Welcome to Intersect update #124

The TL;DR is Dijkstra planning continues to progress under the Hard Fork Working Group, two on-chain actions continue to require DRep and SPO votes (Parameter Update and Update Committee), Delivery Assurance teams provide updates on 3 MLabs projects, and we have a number of Intersect job opportunities. Read on for the full details!

Contributors: Bosko M, Ian H, Thomas L, Duncan S, Abhik N, Ashley M, Intersect

Latest on Cardano upgrades

Planning for the Dijkstra era hard fork continues to progress, with the agreed scope and target dates remaining unchanged. Attention is now shifting toward translating the scope into a clear ecosystem-wide timeline and understanding its impact, while establishing readiness reporting and enabling alternative node teams to assess the planned changes. The Haskell node team also highlighted that, following the Dijkstra hard fork, Leios will enter a bootstrapping phase while stake pools register their BLS keys, an additional requirement for SPOs running Leios.

Readiness and node diversity are developing alongside the technical planning. Intersect has created the initial Dijkstra readiness tracker, which will be expanded with more precise readiness criteria, calculations, and testnet reporting, while community teams are expected to take greater ownership of reporting their readiness. The Amaru team confirmed that its node is currently relay-capable, validating and syncing to tip, with Mainnet block production targeted for November 2026. The team also shared its work with Antithesis to strengthen Cardano node testing and reproducibility of failures. Lessons learned from van Rossem continue to inform the approach, with particular emphasis on documenting breaking changes and ecosystem impact early, while all alternative node teams remain invited to participate in the weekly Hard Fork Working Group discussions. The HFWG currently meets once a week on Tuesdays at 1500 UTC and meetings can be found in the Luma Calendar for the next several weeks.

Work is also progressing on the governance and community participation surrounding Dijkstra and future hard forks. Constitutional amendments associated with the Dijkstra era now have a defined path for community discussion, submission, and enactment through the newly established Constitutional Amendment Portal (CAP), supported by the Civics Committee.

Constitutional Amendment Portal (CAP)

Following on from the unveiling of the Constitutional Amendment Portal (CAP) at Rare Evo and the launch of the alpha testing phase we continue to encourage the community to visit cap.intersectmbo.org, try out the portal, and provide feedback to aid the continued development of the process. Initial interest has been promising with 4 proposals submitted by the community - 3 Constitutional Amendment Proposals (CAP) and 1 Constitutional Issue Statement (CIS). Each having received a number of comments from other users. The portal is open and accessible to all ada holders but please feel free to share the link with your DReps and encourage them to take a look and provide their feedback. Additionally, the Constitutional Amendment Process Working Group meets on Thursdays at 09:00AM UTC and feedback is welcome there too.

Constitutional Committee election 2026 update

Following the conclusion of the Hydra Voting phase of the Constitutional Committee election 2026, the Update Committee action was submitted on-chain on July 31, 2026. This action requires DRep and SPO votes, the Constitutional Committee does not vote.

At the time of writing, DRep voting progress sits at 30.03% out of a required 67%, while SPO voting progress sits at 1.69% out of a required 51%.

The election is complete, the results have been independently audited, and the four elected candidates are ready to take their seats. On-chain ratification is the remaining step needed to complete the process. If the action does not pass before the existing terms expire, the Constitutional Committee will fall from seven to three, and below the minimum size of five, as mandated by the committeeMinSize parameter. This would effectively stall the Cardano governance system, with only Info Actions and Update Committee actions available for vote, until the Constitutional Committee is restored above the minimum size.

At the mid-way point of voting we continue to encourage DReps and SPOs to cast their votes. SPOs can find useful documentation for casting votes on the Cardano Developer Portal. Now is also a great time to vote as there are two on-chain actions requiring SPO votes, which can be voted on at the same time, reducing the number of times that SPOs have to interact with their cold keys.

The Update Committee action expires on September 1, 2026.

Recently closed governance actions

Live governance actions*

*data from 2026-08-14 at 09:45 UTC
** SPO votes not always counted in the outcome but the ledger allows SPOs to vote on all Info Actions

Follow vote progress with your favorite Cardano explorers:
GovTool | Tempo | Cexplorer | AdaStat | CardanoScan | CGov | Civitas

Enterprise member spotlight: The Grid

In this Weekly Update, we are spotlighting Intersect Enterprise Member The Grid.

The Grid describes itself as a Web3 ecosystem intelligence platform focused on creating structured and standardized metadata for projects, products, and digital assets across blockchain ecosystems.

According to The Grid, its platform provides tools designed to help users and applications discover and navigate Web3 ecosystem data, including its Data API, Data Explorer, Network Portal, GridBot, and AI-focused tooling.

Through its Network Portal, organizations can also manage information about their projects, products, branding, and deployments within The Grid's dataset.

As part of our Enterprise Member Spotlight series, we're pleased to introduce The Grid to the wider Intersect community and provide an opportunity for members to learn more about their work.

What’s coming up?

Intersect Public Google Calendar

Intersect committee and working group meetings are open to the community. Our public Google calendar makes it easy to see what’s happening, listen in, and find opportunities to contribute. Take a look ahead of a new week.

Intersect Virtual Hub

A reminder that the Intersect Virtual Hub is open 24/7 for members to use and organize their own meetings and events. If you would like to utilize the screen sharing features for presentations, an Intersect staff moderator can assist. How to join the Virtual Hub guide on X.

New opportunities at Intersect

We’re continuing to strengthen our team and have several new opportunities open for applications.

We’re currently recruiting for:

• Delivery Assurance Partner – supporting effective delivery across Intersect by bringing greater visibility, coordination, and assurance to our plans and priorities.
• Operations & Delivery Assurance Lead – leading the coordination of Intersect’s core operational functions alongside our Delivery Assurance function, helping ensure priorities, risks and dependencies are clear, and delivery is effectively tracked, reported and governed.

If you’re interested in helping shape the next chapter of Intersect – or know someone who could be a great fit – we’d love to hear from you.

Interested in future opportunities?

Want to register your interest for other roles at Intersect or know someone that may be interested in working for us? You can do that through our careers page too!

You can register your interest for:

• Graduate Technical Associate (Cardano Tech) - graduates who are passionate about blockchain technology and interested in future opportunities within Intersect's Cardano Tech team.

• Blockchain Security (Cardano Tech) - for those with experience in areas such as security operations, vulnerability management, security review and triage, technical risk assessment, delivery assurance, blockchain or distributed systems and smart contracts or protocol-adjacent environments.

Please note: These two roles are for an expression of interest only. Submitting details means you may be considered for future opportunities if and when relevant roles become available. It does not indicate nor imply that Intersect is currently hiring for a specific position.

Keep an eye on our careers page and channels for the full role details and application information!

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

Join the conversation on Discord, and follow us on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn to engage with fellow members, working groups, and the broader community. Subscribe to the public Google and Luma calendars.