Governance Actions
Anyone that has ADA in a wallet can propose a Governace Action. To submit a Governance Action, the submitter pays a refundable deposit of 100,000 Ada. The deposit will be returned automatically back to the submitter's wallet upon completion of the Voting period.
Pebble & Ecosystem maintenance: TypeScript core of Cardano
Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs for short) is an R&D firm born and focused solely on the Cardano ecosystem. Harmonic Laboratories supports and maintains a considerable portion of the TypeScript tooling for the Cardano ecosystem, which the majority of Cardano developers use, either directly, or indirectly via other libraries that depend on code written and maintained by HLabs. The mission of HLabs is for true decentralization to become the baseline of application development, not only a nice-to-have feature. This proposal funds two complementary engineering tracks: - **[Pebble](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble)**: the first production-ready imperative smart-contract language on Cardano. Pebble brings to UPLC a programming paradigm Aiken structurally cannot deliver, ships a TypeScript-shaped surface syntax that the largest developer community on earth already uses, and (per HLabs' published benchmarks) produces on-chain code that strictly outperforms Aiken and is competitive with Plutarch, while remaining dramatically more readable than either. - **Tooling maintenance**: keeping HLabs' TypeScript stack (`cardano-ledger-ts`, `ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts`, `plutus-machine`, `uplc`, etc.) synchronized with protocol upgrades. This stack is not optional infrastructure: it is what production projects across the ecosystem already depend on, including [Mesh](https://meshjs.dev/), [Lucid Evolution](https://github.com/Anastasia-Labs/lucid-evolution), and L2 systems like [Midgard](https://github.com/Anastasia-Labs/midgard). When HLabs ships a hard-fork update, the rest of the TypeScript ecosystem ships with it; when HLabs lags, every downstream project lags. A separate proposal funds the [Gerolamo light node](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/gerolamo) at 5 FTE and is voted on independently. ### Duration & Milestones This proposal spans over **12 months**, throughout which there will be several deliveries and demos. Amongst the key deliveries, we note: - maintenance for an upcoming hard fork; - a production-ready, imperative and efficient, programming language for smart contracts ([Pebble](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble)). ### Total Budget Ask The estimated USD budget is of **`$1,000,000`** (or **`₳4,000,000`**) + 15% in refundable contingency (**`₳600,000`**); for a total ask of **`4,600,000 ADA`**.
The first node in the browser; a Cardano USP
Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs for short) is an R&D firm born and focused solely on the Cardano ecosystem. Harmonic Laboratories supports and maintains a considerable portion of the TypeScript tooling for the Cardano ecosystem, which the majority of Cardano developers use, either directly, or indirectly via other libraries that depend on code written and maintained by HLabs. The mission of HLabs is for true decentralization to become the baseline of application development, not only a nice-to-have feature. This proposal funds [Gerolamo](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/gerolamo), the first production-ready Cardano node that runs **in the browser**, at 5 FTE. Cardano's eUTxO design and low-footprint protocol make it the only major blockchain where a fully-validating, in-browser node is technically realistic. This is not a research demo or a stripped-down SPV client; it is a real, fully-validating node. Shipping it turns a latent property of the protocol into a Cardano-specific competitive advantage that no other ecosystem can replicate without redesigning their base layer. A separate proposal funds [Pebble](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble) and ongoing TypeScript tooling maintenance at 5 FTE and is voted on independently. ### Duration & Milestones This proposal spans over **12 months**, throughout which there will be several deliveries and demos. The key delivery is: - a production-ready light node that runs in the browser ([Gerolamo](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/gerolamo)). ### Total Budget Ask The estimated USD budget is of **`$1,000,000`** (or **`₳4,000,000`**) + 15% in refundable contingency (**`₳600,000`**); for a total ask of **`4,600,000 ADA`**.
[OriLife × TonFarm] Identifying 180 Million Durians Without Physical Labels
**OriLife Alliance proposes 2,400,000 ADA from the Cardano Treasury to deploy tamper-evident traceability across 12,000 hectares of durian in Đắk Lắk, Vietnam — before the December 1, 2026 deadline ([Article 15, Circular 11/2026/TT-BCT](https://chinhphu.vn/?pageid=27160&docid=217126&classid=0)).** This is not a research grant. The PoC works today: AI fruit identification is live at [orilife.io/demo](https://www.orilife.io/demo), VeData batching is [verified on Cardano Preprod](https://preprod.cardanoscan.io/transaction/a8dd2f28d7b4d4a162d752070d839496e671f608abde9bb95a021cbbe7574dde), and farmers across 46 communes have been onboarded over two harvest seasons ([verifiable on TON](https://tonviewer.com/UQAftkW5i-ON2qIPIRub2Z8zZL_KzbvX8jPnF9-6uwnowmcD?section=nfts)). The Alliance self-invested ~$500,000 USD before this GA. The Treasury funds production deployment. **Treasury-funded deliverables (capacity targets):** - **180M durian fruits/season** identified via Bio-ID — identity inseparable from the fruit. - **24,000 PhoenixKey DIDs** on Cardano — W3C-compliant, biometric, seedless recovery. - **12,000 CIP-68 Dynamic Farm NFTs** on Mainnet, ~1M–1.2M on-chain events/year at full scale. - **~75,000 ADA permanently locked** at M4 across NFTs, wallets, and escrow contracts. - **Midnight ZK Proof** — subject to mainnet availability; fallback uses Cardano L1 with off-chain trade fields on [LampNet](https://lampnet.cloud/). - **MIT-licensed SDK** so any developer can build on OriLife. **Cost & who pays.** OriLife operating cost ~$200/ha/year vs ~$300 for QR labels and $1,500–8,700 for RFID. All on-chain fees paid by end-users via [MAGIC](https://docs.magiclamp.network/MAGIC) credits (VND-funded), not by this GA. **ADA-price commitment.** Anchor $0.25/ADA. **≥ $0.25**: full scope executes. **Below $0.25**: Alliance self-funds the gap. **Above $0.30**: surplus reimburses self-funded then contingency or ecosystem reinvestment. All ADA locked in Intersect-managed escrow; M0 advance protected by 90-day Clawback. **Why demand is non-discretionary.** Vietnam's Circular 11 makes traceability connection a legal obligation for all food production establishments by Dec 1, 2026. China's GACC (>90% of durian export market) is tightening enforcement after the 2025 scandal. EU EUDR and US FSMA 204 reinforce value as the SDK expands — not preconditions. Aligns with Intersect 2026 Budget Framework — Pillar: Ecosystem Growth & Real-world Adoption.
Tweag Core Cardano Infrastructure: Treasury Withdrawal 2026–2028
This treasury withdrawal requests **₳39,787,316** (USD $9,946,829) to fund Tweag by Modus Create's delivery of 17 work packages across 9 core infrastructure areas for the Cardano ecosystem over 2026–2028. The primary focus is the **mainnet deployment of Peras** (faster finality: ~2 min vs. ~12 min today), alongside improvements to resilience, scalability, developer tooling, and network observability. Work packages include: - **Peras v1** – production cryptography, KillSwitch, mainnet readiness - **Peras v2** – pre-agreement algorithm, cooldown recovery, performance optimizations - **History Expiry** – partial-history nodes to reduce SPO storage costs - **Hard Fork Mempool Bridger** – transaction preservation during fork incidents - **Conformance Testing** – CTC framework extended for Peras and Leios - **Adversarial Fork Testing** – Genesis property-based test improvements - **Canonical Ledger State & Mithril** – standardized state snapshots (CIP-0165) - **Plutus Script Re-Executor** – debugging tooling for DApp developers - **Mutation Testing** – test suite adequacy framework for Haskell/Cardano - **Hoarding Node** – live deployment, distributed mode, embedded consensus validation, transaction collection - **Block Cost Investigation** – empirical and analytical cost models - **Genesis Sync Accelerator & Node Emulator** – ongoing maintenance Intersect is requested to serve as proposal and contract administrator. All deliverables are open-source and publicly tracked.
Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Top-Up ‘Title’ Sponsorship Upgrade
Modular top-up unlocks the ‘**Title’ Sponsorship** tier, the highest level of visibility at TOKEN2049. This is an incremental request of **1,768,167 ada (equivalent to $424,360 USD, calculated at an estimated rate of $0.24 per ada)** to upgrade Cardano’s presence from a 108 sqm booth to a massive 144 sqm footprint and secure a Mainstage Keynote. **Dependency Notice:** This is a top-up proposal intended to be voted on in conjunction with the Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Baseline ‘Platinum’ Sponsorship proposal (Gov Action ID: `gov_action18u8lpkzge2csxe3plynn9lh4agwtv3nrqkyfwalwj4ykjv7l68jqqzmul9z`). If this proposal is ratified without the approval of the ‘Platinum’ Sponsorship proposal, EMURGO commits to returning 100% of the funds to the Cardano Treasury within 30 days of enactment, as there would be no underlying sponsorship to upgrade. By splitting the funding request, we enable DReps to make a clear, isolated decision on the value of premium marketing exposure. The baseline ‘Platinum’ proposal ensures Cardano’s presence, while this upgrade proposal asks whether the community wishes to secure additional benefits, including a 15-minute mainstage keynote, premium media access (press release inclusion and introductions), expanded branding via lanyards, a high-traffic engagement point through the protein shake station, and a larger booth footprint, all of which enhance Cardano’s visibility and reach across the event. The expanded booth and mainstage presence will also amplify the visibility of Cardano ecosystem projects showcasing at the event, providing them with exposure to a broader and more prominent audience. **Important Notes:** Regarding the vote for this “Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Top-Up ‘Title’ Sponsorship Upgrade (Modular Extension)”, please vote **"YES"** only if you support the "Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Baseline ‘Platinum’ Sponsorship Proposal" as a DRep and wish to upgrade it to a ‘Title’ Sponsorship.
Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Baseline ‘Platinum' Sponsorship Proposal
This proposal seeks to catapult the Cardano ecosystem into the global spotlight at TOKEN2049 Singapore, the world’s premier crypto event and the ultimate nexus for industry amplification. The proposal requests **3,303,750 ada** (equivalent to **$792,900 USD**, calculated at an estimated rate of $0.24 per ada) to establish a high-impact, community-centric presence that serves as a dedicated stage for Cardano’s builders. A strategic takeover of Asia's most influential blockchain hub. By securing the second largest booth and a dedicated Cardano stage, we're giving builders something no other ecosystem offers at this scale. Free conference tickets, a stage to present, undeniable access to 25,000+ decision makers, high-value networking, and post-event photography and video coverage, all within the ‘Platinum’ sponsorship. Built by the community, for the builders, ensuring Cardano's technical superiority is matched by an unmissable physical presence. Putting Cardano builders at the forefront. The decision to present this as an independent proposal reflects EMURGO's direct response to community feedback. Following the submission of the combined Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 proposal, DReps and community members raised legitimate concerns about the scale of the budget. In response, we have restructured the proposal, lowering the sponsorship from ‘Title’ to ‘Platinum’. This change reduces the overall budget while preserving the core strategic value of the sponsorship, demonstrating a collaborative approach to treasury management. EMURGO, headquartered in Singapore and holding a multi-year partnership with TOKEN2049 spanning 2022 through 2025, is very well-positioned to execute this sponsorship with maximum efficiency and impact.
Revised Cardano Summit 2026 Singapore
This proposal as [PDF](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmagzPnHcrRPC5MKpp3fHSJjz7xbTzEmfQq8Z697suYjq2). This is a revised and 22% reduced budget treasury withdrawal proposal for the Cardano Summit 2026 in Singapore. Following extensive discussions with the community the Foundation has revised the proposal as follows: * This proposal is decoupled from EMURGO’s TOKEN2049 sponsorship proposal. * Budget is reduced by 22% or $550,000 while retaining the tier-one experience to showcase a L1 blockchain like Cardano, achieved through reduction from three stages to two which lowers production, tech and onsite logistics costs. * Increased the CF’s estimated internal resource contributions to $380,000 from $250,000 to reduce external vendor costs. We thank the community for their honest feedback and we respect the budgetary concerns given the current bear market. Feedback was consistently positive about the Summit’s strategic vision and value. We understand the broad consensus is that a reduced budget Singapore Summit should happen without sacrificing quality or reputation. We continue to believe this proposal will bring important benefits to Cardano. 2026 is a pivotal year for accelerating Cardano’s adoption. Cardano has increased its interoperability and institutional readiness (USDCx, Pyth, Dune, CME Group, LayerZero). Aligned to the strategy, the Summit provides the perfect stage to spotlight this and to bridge the gap across technical integrations and enterprise/institutional execution. Interest in the Cardano Summit from institutions, enterprises, and media has steadily increased reaching its highest level in 2025/26. **This proposal outlines a strategic high-impact Cardano Summit 2026 to be executed in Singapore October 5 and 6th, 2026 with a 22% reduced budget.** The Foundation is requesting a total of 7,800,000 ada based on a $0.25 assumed ada value for a $1,950,000 USD budget: This request is linked to adoption and impact targets: 250 enterprise MQLs, 50 strategic meetings within 45 days post-event, 10 live demos/technical workshops, 200 developer participants, and 30 hackathon submissions/applications. These targets are captured in the KPI framework. Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown below for further details on the budget and administration process. Reductions are detailed in Section 4. Key Performance Indicators are included in Section 6. The full concept [here](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmRq89up4U5qsSSQYNY7Z48R4XWH8npwf3wx6ZPGUPTxC6)
IO: Developer Experience Initiative
**Proposal as pdf: [https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQPLwjTwZeGrzsgs2QiC6crJLcMg64fU2kDYZmPZ9o7wf](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQPLwjTwZeGrzsgs2QiC6crJLcMg64fU2kDYZmPZ9o7wf)** Cardano's long-term utility depends on attracting and retaining developers — and this proposal accelerates that by making it dramatically easier to build on the platform. The target: a 30%+ improvement in developer growth rate within 12 months. Why this matters: Cardano currently has roughly 550 active developers, with no signs of growth, whereas Ethereum added nearly 2,000 new developers per year on average over the last 6 years. Survey data from 109 Cardano builders points to a clear set of barriers — fragmented tooling, scattered documentation, lack of coordination, and a steep learning curve. These are solvable issues, and solving them unlocks the ecosystem flywheel: more builders lead to more DApps, which attract more users and generate more protocol revenue, which attracts more builders. The initiative delivers five practical outcomes. First, community alignment paired with a bounty program that incentivizes improvements to ecosystem tools and libraries where pain points are greatest. Second, a setup tool ("cardano-init") that lets a new developer go from zero to a working project in minutes, regardless of their preferred tech stack. Third, an OpenZeppelin-style collection of ready-to-use smart contracts that gives builders a solid starting point. Fourth, a unified, simplified onboarding experience in the Developer Portal, built in collaboration with Intersect and coordinated with the team responsible for the Developer Portal. Fifth, a measurement hackathon designed to quantify progress and identify the next priorities. IO is collaborating with Intersect's Developer Advocate Program and exploring a partnership with TxPipe to broaden delivery capacity. Intersect serves as the designated administrator, with milestone-based disbursement and independent third-party assurance. Unspent funds are returned to the Treasury. **Treasury Ask:** ₳3,601,926
IO: Cardano Upgrades
**Proposal as pdf:[https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmXD6eoaFWrRoubFfvB2vSmLGbhVa66DbM9xw2dH1htRYK](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmXD6eoaFWrRoubFfvB2vSmLGbhVa66DbM9xw2dH1htRYK)** This proposal delivers three coordinated initiatives that together expand Cardano's economic models, strengthen long-term Treasury resilience, and remove one of the biggest barriers to mainstream adoption, the requirement to hold ADA before you can transact. Each workstream targets a different dimension of this opportunity. First, CIP-159 Account Address Enhancement upgrades how Cardano handles account addresses. This enables wallets to collect micro-fees (currently blocked by a minimum deposit requirement), makes DeFi applications cheaper for end users, and provides building blocks for Layer 2 scaling solutions to manage user funds. Second, Multi-Asset Treasury begins the design work to let the Cardano Treasury hold stablecoins and other native assets alongside ADA, protecting the funding process from price volatility and opening new financial models for the ecosystem. Finally, Babel Fees lets users pay transaction fees in any Cardano native asset (such as USDC or bridged BTC) instead of requiring ADA, removing a key friction point for new users entering the ecosystem. Together, these initiatives unlock new wallet and DeFi revenue models, strengthen the Treasury's financial position through asset diversification, and reduce friction for users entering Cardano's DeFi ecosystem, where cross-chain bridging alone represents an estimated $1–2 billion annual market. IO is collaborating with Ensurable Systems on delivery. Intersect administers funds via milestone-based smart contracts, with independent oversight, and any unspent funds will be returned to the Treasury. **Treasury Ask:** ₳13,103,039
IO: Consensus Initiative
**Proposal as pdf: [https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmPdBp8QjKaPdYdvwLxzDiCxX85hGx8H6rxbSvTTuLkcx2](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmPdBp8QjKaPdYdvwLxzDiCxX85hGx8H6rxbSvTTuLkcx2)** Cardano needs a step change in throughput to meet its 2030 ambitions, and Leios is how it gets there. This proposal funds the path from public testnet to a mainnet-ready release candidate — delivering a 10–65x increase in transaction capacity. Why this scale matters: Cardano's 2030 strategy targets growth from roughly 800,000 monthly transactions to over 27 million. At sustainable utilization levels, that requires at least 6x current capacity. Leios delivers 10x or more — giving significant room to grow. It works by enhancing Cardano's existing Ouroboros Praos consensus with Endorser Blocks and committee-based validation, increasing throughput without compromising decentralization or making stake pool operations unviable. The current budget cycle (ending June 2026\) delivers an early public testnet. This proposal picks up from there and focuses on three objectives. First, a release candidate: maturing the implementation through substantial engineering, conformance testing against formal specifications, and integration into the primary node. Second, high confidence: systematic validation through parameter exploration, load testing, and adversarial red-teaming on the public testnet. Third, hard-fork enabling: everything within IO's control to make the Leios hard fork possible, including stable interfaces for ecosystem tools (DB-Sync, Mithril, Blockfrost), SPO and developer workshops, governance artifact preparation, and contingency procedures. The proposal explicitly excludes external dependencies like the community hard-fork vote from its acceptance criteria — those are captured as risks, not promises. Intersect administers all funds through milestone-based smart contracts with independent oversight. Unspent funds return to the Treasury. **Treasury Ask:** ₳27,714,342
IO & Ensurable Systems: Cardano Maintenance Initiative
**Proposal as pdf: [https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmYKV7vbX9pwNxst2qWpmtM2k6LRJB4NKKNFJSQyh7zojz](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmYKV7vbX9pwNxst2qWpmtM2k6LRJB4NKKNFJSQyh7zojz)** Every feature, upgrade, and innovation proposed for Cardano depends on a stable, secure, and well-maintained platform underneath. This proposal funds that foundation — continuous core maintenance and operational support from Q3 2026 through Q1 2027. Maintenance is not discretionary. It covers nine functional areas that together constitute the full support envelope for Cardano: bug fixing and security reviews, CI/CD and infrastructure operations (including disaster recovery per CIP-135), mainnet and mempool monitoring, the Cardano Blueprint documentation project, open-source community support, systematic performance analysis and optimization, quality assurance and release sign-off, full node release management with L1/L2/L3 incident response, and component maintenance across Plutus Core, DB-Sync, guardrails scripts, APIs, and CLI tools. The value is both protective and enabling. On the protective side, this work ensures network uptime, swift incident resolution, and proactive security hardening through collaboration with the Intersect Security Council. On the enabling side, it delivers the Cardano Blueprint — implementation-independent specifications that lower the barrier for alternative node implementations — and continuous performance optimization that safeguards throughput gains and release quality. IO is collaborating with Ensurable Systems to distribute infrastructure stewardship. Intersect administers funds through milestone-based smart contracts with independent third-party assurance and transparent on-chain dashboards. Unspent funds return to the Treasury. **Treasury Ask:** ₳62,134,630
IO & Midgard Labs: L2 Scalability Initiative
**Proposal as pdf: [https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmYfHrmfTKYGK9YR95ewXSwEruEfGPAtpnp1qwoEUekJa7](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmYfHrmfTKYGK9YR95ewXSwEruEfGPAtpnp1qwoEUekJa7)** Cardano's current L1 infrastructure — two-hour finality, \~$0.17 per transaction, and \~7–10 TPS, systematically disqualifies it from high-performance verticals such as DeFi, AI agent micropayments, gaming, and consumer payments before a technical evaluation even begins. Upcoming L1 upgrades (Leios, Peras) will strengthen the base layer will not alone meet the requirements of zero-fee or sub-second use cases. Layer 2 infrastructure is the only path to closing this gap in the current cycle. This proposal, led by Input Output in partnership with Midgard Labs, delivers three complementary workstreams: shared L2-agnostic infrastructure (a data availability solution benefiting all current and future Cardano L2s); production hardening of Hydra, including performance optimization, operational tooling, and DeFi reference implementations to support live adopters Delta DeFi and Masumi; and the mainnet launch of Midgard, Cardano's first permissionless optimistic rollup, targeting 10,000+ TPS and sub-$0.01 fees for open-participation applications. Hydra and Midgard are not competing solutions — they address distinct trust models and together cover a far broader range of use cases than either could alone. L2s grow the Cardano ecosystem rather than cannibalize it. Activity on Hydra and Midgard anchors back to L1 through block publication and settlement, generating protocol revenue that would otherwise flow to competing ecosystems. Midgard's architecture additionally includes a mechanism to route a portion of sequencer revenue to the Cardano treasury, creating a durable, non-speculative economic relationship between L2 growth and ecosystem sustainability. By supporting the first wave of production adopters now, this proposal establishes the reference deployments and developer confidence needed to compound ecosystem growth through subsequent cycles.. **Treasury Ask:** ₳10,425,871
IO: Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration
**Proposal as pdf: [https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQBhjELHaMKhYZjwuskHS9NRyvUdiGv69aK8C1H787c5A](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQBhjELHaMKhYZjwuskHS9NRyvUdiGv69aK8C1H787c5A)** Cardano's strongest differentiator is its focus on security and correctness, but the tools that deliver on that promise have so far been the domain of auditors and formal methods experts. This proposal lowers the barrier: it brings automated formal verification, and the full high-assurance toolkit, within reach of every Cardano developer. Two workstreams deliver this. The first extends Blaster, IO's open-source automated formal verification tool, from single-script verification to full DApp-level verification. Blaster has already been used to prove correctness properties on production DApps including Djed and USDCx, and has received strong feedback from the Cardano developer community. Today, extending those results to an entire DApp requires manually decomposing properties and verifying each script in isolation. This proposal removes that manual work by automating verification at the DApp level. It also connects Blaster to four smart contract languages (Aiken, Pebble, Scalus, and Futura), so developers can invoke verification directly from their native toolchain. It delivers a VS Code extension with visual counterexample exploration and inline verification feedback, creates a Common Vulnerability Library with ready-made security templates for major DApp categories, and adds an equivalence checking tool that formally proves two UPLC programs are semantically identical, enabling safe and aggressive optimization. The second workstream delivers a Container-Based Developer Environment (CBDE) that packages the complete high-assurance toolkit into a single-command setup, compressing environment configuration from days into one click. The outcome is a stronger foundation for everyone who depends on Cardano: DeFi users get DApps whose correctness has been mathematically proven, developers get tools that make high-assurance engineering practical, and the ecosystem gets a toolkit maintained collectively by multiple teams. The work is structured as a technical collaboration: IO, Lantr, Harmonic Labs, SAIB, Midgard Labs, TxPipe, and No.Witness Labs each contribute defined components, distributing delivery and long-term maintenance across the ecosystem. Intersect administers funds via milestone-based disbursement with independent oversight, and unspent funds return to the Treasury. **Treasury Ask:** ₳13,078,578
IO & VacuumLabs: Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability
**Proposal as pdf: [https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=Qmd7G7L6xinunTLU9JorPLYyFCLGRarXEn7RngdNYgNH3B](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=Qmd7G7L6xinunTLU9JorPLYyFCLGRarXEn7RngdNYgNH3B)** This proposal strengthens Cardano’s smart contract platform across three critical and closely connected areas: language capabilities, formal correctness, and developer experience. It funds targeted expansion to the Plutus language with new syntactic forms and new primitives to reduce script costs, improve expressiveness, and unlock more efficient contract patterns; formal specification, conformance testing, and structured security review to support correctness as node diversity grows; and a better compiler and tooling experience that lowers setup friction, improves error reporting, and makes smart contract development more accessible. Together, these workstreams make Plutus cheaper to use, more trustworthy to build on, and easier for developers to adopt, helping Cardano support a broader range of applications while also providing stronger foundations for alternative node implementations and other ecosystem tooling. This is a technical collaboration with Input Output and VacuumLabs, distributing Plutus stewardship across expert teams. Intersect administers funds via milestone-based smart contracts with independent oversight. All unspent funds return to the Treasury. **Treasury Ask:** ₳11,877,575
Blockfrost: Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing
**Proposal as pdf: [https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmUdbgB3eHms52HY4oha5u2V4mrpCZkhBw2AaozeMiz8sL](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmUdbgB3eHms52HY4oha5u2V4mrpCZkhBw2AaozeMiz8sL)** One of the primary challenges in decentralizing access to data-providing services such as Blockfrost is the substantial amount of resources required to index the entire Cardano blockchain dataset, even when only a fraction of that data is needed in practice. As Cardano prepares for Leios, the cost of indexing the full blockchain dataset will grow substantially. Today, participating in data-serving infrastructure requires indexing the entire chain. This prices out smaller operators and concentrates infrastructure around fewer providers. Project Cayley introduces decentralized slice indexing — allowing SPOs and node operators to choose which portions of the chain they want to index and serve. This lowers the barrier to participation, reduces infrastructure costs across the ecosystem, and keeps data-serving infrastructure decentralized as the chain scales. Its modular multi-chain architecture further enables developers to access data across Cardano, Midnight, and Bitcoin through a unified API. This proposal funds two components: Project Cayley ($1,000,000) to build the next-generation indexing architecture, and an operational subsidy ($900,000) to maintain the free-tier infrastructure that Blockfrost has funded entirely on its own since inception. **Total ask: ₳7.92M** ($1,900,000 at $0.24/₳).
Pogun: Capital Without Compromise
*Proposal as pdf: https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=bafybeibbrhuis55rl52hsp5rboooobjg4rvq7q5ly2mern7s7f3xcbjzwi* Bitcoin is a \$1.5T asset with virtually no native DeFi infrastructure. The race to become the dominant credit and liquidity layer for BTC is the largest open market opportunity in crypto. Pogun is an end-to-end Bitcoin liquidity and credit engine built to position Cardano as the definitive home of Bitcoin DeFi. Demonstrating our commitment to the proper use of public funds, Pogun will return 20% of EBITDA to the Cardano Treasury until the initial funding is repaid. This will be followed by an ongoing 5% perpetual return. Pogun delivers three integrated components: * **Credit Market (Q2 2026)** - A non-margin peer-to-peer credit market. A fully on-chain, oracle-free lending protocol where collateral is only at risk upon default, not price fluctuations. * **Yield (Q3 2026)** - A deposit-and-earn layer that routes user capital into yield-generating strategies across private credit, RWAs, and structured fixed-income products. * **Bridge (Q4 2026)** - BitVM-powered trust-minimized bridge providing 1-of-N security for institutional-grade Bitcoin custody: bridge BTC to Cardano, borrow against it, and earn without surrendering custody of the underlying asset. To execute this roadmap, this treasury withdrawal requests ₳12.29M (equivalent to \$2.95M USD at a reference rate of \$.24/₳).
Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore
**Treasury Withdrawal Proposal** By: Cardano Foundation & EMURGO This Proposal as a PDF: https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQc5zt319nHtseyj4vVKkm4PFCHS7To3WCs6pH3SGgrxq This proposal outlines a high-impact, effective, dual-event strategy to be executed in Singapore from October 5–8, 2026. This strategy is designed to maximize budget efficiency by co-locating two key events to maximize the reach of Cardano and its ecosystem: 1. **The Cardano Summit 2026:** A two-day dedicated event hosted by the Cardano Foundation, providing a showcase for Cardano's community innovation and technology, enterprise applications, institutional use cases, regulatory roundtables, and governance maturity. Interest in the Cardano Summit, from both media and enterprise, has steadily increased since its inception, reaching its highest level in 2025/2026. 2. **Cardano Premier Title Sponsorship at TOKEN2049**: The world's largest blockchain summit with over 25,000 attendees. The package includes a large-format exhibition booth in a premium traffic zone, a historic first-ever mainstage keynote— exclusive to title sponsors — on-site media interviews, and a dedicated ecosystem showcase from the top 20 projects on Cardano. This sponsorship will be fully managed by EMURGO. The Cardano Foundation and EMURGO teams are requesting a total of 14,076,539 ada ($3,659,900 USD): 1. 9,615,385 ada (USD 2,500,000) for the 2026 Cardano Summit managed by the Cardano Foundation 2. 4,461,154 ada (USD 1,159,900) for a “Title” TOKEN2049 Sponsorship managed by EMURGO Based on the current value of ada **at 0.26 to the US Dollar** (at the time of writing), this translates into 14,076,539 ada. Please see the Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown below for further details on the budget and administration process. Key Performance Indicators are included in Section 7 below. This proposal is being submitted outside of the Intersect budget process due to critical timing constraints, as payments made through this process are projected to be made in August or September at the earliest, which is unworkable for 2026 events. Waiting for this process would mean missing the crucial opportunity to build upon the Summit momentum generated in 2025. The full concept and slide deck can be found here: https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmaF8tt7prMb41TqSfN9GSJhM5PcWXVuD7uxYBDjecjaDX
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