Cardano Constitution

What is the Cardano constitution?

The Cardano constitution is designed to be the founding document that brings together the community’s wishes and discussions and puts them into text as a set of rules and principles to abide by to maintain the sustainability of the Cardano network.

It outlines all the governance mechanisms, institutions, governance bodies, and responsibilities of all the various governance stakeholders in the Cardano ecosystem such as delegate representatives (DReps), stake pool operators (SPOs), and more.

The Cardano constitution is the cornerstone that will guide and serve as an anchor to all the other processes and developments Cardano will need to provide a sustainable technological platform for Web3 products and services.

Currently, an interim constitution is in place to keep the blockchain safe and secure during the transition phase of 2024, crafted by the Cardano civics committee and external experts. A global consultation process is now underway to engage the rest of the community into the drafting of the final constitution. This consultation takes the form of a series of global workshops taking place, where hosts will bring together community members to feed into the drafting of the final document.

Stages to get to the final Cardano constitution

Interim constitution

In Q2 2024, the interim Cardano constitution will be published for community review and included in the genesis files when the community approves Chang update #1. The interim constitution is not a fully elaborated constitution, but a set of essential rules that are designed to ensure Cardano maintains stability during the interim period that Cardano’s governance will go through during 2024. The interim constitution will be interpreted by the interim constitutional committee who will vote on the constitutionality of governance actions (as described in CIP-1694).

Draft constitution

Later in Q2 of 2024, the drafting process will begin with the aim of moving towards a final version ratified later in the year. The draft will serve as the primary input to global community workshops throughout 2024. With community input, the Draft constitution may build upon the essential guardrails described in the Interim into a more detailed set of principles and rules.

Final constitution

The final version of the constitution will be both ratified at a constitutional convention composed of community delegates, and voted on by ada holders and ratified using the on-chain mechanisms described in democratic consent. The final version of the constitution will, like the draft, set forth principles and rules for Cardano, but will be the version suggested by the community through a year long consultation process

What is the role of Intersect in supporting the Cardano constitution?

Intersect is responsible for facilitating the overall Cardano Governance which also includes creation of the Cardano constitution, in its interim, draft, and final states. Furthermore, Intersect facilitates and supports the Constitutional Committee and at the moment Intersect (via its members) is one of the interim Constitutional Committee members.