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Budget Timeline
The budget discussions should take place primarily in the new features added to GovT.ools to support community reviews and DRep polling of proposals to receive treasury funding. There will also be workshops hosted to gather live feedback.
Intersect is hoping to draft a 2025 budget by May 1, 2025. Intersect will continue facilitating a budget discussion as-needed to address elements for 2025 that require more time to review. This schedule allows the first treasury withdrawals to begin in June 2025.
The timing of when the Net Change Limit, budget and subsequent treasury withdrawal actions pass on-chain determines the final dates.
No. We aim for the first treasury withdrawal vote around early June.
Not every funding request has to be 100% perfect or unanimously approved before a budget moves forward. If a strong majority (around 70–80%) of the key proposals can be bundled, they can proceed while other items remain under discussion. The thinking is to develop a budget that funds the essential items - the ‘70% budget’. Then more time can be taken to review and decide on the remaining items, possibly generating a second budget proposal.
Monitor Intersect’s Discord & X for announcements, including the public release of proposals to receive treasury funding on Gov.Tools.
Review and provide feedback on proposals: Gov.Tools.
Join scheduled budget sessions: https://lu.ma/cardanobudgetprocess
Committee meetings are announced in the Intersect Discord and on the official Intersect calendar. Recordings and minutes for many sessions are posted later on YouTube and the committee knowledge base (https://committees.docs.intersectmbo.org/).
Direct feedback from DReps and community members is encouraged and shapes how the budget process evolves.
The Constitution allows for any duration or time period, but sets an expectation of a one year minimum. For 2025, Intersect plans a June–December budget. In 2026, the committee hopes to have a full January–December budget and a more refined process from lessons learned this cycle.
No. DReps will be asked to review proposals that can comprise a budget. This process will be used to determine the budget figures.
The Net Change Limit proposal must first pass a DRep vote with >50% approval. Once the Net Change Limit is ratified, separate “info actions” for budgets will be voted on by DReps and the Constitutional Committee. If approved, those budgets then become actionable, and associated treasury withdrawals can be put on-chain for approval to withdraw the funds.
Yes. The Cardano Constitution states: “Any participant in the Cardano Community may propose a Cardano Blockchain ecosystem budget at any time.”
While multiple budgets can be submitted and approved, they should still fall within the approved Net Change Limit. The Net Change Limit encourages budget proposers to coordinate, ensuring they stay within the cap.
Yes, more than one budget can be passed. Any budget proposal that reaches the >50% DRep threshold and Constitutional Committee vote will pass —and can be funded. For example, Core and Research could pass first with others containing unresolved community concerns delayed, revised, or re-voted as needed.
DReps can approve shifting funds from one bucket to another, or allocate additional funds to a previously approved budget item. This will be done through info actions.
The budget will be discussed by topic, anchoring on but not limited to these budget buckets established by Intersect:
Core: node development and related fundamental infrastructure.
Research: advanced protocol research, previously handled mainly by Input I Output, but now open to other contributors.
Innovation: community grants, including Project Catalyst.
Governance: funding items like DRep or Constitutional Committee compensation and governance tooling.
Growth & marketing: marketing, events, and hubs (regional or topical) to grow the Cardano ecosystem.
DReps get to decide between (or to fund both) competing proposals to receive treasury funds through the 2025 budget process.
Not Necessarily Bad: Some redundancy (a.k.a. “coopetition”) can spur innovation. However, major overlaps—where the exact same deliverable is funded twice—will be discouraged through diligence and committee reviews.
Audit & Oversight: Intersect and the Budget Committee plan to maintain an audit trail. If a project has already received Catalyst funding, that context should inform subsequent requests.
This is to be determined by the consensus of the community and with expert input, including from Intersect’s committee members, across each bucket.
Through reviewing proposals to receive treasury funds, DReps can decide whether innovation projects belong in Catalyst or if they instead approve them within the 2025 budget for direct Treasury funding.
If the community wants to fund tasks or programs that do not have an identified service provider, anybody may:
Ask DReps for delegated authority by submitting a proposal to oversee the work and allocate funds as they see fit.
The course correction was a response to feedback and challenges with the first budget process. Changes are being made to:
Gain consensus on Cardano product funding priorities via the product roadmap
Align Intersect Committees to support the Cardano community and DReps with their perspectives on funding priorities in addition to the product roadmap
Allow from anyone seeking treasury funding for projects or programs to submit a proposal to receive treasury funding
Give the Cardano Community via DReps the final determination of which proposals to include in the budget(s)
The previous approach relied on RFPs, sometimes with big up-front deposits. Now Intersect wants as many community proposals as possible early, plus community-driven temperature checks to gauge support. DReps, rather than Intersect, selects vendors.
A single info action can outline multi-year milestones. However, DReps often prefer milestone-based or annual approvals to ensure accountability. For instance, a project might propose a three-year plan, but it should break out annual or milestone-based treasury withdrawals—rather than demanding an entire multi-year sum upfront with no guardrails.
While transaction volume can be a key metric (since it helps grow the treasury via fees), it is not the only relevant KPI. Other possible success indicators include new wallets created, user adoption in specific regions, marketing impact, open-source contributions, etc. DReps have wide discretion to weigh whichever KPIs they believe best serve Cardano.
This is the job of the administrator. Projects are free to choose an administrator, and Intersect is offering this service to the ecosystem.
Intersect employs a Delivery Assurance function—staff dedicated to contract management, auditing milestones, and holding parties accountable.
On-chain solutions—like automated milestone releases—are part of the long-term plan, reducing reliance on any single off-chain authority.
A working group is reviewing smart-contract solutions to handle payments. One proposed feature is a “stop-payment” authority, where a trusted council (multi-sig) can freeze further disbursements if a project fails to meet milestones. This adds extra oversight and ensures misused or unused funds can return to the Treasury.
Yes. The Constitution supports using "smart contracts and other on-chain mechanisms” to manage budgets. Any proposal to use a DAO or multi-sig structure should be sufficiently detailed, secure, and earn DRep approval.
Intersect has commissioned the development of a multi-sig smart contract to better govern the funds it administers.
Treasury and financial experts from the Cardano Foundation,, Input I Output, EMURGO, and Intersect have been testing over-the-counter sales for ada to avoid large order-book dumps. Most contractors quote fees in fiat terms, so Intersect’s goal is a measured, consistent conversion schedule without spiking volatility on retail exchanges. Internal policies ensure that no single party can draw the entirety of the allocation without multi-stakeholder approval.
Intersect has been exploring various treasury management strategies, including pegging some portion of reserves to stablecoins. The goal is to minimize price risk without causing undue market impact. The team has also considered negotiating large over-the-counter sales directly to buyers (whales or institutions) to avoid pushing prices down on open markets.
A group in the community wants to explore using stablecoins as a hedge—sort of like a sovereign wealth strategy—to mitigate ada’s price volatility. They propose depositing some treasury funds into stablecoins, possibly earning yields. It’s not Intersect’s official idea. Rather, it’s an independent group’s proposal. Ultimately, the DReps will decide on it.
The Constitution grants DReps the authority to approve the Net Change Limit, budgets and treasury withdrawals. Intersect is not named in the Constitution, so its decision making authority is limited to what DReps may delegate to it.
Related to the budget process, delegated authority is when DReps vote to approve another group to take on part of their constitutional mandate. For example, DReps can vote to allow a committee to self-manage aspects of the budget—such as selecting contractors, distributing stipends, or prioritizing projects. This approach balances efficiency (committees can move fast) with accountability (DReps must formally approve the delegation).
The idea is for the DReps to conduct discussions—virtually and in-person—to evaluate proposals. Intersect is offering tooling and organizational support to help facilitate feedback, consolidate proposals, and then place them on-chain for approval. Ultimately, however, DReps decide which parts of the process they keep in-house and which responsibilities they delegate to Intersect.
Intersect and committee members plan to roll out improved tooling for community and DReps proposal reviews, including in Gov.Tools. Some DReps may still choose to rely on committees or trusted reviewers. Additionally, big-ticket items might require deeper scrutiny while smaller requests could be bundled or flagged for simpler review.
Intersect is a facilitator for the budget process and an administrator for treasury funds. Decision making lies with the DReps unless they delegate authority to Intersect to take on additional budget responsibilities. Along these lines, Intersect consolidates proposals, offers optional auditing and administrative help, and may propose “gap” items if no community proposals address critical roadmap components. Intersect is not the final decision-maker. DReps, representing the community, ultimately vote on which proposals proceed.
If there’s a gap—like a necessary item in the roadmap isn’t being proposed—Intersect will propose it to fill that gap. But if there’s already someone else doing the work, we’re not trying to replicate or compete.
Intersect can facilitate audits—both financial (for treasury integrity) and technical (via the Technical Steering Committee or external experts). Projects are free to choose Intersect or another entity as their “administrator” in the budget process.
The Net Change Limit (NCL) places an upper boundary on how much ada can be withdrawn from the treasury within a given time period. It’s a safeguard against treasury withdrawals that exceed what the community agrees to spend. DReps can vote to increase or decrease the limit later, though each on-chain change requires time (six epochs) and alignment.
If a NCL for period x is 100 ada, withdrawals during period x cannot exceed 100 ada.
The active NCL sets the maximum amount of treasury withdrawals per period of time. The constitution states: “Withdrawals from the Cardano Blockchain treasury made pursuant to an approved Cardano Blockchain ecosystem budget must not exceed the net change limit for the Cardano Treasury's balance per period of time” Cardano Constitution, Guardrail TREASURY-02a.
A net change limit for the Cardano treasury's balance per period of time must be agreed by the DReps via an on-chain governance action with a threshold of greater than 50% of the active voting stake.
No. The net change limit simply sets a maximum possible expenditure, not the exact spend. Budgets and treasury withdrawals may be less than the NCL.
Yes. If the DReps and the community realize they need a higher limit, anyone can propose a higher Net Change Limit and vote it through another on-chain action. Lowering it later will only apply to future withdrawals.
This will require the Constitutional Committee's interpretation of this section of the constitution as to what determines the NCL in effect. For example, the most recently approved v the one with the higher approval. The Constitution states:
"A net change limit for the Cardano treasury's balance per period of time must be agreed by the DReps via an on-chain governance action with a threshold of greater than 50% of the active voting stake" Cardano Constitution, Guardrail TREASURY-01a.
The figure of ~350m ada reflects recent one-year inflows, so spending in 2025 does not outpace the treasury’s replenishment rate. It is sized to ensure vital projects (like ongoing node upgrades, governance improvements, and community initiatives) receive adequate funding without draining the treasury. Ultimately, DReps will vote on whether 350m ada is an appropriate cap.
A percentage-based approach was considered. For this first cycle, the Budget Committee chose a fixed amount (350m ada) because it is straightforward and transparent. As Cardano’s governance evolves, a percentage system may be revisited and potentially replace the fixed cap.
If the tax rate (currently ~20%) changes—eg to 10%—the treasury would accrue ada slower. That might merit adjusting the NCL to prevent drawing down principal.
Proposals submitted by March 31 are consolidated and made available for DRep review in Gov.Tools, which could help your proposal gain attention earlier. April 24th is the deadline for proposals to be considered for the 2025 budget. Any proposal submitted after April 24 can still be considered for future budgets.
No. Submitting a proposal to receive treasury funding via the form on the Intersect website or through GovTools does not require any deposit. When proposals reach consensus and are bundled together, only one 100,000 ada deposit is required to submit the budget, which will include multiple proposals. Once proposals are consolidated into a single ‘budget bundle,’ Intersect (on behalf of the community) will handle the on-chain deposit.
Intersect opened a form to gather all proposals to receive treasury funding. DReps can review and include any proposal that they see fit.
Community review: during April, the proposals undergo comment, AMA sessions, focus groups, and iterative feedback.
Reconciliation events: likely in late April or early May (venue and dates TBA), offering deeper collaborative review and final adjustments.
Consolidation & single deposit: proposals that gain strong DRep consensus bundle together in a budget proposal, with one 100,000 ada deposit covering the package.
On-chain vote: DReps give final approval or rejection.
Funding & audits: approved proposals require one more on-chain vote for the treasury withdrawals and will be subject to audits and oversight.
The process is iterative. Even after a core set of proposals is funded, the Cardano community can introduce and vote on further proposals in subsequent cycles.
Ultimately, DReps decide based on whether the benefit to Cardano justifies treasury resources—e.g., higher on-chain activity, new partnerships, open-source components, or community growth. Additional accelerators (e.g., Catalyst, Venture Hub) exist for teams wanting more structured entrepreneurial support.
Intersect’s operating budget—around USD 10 million—is a proposal. DReps still have to vote on it. Intersect’s request covers committee stipends, administrative costs, and general operational expenses.
As Cardano enters the Voltaire era, decentralized governance relies on three pillars:
A constitution
On-chain voting
Voluntary, community-aligned coordination
That third pillar is what Intersect provides.
In 2024, Intersect:
Delivered the Chang and Plomin upgrades
Hosted 64 Constitution workshops across 51 countries
Supported the ratification of the first Cardano Constitution
Launched GovTool and community hubs
Enabled elections, onboarding, and coordination across eight elected committees
In 2025, Intersect will build on this foundation through a $10M proposal to fund continued ecosystem stewardship, tool development, and governance enablement.
The Intersect role remains focused on supporting the governance process, as it is, so far, the only member-based organization. The requested funds are for 12 months, which will enable the governance process to stabilize and new MBOs to emerge. Q1 delivered outcomes and Q2 delivered and planned outcomes have been documented in the proposal for context. Regarding what the funds will cover, we can provide a clear overview of Q3 and Q4 2025, as well as a longer-term plan for Q1 and Q2 2026.
Q3 2025 key deliverables
Start the Budget process for 2026 and beyond.
Open Source fellowship program launched - (fostering development, innovation, and growing dev polls for Haskell)
The Cardano product roadmap proposal for 2026 is ready
Hub's presence and support have been expanded to support other regions
Quarterly finance and governance reviews/reports
Support the community at RareEvo
Finalise the Cardano Constitutional committee election and onboard new members
Support to easily join committees and working groups directly from the Intersect member area
Q4 2025 key deliverables
Intersect committee and Board elections
2025 Annual member meeting
2026 Annual Budget GA submitted on-chain
Quarterly finance and governance reviews/reports
Token 2049
Approved budget for 2026
Rise or confirm Net Change Limit for 2026
Start the procurement process for 2025 budget proposals that have been chosen to be administered by Intersect.
Q1 2026 plan
Prepare for April committee elections
Quarterly finance and governance reviews/reports
Define community plan to support creation of new MBOs
Q2 2026 plan
Start the process of updating and adjusting the Cardano long-term vision based on data collected.
Start to define Cardano 2027 roadmap based on 2030 vision via consultation to get approved on chain
Quarterly finance and governance reviews/reports
The age of Voltaire brings with it the concept of self-sustaining mechanisms. Given that Intersect is the custodian of the core Cardano protocol repositories, its request for funding from the treasury aligns with the original vision of CIP1694. However, in addition to treasury funding, Intersect is transitioning to a multi-stream funding model:
Tiered membership fees
Event sponsorships and ecosystem services
Grants and public goods funding
The Paid Open Source Model (POSM) to sustain repo governance and development
This is to ensure that member benefits are not, in any way attached to treasury funds. Intersect also supports the emergence of new MBOs to decentralize coordination and management.
Cardano is currently in a transitional period. We are in the very early stages of governance; new processes need to be created, and existing processes designed in 2024 require refinement. As a result, the current effort to develop and support these processes is both high and manual. However, as we progress through 2025 and into 2026, complex processes such as roadmap and budget definition, as well as elections, will be made more efficient and automated.
As a result, Intersect itself will run more efficiently, increasing membership options and participation, and subsequently enhancing membership revenue. This should also be aimed at the emerging or other specialised MBO, which will help distribute the work. We do still envision that Intersect, as well as other MBOs, will request funding from Cardano for the following 12 months to support, coordinate, and facilitate Cardano-specific processes.
AAbsolutely — here’s a department-aligned comparison using the same categories across both years:
Department
2024
2025
Delivery Assurance & TSC Support
15%
18%
Ecosystem & Governance Support
23%
16%
Membership & Community Hubs Support
15%
16%
Membership Tooling
8%
7%
Open Source Office (OSO)
14%
7%
Operational Services
20%
24%
Product Curation
15%
15%
This provides a clearer view of growth in line with deliverables, not bloated operations. Each area ties directly to a roadmap item, election cycle, tool deployment, or upgrade facilitation.
Yes, the number of staff reported in the 2024 report includes:
Full-time Intersect employees
Long-term contractors and consultants
Seconded service providers
These individuals support:
7 elected committees
Operational Services
30+ active working groups
Ecosystem & Governance Support
Membership Tooling
6 (expanding to 10) regional hubs
Delivery Assurance & TSC Support
Over 180 ecosystem contracts
Open Source Office (OSO)
Cardano Constitution support
Reducing resources at this stage would directly impact the delivery of core responsibilities such as the elections process, GovTool, the Constitution lifecycle, and broader governance tooling efforts.
Cardano governance is still in its early phases. Most processes are either newly established or in the process of development, meaning a significant amount of work remains manual and requires active oversight. The current staffing levels are projected to remain stable over the next 12 months as processes become more efficient and automated.
Each team member contributes across multiple functions and areas of responsibility, providing stability and cohesion to the systems being built. The 2025 budget proposal categorizes staff by name, role, and area of expertise to provide transparency around contributions.
With over 1,800 members and 2,700+ associates, this equates to 1 FTE per 100 participants, underscoring the need for a well-resourced team to ensure meaningful support and engagement across the ecosystem.
Intersect recognizes the need to transition to a more community-embedded model of governance. As such, beginning in July 2025, there is a clear plan to gradually transition consultants and contractors out, replacing them with qualified community members.
This change will be phased to ensure continuity and quality of delivery. During the transition or "handover" period, there may be a temporary overlap in resource costs, where both outgoing consultants and incoming community contributors are compensated.
This approach supports knowledge transfer and capacity building within the community while maintaining stability in ongoing programs. The shift aligns with the long-term vision of a decentralized, community-led governance framework and will be an essential step in distributing responsibility more broadly across emerging MBOs (Member-Based Organizations).
Yes — examples include:
GovTool: feature-complete voting and treasury flows
Governance Support: 50+ workshops, CC onboarding, global training
Open Source Office: repo growth, POSM deployment, OS fellowships
Product & Roadmap: delivery of 2026 roadmap & Cardano Vision
All metrics are tied to deliverables and tracked via quarterly updates.
We created a cost estimate based on our known costs for roadmap delivery in 2024, and then examined the roadmap items for 2025, resulting in a revised cost estimate. This is where we arrive at a value of $10 million. We asked for an upfront value allocation to ensure:
Staff continuity
Contract security
Scheduling of events, elections, and workshops
Please note that Intersect is committed to both transparency and delivering value to the Cardano community. If we can achieve the roadmap items for less and end the year with a surplus, those funds will return to the treasury. Intersect supports community-led budgeting and welcomes DRep input on how future funding cycles can evolve.
Here’s the projected high-level cost structure for 2025:
Breakdown
Projected Cost Breakdown
Personnel & Contractors
$6.50m
Software & Tooling
$0.60m
Legal, Compliance & Board Services
$0.95m
Membership, Marketing, & Community
$0.45m
Cardano Development Holdings (Operations & Support)
$1.50m
Every line item is tied to a deliverable and reported quarterly. A new financial transparency dashboard is also in development.
In 2024, the revised constitution and budget process timeline led to a change in Intersect’s financial strategy, which included extending the company’s financial runway. Therefore, to ensure Intersect has sustained funding, we have allowed for a 10% contingency for non-projected circumstances - our risk appetite is averse.
The Cardano Development holdings include new expenditures that have not been funded throughout 2024 by Intersect, which include Custodian, Legal, and Financial entity services and administration. To ensure we can administer and facilitate all additional requirements and requests, we need to provision infrastructure, such as custodian services, to enable effective facilitation.
Actively recruit a partner or vendor to submit a proposal through , or
Anybody can submit a proposal:
More information about how to submit is here:
Proposal submission: fill out the Intersect form. If submitted by March 31, the proposal appears in the first public release in Gov.Tools. Proposals are now submitted via and appear immediately for community and DRep review.
You can read the full text here -
Read the latest news release here: https://intersectmbo.org/news/understanding-committees-in-intersect-0
In summary:
Proposal submission: fill out the Intersect form. If submitted by March 31, the proposal appears in the first public release in Gov.Tools. Proposals are now submitted via and appear immediately for community and DRep review.
Community review: during April, the proposals undergo comment, AMA sessions, focus groups, and iterative feedback.
Reconciliation events: likely in late April or early May (dates TBA), offering deeper collaborative review and final adjustments.
Consolidation & single deposit: proposals that gain strong consensus with participating DReps, bundle together in a budget proposal, with one 100,000 ada deposit covering the package.
On-chain vote: DReps give final approval or rejection.
Funding & audits: approved proposals require one more on-chain vote for the treasury withdrawals and will be subject to audits and oversight.
The process is iterative, and will be adjusted to suit DRep needs. Even after a core set of proposals is funded, the Cardano community can introduce and vote on further proposals in subsequent cycles.