulting in significant benefits for holders, more transactions, and greater ecosystem growth.

Key Benefits: Developers and dApp Creators

• Will have access to standardized, open-source tools for integrating location data directly into their applications, opening up new possibilities for innovation on Cardano, such as geolocated NFTs or map-based traceability systems.
• Can reduce development costs and time by avoiding the need to build georeferencing solutions from scratch, thanks to a ready-to-use API that follows international GIS standards.

Companies and Organizations -Sectors like logistics, precision agriculture, resource management, real estate, tourism, environmental monitoring, and security can verify the authenticity and accuracy of the geographic information they handle—whether it’s for tracking shipments, certifying properties, or validating sustainability initiatives.

• Will minimize the risk of manipulation and fraud—ensuring, for example, that land or shipment location data remains immutable—thereby improving operational efficiency and strengthening trust in their processes.

Cardano Community

• Will see increased adoption and diversification of blockchain use cases by enabling projects such as Landano (land management), Veritree (certified reforestation), and Empowa (affordable housing), in addition to new applications in gaming or environmental certifications, positioning Cardano as a robust and adaptable platform.
• Greater network usage will drive up transaction volume and value flows, benefiting ADA stakers and holders by energizing the ecosystem’s economy.
• Will foster collaboration with other Cardano projects, such as integrations with existing dApps or partnerships with governance initiatives, creating a more active and interconnected community.

Return on Investment (ROI) for the Cardano Community -Increased Network Transactions: By integrating with georeferencing applications—from land certification to supply chain tracking—the volume of transactions will grow, boosting fees and staking rewards. -New Business Opportunities: Companies and entrepreneurs, attracted by practical solutions like geospatial traceability or physical asset certification, will join the ecosystem, driving Cardano’s local economy and elevating its long-term value. -Strengthening the Cardano Brand: By offering real-world solutions (reliable geolocation, transparent certifications, and verifiable traceability), Cardano consolidates its position as a leader in practical innovation, attracting high-quality projects and reinforcing its global reputation

If implemented, this initiative aims to bring blockchain technology—specifically Cardano—to governments, policymakers, and businesses by generating strategic knowledge, dismantling misconceptions, and facilitating the creation of a legal and operational framework that encourages responsible adoption.

This proposal would deliver multiple benefits to different sectors:

Advancing Regulation and Legal Security

Educating government stakeholders on blockchain’s potential beyond cryptocurrencies.

Facilitating the development of clear regulations that provide legal certainty.

Encouraging investments in blockchain-based solutions.

Government Transformation and Modernization

Enabling governments to explore practical blockchain applications, such as digital identity, supply chain tracking, automation, and financial transparency.

Increasing efficiency, citizen trust, and the digitization of public services.

Encouraging Business Adoption

Providing regulatory clarity to businesses, fostering Cardano adoption in key industries like logistics, decentralized finance, and smart contracts.

Driving demand for blockchain-based solutions, increasing market participation and competition.

Creating Economic and Employment Opportunities

Expanding job opportunities in blockchain development, legal tech, consulting, and education.

Supporting the emergence of new startups and business collaborations within the blockchain space.

Strengthening the Cardano Ecosystem

Increasing institutional and corporate engagement in the Cardano network.

Boosting transaction volumes and adoption of decentralized applications (dApps).

Enhancing Cardano’s real-world utility, legitimacy, and long-term sustainability.

Return on Investment for the Cardano Community

Growth in the number of active users and developers.

Increased demand for ADA as a utility token in real-world applications.

Expansion of stake pools and higher participation in Cardano’s governance ecosystem.

Attraction of new investments and top talent to the Cardano network.