Welcome to Intersect’s update #104.

This week's update covers Cardano upgrades, international events,  budget preparations, open source activity, and more. Read on for the full rundown.

Contributors: Bosko M, Kevin Hammond, Hard Fork Working Group, Parameter Committee, Intersect Technical Steering Committee  

Cardano Upgrades 

Cardano node 10.7.0 pre-release is ready for hands-on testing! This is major progress towards van Rossem readiness, and the starting gun for ecosystem integration and testing.

Cardano Node 10.7.0 pre-release

• Pre-release is available now – 10.7.0-pre-release 
• New features are included in 10.7.0 from past releases: UTXO-HD (on-disk storage), Kes Agent, Cardano-rpc 
• The ecosystem is encouraged to start testing this new release 
• Be aware, due to changes in storage shape, a full resync of network is required for this release 
• Final benchmarking and performance testing is on-going, once completed this release will graduate to a full release 
• As with any major release, further minor releases may be required. Any further minor releases will have very limited scope

Plutus Cost Model Changes 

Prior to the van Rossem hard fork, Intersect’s Parameter Committee is proposing changes to the Plutus cost model settings: 

1. Enabling the new primitives that will be available in van Rossem

2. Changing coefficients for some existing Plutus primitives.

The second change will require DApp developers to check their scripts against the new cost model, to make sure that their assumptions about transaction costs are still correct after the Plutus cost model update, which will be proposed on chain shortly. More details here.

The new Plutus primitives will become available at the van Rossem hard fork, and are defined in 5 CIPs: CIP-109, CIP-132, CIP-133, CIP-138 and CIP-153. 

Contributors: Civics committee, Thomas L, Ian H, Intersect, Intersect Steering Committee, Simo S, Intersect  

The ISC met on March 23 to review draft budget proposals from Intersect and its committees ahead of the upcoming budget cycle. Each group presented its proposed work packages, spanning governance workshops, technical coordination, open source support, product research and pilots, and treasury transparency. Discussion focused on aligning proposals, avoiding duplication, and clarifying how work will be delivered, including the role of member participation. Board members provided initial feedback, with a deeper review scheduled. There was also a strong emphasis on clearly articulating Intersect’s value as a coordination layer for the Cardano ecosystem ahead of final submission. 

The Civics Committee met on March 26 to review data-driven governance insights, coordinate upcoming committee elections, and advance several operational workstreams. 

The core of the meeting was a presentation on the Beyond Minimal Viable Governance (BMVG) project findings. The report, which utilizes specific metrics to assess Cardano’s governance health, offers a broadly positive outlook on current processes. While identifying challenges such as a decline in the DRep population and tooling hurdles for SPOs, the data suggested that governance remains functional and resilient. The committee will continue to monitor the progress of the BMVG report.

The committee also focused on the upcoming election cycle, and encouraged both current members and new candidates to participate. In tandem, a draft of the Constitutional Committee (CC) election rules and guidelines was presented for review. A volunteer group of committee members will refine these early in the week of March 31 to ensure formal approval can be sought at the next meeting.

Updates from across the committee’s active working groups included: 

• Constitutional Amendment Process (CAP) Working Group: Efforts are shifting toward practical testing, with plans to process a "test case" amendment in the coming weeks to identify potential efficiencies and technical friction points in the GitHub-based workflow. 
  

• Governance Education Working Group (GEWG): In its initial phase, the group identified 26 community resources for the Intersect knowledge base and established a migration plan, with the Secretary role managing the ongoing maintenance and quarterly review of these resources. 

Recently closed governance actions

The “Amaru Treasury Withdrawal 2026” proposal was ratified at the epoch boundary after the last weekly update and enacted at the epoch 620/621 boundary.

Live governance actions*

1. Cardano Budget Process Framework (facilitated by Intersect) 

Type: Info Action ℹ️

Expires: April 4, 2026 (Epoch 623) 🗓️

Progress Report:

• CC votes: 4 🟢 | 0 🔴 | 0 ⚪️ | 3 ⏳ 

• DRep votes: 60.70% / 51% 
• SPO votes: Not counted but the ledger allows a vote (6.14 %) 

Thresholds: Info Action will run for its full govAction lifetime, proposal seeks >51% DRep active voting stake support to proceed with process

More Info: Proposal | Vote Progress 

2. Dingo: a Production-Grade Block Producer in Go by Blink Labs 

Type: Treasury Withdrawal 💰

Expires: April 9, 2026 (Epoch 624) 🗓️

Progress Report:

• CC votes: 2 🟢 | 0 🔴 | 0 ⚪️ | 5 ⏳ 

• DRep votes: 24.77% / 67% 

Thresholds: 5/7 CC members, 67% DRep active voting stake

More Info: Proposal | Vote Progress 

3. Cardano Defi Liquidity Budget - Withdrawal 1 

Type: Treasury Withdrawal 💰

Expires: April 9, 2026 (Epoch 624) 🗓️

Progress Report:

• CC votes: 3 🟢 | 0 🔴 | 0 ⚪️ | 4 ⏳  

• DRep votes: 38.62% / 67% 
  

Thresholds: 5/7 CC members, 67% DRep active voting stake

More Info: Proposal | Vote Progress

4. Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund 

Type: Treasury Withdrawal 💰

Expires: April 14, 2026 (Epoch 625) 🗓️

Progress Report:

• CC votes: 2 🟢 | 0 🔴 | 0 ⚪️ | 5 ⏳ 

• DRep votes: 25.34% / 67% 

Thresholds: 5/7 CC members, 67% DRep active voting stake

More Info: Proposal | Vote Progress 

5. Approve Cardano Foundation as New Managing Entity of Project Catalyst 

Type: Info Action ℹ️

Expires: April 19, 2026 (Epoch 626) 🗓️

Progress Report:

• CC votes: 2 🟢 | 0 🔴 | 0 ⚪️ | 5 ⏳ 
• DRep votes: 56.35% / 51%
• SPO votes: Not counted but the ledger allows a vote (0.45%)

Info Action will run until April 19, 2026, proposal seeks >50% DRep active voting stake support for the Cardano Foundation to take over management of Project Catalyst from Input Output Group to ensure continuity of operations and timely distribution of funds.

More Info: Proposal | Vote Progress 

*data from March 27, 2026 09:30 UTC 

Contributors: Simo S, Budget committee

Budget process 2026 – budget proposal template  

The Budget Proposal Submission Template is now available to support proposers preparing for the upcoming budget cycle. 

The template is designed to help proposers provide all necessary and relevant information in a clear and structured way, making it easier for Delegated Representatives (DReps) to review, compare proposals, and assess how each proposal contributes to measurable ecosystem outcomes.

Proposers can use it to draft and refine their submissions in advance.

Coming soon 
In the coming weeks, a new area of the Knowledge Base, covering everything related to Intersect’s Administration Services, will be introduced. With helpful how-to guides and updated policies ahead of the next budget cycle, this will be useful for anyone who wishes to find out more about Intersect’s Administration Service and how we can support the Community, vendors or Third Party Assurers. Watch this space for the release date. 

Contributors: Growth and marketing committee, Terence M, Larisa McF, Intersect 

The Open Source Committee (OSC) is pleased to announce a Gold Level Sponsorship at the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit North America 2026, taking place in Minneapolis, MN (US). The OSC has partnered with the Cardano Foundation to make this sponsorship possible. If you are nearby, please consider attending. We are excited to share more about Cardano and Web3 technology at such a prestigious event.  

The OSC also attended BuidlerFest 2026 in Argentina. Georg L. (Chair) and Sebastian P. gave a presentation titled "Strengthening the Cardano Ecosystem through the Paid Open Source Model (POSM)" which prompted several meaningful questions from attendees. A full report will follow from each attendee as well as our Q1 Events summary. Here are a few of the questions with general answers provided at the event. Please feel free to join future OSC calls where we will pick up continued discussion.  

• How can the OSC's programs sustain a project that has adoption but the developer is no longer supported through their work?  
  • We walked through how the programs are structured to provide ongoing support. 
• Does the OSC seek out projects for its Maintainer Retainer and Tooling Sustainability programs?  
  • We explained that we are at a stage of building out the programs and have not yet used our analysis capabilities to identify projects that need help. In conversation, the suggestion was to ask experienced developers (employed by the orgs we know) about the tools they absolutely need and where they see a requirement for support of maintenance or sustainability.
• How does the Developer Advocate Program work with Universities and use existing materials and efforts? 
  • We explained that the Developer Advocates are tasked with serving as the glue that brings different efforts together. We do not seek to replicate or duplicate work, but support existing efforts. 

Ecosystem reflection  

There’s a shift in how we, as an ecosystem, are showing up. 

It's visible in outputs, of which there are plenty, but also noticeable in posture. More teams are leaning into coordination as a default rather than an afterthought. We see early testing of node releases, shared presence at events, collaborative hackathon environments, less siloing, more overlap. It doesn’t always look neat, and it’s not always perfectly efficient, but it is real progress toward a system behaving like an ecosystem rather than a collection of parts. 

At the same time, there’s a growing awareness of the responsibility that comes with that interconnectedness. As Cardano governance matures and processes take shape, the questions are becoming more deliberate: where does value actually get created, how is it measured, and who is accountable for carrying it forward? You can see this in how proposals are being framed, how committees are aligning, and contributors thinking beyond their immediate scope. Any friction around tooling, participation, clarity, is increasingly productive friction. The kind that is movement rather than blockage. 

From an ecosystem perspective, these are signs of alignment. The energy is there, but directed with more intent. Builders are testing ideas in real conditions, governance participants are engaging with more context, and as a coordination layer, Intersect is more able to clearly articulate its role and the pressure to do so is healthy.  

Contributors: Abhik N, Intersect, Lara B, Intersect, Ian H, Intersect, Valeria D, Intersect, Ryan W, Intersect 

With Intersect committee elections kicking off March 30, now is a great time to start thinking about where you could make the most impact. Which areas of Cardano's future matter most to you – governance, budget, technical direction, ecosystem growth? There's a committee for that. Applications open March 30 through April 17, so take a moment to reflect on where your skills and passion align, and consider putting your name forward. 

If standing for election isn't for you right now, think about who in your network might be the perfect fit. Great committees are built from great people, and you might know exactly the right one. 

Pyth hackathon ‘Pythathon’ Buenos Aires 

Intersect is the acting administrator of the approved Critical Integrations Budget on behalf of the Cardano Pentad. Great progress has been made and continues to be made towards the mandate of the Critical Integrations Budget. 

Pyth offers a tier-one oracle “Pyth Lazer”, providing thousands of real-time price feeds to on-chain smart contracts. Douro Labs, the team behind Pyth, has been working hard, with support from the Pentad, to add Cardano support. 

In collaboration with TxPipe and Input Output, the Pyth Foundation and Douro Labs team enabled a Pyth integration hackathon on March 25–26. This two-day event kicked off with workshops on Tx3 and Pyth, followed by a full 12-hour hackathon on the second day. 

The aims of the event were to:

• give builders space to learn Cardano development 

• give builders space to test out some fun ideas and kickstart new projects 
• battle test the Cardano Pyth integration 
• incorporate feedback from builders ahead of mainnet launch.

The event saw 24 submissions from 65 hackers, with some innovative projects showcasing the capabilities that Pyth brings to Cardano: synthetic collateralised stablecoins, asset price prediction markets, and DAO treasury asset balancing.

Winners will be announced in the coming days.

What’s on next week: 

Intersect committee elections 

Subscribe to the Luma calendar 

1. X Space: Intersect Committee Elections 2026 Kick Off
   Friday, March 27, 2026 at 15:30 UTC 

2. X Space: Intersect Committee Elections '26 #1 : Get to know - OSC, MCC and ISC 
    Tuesday, March 31 2026 at 15:30 UTC 
   
3. Virtual Hub: Meet the Committees – Civics & Budget Committee
   Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 14:00 UTC
   How to join the Virtual Hub guide on X
   

Intersect Town Hall | Q1 highlights and full report

A special Town Hall event that looks to provide a roundup of all things Intersect from across Q1

Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 13:00 UTC. Streamed live on Youtube, moving to our Virtual Hub straight after at 14:00 UTC

Regular schedule

“Inside the van Rossem Upgrade: Weekly Community Q&A” X Space hosted by Intersect Technical Steering Committee

Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 14:30 UTC | Luma calendar 

Enterprise Spotlight: Sentinel Legal 

Sentinel Legal is a Switzerland-based law firm headquartered in Geneva, specializing in high-value legal advisory and dispute resolution across areas such as corporate and business law, regulatory compliance, digital law, and Web3/blockchain. The firm supports both companies and individuals with a strong focus on cross-border matters, combining litigation expertise with strategic advisory in complex environments including white-collar crime and digital asset regulation. Positioned within a globally trusted jurisdiction, Sentinel Legal emphasizes proactive risk management, structured legal strategy, and end-to-end mandate execution—from analysis through to resolution—while serving international clients across Europe and beyond.  

 

That’s it for this week’s update. Thank you for reading. To learn more about Intersect’s work, explore our Knowledge Base, which provides detailed information on governance structures, committees, and funding.

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