Welcome to Intersect update #126

This update brings together some of the consequential developments currently moving across Intersect and Cardano  - from two on-chain votes approaching their deadlines to the opening of Board election applications, progress on Dijkstra, and new ways for members to participate. Read on for the key details, deadlines and opportunities to get involved.

Contributors: Bosko M, Larisa M, Ian H, Simo S, Thomas L, Intersect

Latest on Cardano upgrades

Work toward the Dijkstra era continues across node development, protocol parameters, supporting infrastructure, and node diversity. While upcoming node releases will unlock early Dijkstra functionality for testing, work continues to confirm the new protocol parameters introduced across Leios and other Dijkstra scope items, so that the associated guardrails and Constitutional amendments can progress. However, timelines currently face a potential risk of delays due to the current on-chain vote to update the Constitutional Committee - see “Update Constitutional Committee 2026 action” section below for more details.

Node diversity continues to progress, with Amaru having achieved its Q3 goal of delivering a relay node binary and now working toward block production on Mainnet in Q4 2026. A block-producing pre-release is targeted for late September, alongside continued work on conformance, performance, and robustness with other node implementers. Further ecosystem coordination is planned through Node Diversity Workshops in Singapore, during Token 2049 on October 6, and London on November 12-13, bringing together implementation teams, SPOs, and hard fork stakeholders.

For a more in-depth technical update, our Upgrade Bulletin is also published to the IntersectMBO X account weekly.

Update Constitutional Committee 2026 action

Just one epoch remains to vote on the on-chain Update Constitutional Committee 2026 action. Participation has continued to increase but the required thresholds have still not been reached, the action expires on September 1, 2026 at 21:44:51 UTC (Epoch 653).

At the time of writing, DRep voting progress sits at 64.24% out of a required 67%, while SPO voting progress sits at 35.3% out of a required 51%. Both thresholds must be reached for the action to pass.

If the action is not ratified before the current members’ terms expire, the Constitutional Committee will fall from seven to three members, below the minimum size of five required by the committeeMinSize parameter. This would effectively stall most of Cardano’s governance system, leaving only Info Actions and Update Committee actions available for voting until the Constitutional Committee is restored.

With only a few days remaining, we are getting close on the DRep side, but there is still a significant gap for SPOs. Participation from both groups is required to get the action across the line.

SPOs can find useful documentation for casting votes on the Cardano Developer Portal, recently updated to cover voting on multiple actions in one transaction. There is currently both a Parameter Update and the Update Committee action requiring SPO votes, meaning both can be voted on at the same time and reducing the number of times SPOs need to interact with their cold keys.

Both governance actions expire on September 1, 2026 at 21:44:51 UTC.

Constitutional Amendment Portal (CAP) update

Following the August 20 Civics Committee meeting, the CAP Working Group’s Phase 2 deliverable was approved by a majority vote between the sitting Civics Committee members, completing the group’s core mandate to design and implement the Constitutional Amendment Process.

The Phase 2 document details the working CAP process now running in alpha, covering the full journey of an amendment from drafting and public consultation through editorial review, versioning and finalisation before being handed over to an on-chain governance action. It also establishes the roles and responsibilities of authors, reviewers, editors and administrators, with a strong focus on transparency, author ownership and a permanent, verifiable proposal history.

With the main Phase 2 work now complete, the CAP Working Group will go on hiatus during the alpha period and re-emerge as the alpha approaches its conclusion to review the experience and close out the project.

The regular Working Group calls will be paused for the time being and replaced by bi-weekly public CAP calls, where authors, editors, and commenters can join to discuss ongoing CAPs and the development of the process. More information about these calls to follow in the coming weeks.

Live governance actions*

 

*data from August 28, 2026 15:30 UTC

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

Connecting with the community

On Tuesday, August 25, Intersect hosted an X Space “Intersect Connect: Board & CC Elections 2026, and more”. The Space included an Intersect Board election overview ahead of applications opening next week on August 31, and an in-depth discussion on current live governance actions. Particular focus was given to the Update Committee action and the implications of ratification or expiry outcomes. A thank you to Intersect Civics Committee members who joined to provide their governance insights to the topics.

Wednesday saw the DRep Monthly Call hosted in partnership between Intersect and Tweag. Members of the Technical Steering and Parameters Committees joined this month to provide their insights and answer DRep questions surrounding the Update Committee and Parameter Update actions currently live on-chain for voting. With the Parameter Update being quite technical in nature and the Update Committee having potential knock-on effects for future hard fork plans, the call provided a unique opportunity for DReps to interface with technical teams to help make an informed voting decision.

Intersect Board Elections 2026 - applications open Monday

Applications open next week for the 2026 Intersect Board Elections, with candidates able to put themselves forward for the two member-elected Board seats opening on Monday, 31 August at 12:00 UTC.

If you're considering standing for the Board, now is the time to prepare. You can already preview the application form, including translated versions, and start preparing your application before Monday.

To stand for election, you'll need at least 180 days of Intersect membership, to be in good standing, have completed identity verification, and have served at least one previous term on an Intersect Committee or the Board.

Please don't leave your membership or identity verification until the last minute. Whether you're planning to apply or vote, check that your membership is active and complete your verification through the Member Area now. If your membership has recently expired, you can renew within 180 days without losing your existing membership history for eligibility.

Intersect Knowledgebase:  With Intersect 2026 Board Elections approaching, the Knowledge Base is the place to understand how the process works, who can stand, and how voting happens. Head there to get familiar before applications open.

For full details on eligibility, the election process and what it means to serve on the Board, see the Board Election announcement.

Membership updates

On Wednesday, members came together for our August Monthly Members Meeting, with updates spanning Dijkstra hard fork progress and the roadmap ahead, the upcoming Board elections, Cardano governance and constitutional developments, delivery and treasury accountability, committee activity, and Intersect Connect. There was even a demonstration of how to select a DRep, or why you might consider changing your DRep, and an overview of some different types of DReps.

The meeting followed the release of several improvements to the Intersect Member Area, designed to make participation and connection easier. These include a new self-service voting area to support more transparent, consistent and auditable committee decision-making, alongside a new ‘All members’ page where members and associates can connect with one another, find Intersect staff contact details, view participation badges and committee or Board roles, and keep their own public profiles up to date.

Intersect Member verification updates: A reminder that we have refined our member verification process to now only require user ID, liveness check and mobile verification, removing the address verification requirement. The option to be verified via DiD, powered by our Intersect Member Socious, has been updated to match the standard KYC.

As always - Our Virtual Hub is available 24/7 and offers members an innovative and fun platform to engage with people from every corner of the world in one room - we are happy to support members to host events in the hub, if you would like to set up an event of your own please get in touch at members@intersectmbo.org

Join the Intersect Operations Team!

We’re actively hiring for three roles within our Operations team: a Head of Operations, Delivery Assurance & Administration Lead, and Delivery Assurance Associate.
These roles will play an important part in strengthening how Intersect operates and supporting the effective administration and assurance of work delivered across the ecosystem. Whether you’re an experienced operational leader or someone with a keen eye for detail, evidence and process, there’s an opportunity to help shape how this work is delivered at Intersect.

What is Delivery Assurance and Administration at Intersect?

They work closely together, but they play two distinct roles in how Intersect administers work on behalf of the ecosystem.

Delivery Assurance is about independently checking that agreed work has been delivered. When vendors or contributors reach a milestone, the team reviews the evidence they've provided against the requirements set out in their Statement of Work. They assess whether the milestone has genuinely been met, work with vendors to resolve gaps or questions, and flag risks or concerns where something doesn't stack up.

Administration is what helps us operationalise what happens around that assurance process. In these roles, that particularly means administering the relevant smart contracts - completing authorised actions accurately, maintaining clear and auditable records, and coordinating the information and approvals needed to keep things moving.

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

Together, they provide an important layer of operational rigour around work administered through Intersect, particularly where ecosystem funding, external contributors and smart contracts meet.

Interested or know someone who might be?

You can learn more about the open roles on Intersect’s live Job Board, here: https://intersect-mbo.firststage.co/jobs

What’s on next week - September starts here!

With the summer holiday season drawing to a close, September is shaping up to be full of interesting new developments across Intersect, Cardano and the wider ecosystem. It's time to get back to business, and what better way than to join us on X for our next Intersect X space, where we’ll catch up on latest development, take a look at what’s coming up next and create a space for community questions and discussion.

Join us: here on X , Tuesday Sep 01, 14:00 UTC.

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.