In my early days in crypto, I was inspired by the excitement of "Ethereum killer" narratives. Cardano stood out to me not just for bold promises but for the deeper mission of patience, research, science, and inclusion. After experiencing both success and painful mistakes — including a 1,700 scam — I realized that Cardano's true strength lies not in competition, but in forging its own resilient path. This reflection proposes that Cardano should continue encouraging ambition and exploration, while strengthening protections against malicious actors. Without becoming out of touch with the reality of human behaviour. Personal Statement Edit V1: Now, after a few years of learning, I realize it's not about "killing" other projects. It's about building something worthy and lasting on its own terms: a system grounded in patience, research, sustainability, and bold but thoughtful growth. Like many newcomers, I made mistakes. Driven by greed and hope, I was scammed out of $1,700 worth of Ethereum after being lazy. That loss could have driven me away from crypto altogether. Instead, through four years of financial stress, I kept slowly growing my ADA holdings — feeling a quiet connection to Charles Hoskinson and the deeper mission behind Cardano. Charles reminded me of the ones who encouraged my reckless energy into technical learning instead of drifting without purpose. That spirit kept me anchored even when the broader crypto space was full of noise, hype, and disappointment. After financial stress I keep increasing my ADA to this day!

This proposal is not up to date and will be done in a separate budget info action and must not be included or considered in any Intersect budget. To see the up to date proposal see here: https://hackmd.io/@PRAGMA-org/amaru-proposal and will be submitted on chain Amaru is an open-source project that aims to build a new fully interoperable block-producing node for improving the overall accessiblity and robustness of the Cardano network without compromising on its satefy and security. Amaru provides another perspective and solution for stake pool operators and developers alike, focusing on modularity and easy-of-use. The project is implemented mainly in Rust and aims to attract new contributors to the core maintenance of the ecosystem. This proposal is designed to breakdown the objectives, scopes, timelines and costs pertaining to Amaru. It delivers the full vision behind the project and open the discussion regarding a Cardano treasury withdrawal to sustain its development. For better viewing experience please use this link: https://hackmd.io/@PRAGMA-org/amaru-proposal Disclaimer: The following document is a DRAFT proposal for the Amaru project. It is a collective document that describes the vision and the needs of multiple entities/actors involved in the development of Amaru. This proposal will evolve in January 2025 following changes of scopes and resources allocated to the project It is meant as a starting point for discussing Cardano treasury withdrawals in alignment with the incoming constitution. As such, we invite anyone interested to comment on the following document, and share feedback with us. Result of the estimation phase of our proposal: 6 FTEs + $60k (see https://hackmd.io/@PRAGMA-org/amaru-proposal for details) Given our assumptions the valuation of this proposal based on a 200k$ base for an FTE, the estimation comes down to: 6 * 200k$ + 60 k$ = 1260k$ Given our assumption regarding our optimism bias (add 25% of contingency), the proposal submitted will be targetting: $1.578M as a result of the scopes covered in Amaru and ask for the equivalent in ADA at the time the treasury withdrawal is emitted.

Cardano needs to expand in French-speaking countries, especially in Africa, where innovative ideas and technologies lag far behind those in English-speaking countries. The Inkuba Blockchain Center is a pilot project that may resolve the issue.