During the Budget Reconciliation Workshop we have seen conflict between competing budget proposals for the development and maintenance of Cardano’s core network infrastructure.  Specifically, several members of the Intersect Technical Steering Committee have submitted a proposal entitled, “Cardano Maintenance and Roadmap Delivery Proposal: Secure Ada Network Infrastructure for the enTire cardano communitY” (sic) which competes with the “2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal.” These two proposals have substantial overlap in the problems being addressed and solutions being offered, with different approaches from each proposer.

Recognizing that the feedback mechanism for the Budget Process was not as clear as it should have been, the Intersect Board of Directors believes that the proposal submitted by members of the TSC was made in good faith and in an attempt to set good standards. In our first attempt at building and submitting budgets for the Cardano blockchain ecosystem we have learned much and had to adjust our approach where circumstances warranted. However, we believe that Intersect, at this stage, is not in a position to fully endorse this proposal as more time is needed to consider how taking on its full scope would affect organizational structure and governance.

Because we believe that the members of Intersect and stakeholders of the Cardano blockchain ecosystem deserve the opportunity to choose their preferred approach, we invite those members of the TSC to advance their proposal independently, through a separate organizational structure.  In this way the new organisation will be free to select vendors and identify the RFP processes it plans to use. It will be free to continue to identify Intersect (or choose any other entity) to use as an Administrator. The current proposal already put forward may serve as the proposal for the new organization.

It is very important to state that the organization is welcome to be part of Intersect as an Enterprise member and define its own structure and governance.  Members of the organization may remain individual members of Intersect and continue to serve on the Technical Steering Committee but should not promote the proposal as coming from the TSC or from Intersect itself.

As all should know, Intersect is submitting a budget proposal that covers operating costs as well as Administrator costs for projects where Intersect is selected to act as the Administrator. Because its members may serve on multiple Intersect committees, it is important committees are not submitting proposals that potentially overlap or contradict each other. They should also not make proposals that would impose additional budgetary obligations on Intersect or that  legally bind Intersect. The other proposals put forward by Intersect committees have been careful to respect this boundary.

Committees are a core part of Intersect’s function, but they do not define Intersect’s position alone. Intersect is a collective: a collaboration between members, committees, staff, and a community-elected board. Committees contribute to the whole, not in place of it. By their charters, the role of committees are to facilitate, co-ordinate, and recommend, but not to control the MBO as a whole. No committee has legal authority to assume obligations on behalf of Intersect. As a corporate entity only the board has the power to enter into contracts in the name of Intersect. While Intersect is voluntarily assisting with the 2025 budget coordination, it has no formal authority from the community to dictate outcomes. Our role is to serve as a facilitator on behalf of the Cardano community.

The most important consideration for the Board of Directors is to have a robust discussion about the future of Cardano’s development and governance, with Ada holders and their Delegate Representatives making the ultimate decisions on how to proceed.  Once those decisions are made we hope that we can continue to serve the community as an administrator of projects and coordinator of activities.  We appreciate everyone who is engaging with this process!

Signed,

Steven Lupien

Nikhil Joshi

Kavinda Kariyapperuma

Gerard Moroney

Adam Rusch