EMURGO

"EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Cardano Builder DAO, with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved."

"EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Withdraw 4,969,231 ada for Cardano Enterprise Adoption: Ticketing Platform, with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved."

"EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Se7en Labs: Daedalus Wallet Maintenance and Improvements 2026-2027, with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved."

"EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Blockfrost's transformation to not-for-profit, with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved."

EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Eternl: Path to Sustainability - v2, with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved.

EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Strike Finance Liquidity Deployment, with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch, Plinth and Clb, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Event Pipeline, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Library, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Platform, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Integration Layer, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical support, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal successfully completed the off-chain community governance process on the Hydra voting platform, crossing the required 67% approval threshold. EMURGO respects the legitimacy of this community-led process and votes YES in recognition of the mandate that the Cardano community has clearly expressed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Reforming Treasury Governance, with rationale outlined below.

This proposal touches on foundational governance architecture that warrants careful deliberation. The scope of the proposed changes is broad, and EMURGO believes that decisions of this nature benefit from wider community input and a more structured review process before DReps commit to a position. EMURGO abstains at this stage and will engage further as the discussion matures.

EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on Reimburse Ikigai Info Governance Action Deposit., with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved.

EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on IO: Hydra, with rationale outlined below.

Given the ongoing situation in the ecosystem, responsible governance requires us to act with full clarity and confidence. Until the current situation reaches resolution, EMURGO prefers to withhold judgment rather than vote without the certainty our mandate demands. We will revisit this proposal once the situation is resolved.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on Reduce the committeeMinSize parameter from 7 to 5, with rationale outlined below.

This governance parameter change has been reviewed and EMURGO supports the proposed adjustment to the committeeMinSize parameter. Reducing the minimum committee size from 7 to 5 provides greater operational flexibility for the Constitutional Committee while maintaining the integrity of the governance process. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the governance action titled "Hard Fork to Protocol Version 11 ('van Rossem' Hard Fork)", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
The van Rossem hard fork is a well-scoped and low-disruption protocol upgrade that delivers meaningful improvements to Cardano's smart contract layer. The new Plutus primitives introduced across CIP-0109, CIP-0132, CIP-0133, CIP-0138, and CIP-0153 expand what developers can build on Cardano, and making all built-in functions universally available across Plutus versions removes an inconsistency that has added unnecessary friction to the development process.

The intra-era nature of this upgrade is also worth noting. Advancing the protocol version without an era transition minimises disruption to SPOs, tooling, and existing applications, which reflects a considered approach to hard fork management. EMURGO views this as a straightforward and timely upgrade that strengthens Cardano's smart contract platform without introducing unnecessary risk. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled "Tweag Core Cardano Infrastructure: Treasury Withdrawal 2026–2027", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
Tweag has been embedded in Cardano's core infrastructure since 2018, leading consensus and ledger work and contributing directly to the design of Peras. This proposal is not an introduction of a new team to a new problem. It is the continuation of a body of work that the ecosystem has already invested in, focused on bringing that work across the finish line and into production.

The three workstreams are well-chosen and genuinely interdependent. Peras mainnet deployment addresses a finality gap that matters to every DApp and user on the network. History Expiry addresses a storage cost trajectory that, left unresolved, will become a meaningful threat to SPO decentralisation as Leios throughput scales. Conformance testing provides the correctness scaffolding that both Peras and Leios depend on for safe deployment. Treating any of these as separable would increase delivery risk across all three.

Tweag's prior treasury engagement, including a track record of open deliverables and milestone-based accountability, gives EMURGO confidence that the governance structure around this proposal is sound. The 18.2 million ADA request reflects the real cost of senior protocol engineering at this level of complexity, and EMURGO is satisfied it is a proportionate ask for the scope of work proposed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled "Rare Evo and Dev Gov Day 2026: Cardano Title Sponsorship", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
Rare Evo has established itself as one of the most consistent community-led gatherings in the Cardano calendar, bringing together developers, governance participants, and ecosystem builders in a format that few other events replicate. Title sponsorship secures Cardano's position on the main stage and global livestream, which represents meaningful visibility at a moment when external perception of the ecosystem matters.

The inclusion of Rare Dev Gov Day is equally relevant. Dedicated space for governance discussion and developer coordination is not incidental to this proposal; it is part of what makes the investment worthwhile beyond brand exposure alone. EMURGO views the 2.75 million ADA request as proportionate for a title sponsorship of this scope, and supports this as a reasonable use of treasury resources for ecosystem presence. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on the treasury withdrawal titled "Eternl: Path to Sustainability (2026-2027)" with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
The Constitutional Committee has deemed this proposal unconstitutional. Hence EMURGO will vote ABSTAIN. We will vote on the resubmitted proposal.

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled "5am.earth Trust Layer Targeting Vision 2030 KPIs", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
This proposal stands apart from most treasury requests in one important respect: the infrastructure it proposes to scale is already operational on Cardano Mainnet. Project Swaminathan has registered 10,500 farmers and farms on-chain as of May 2026, at 500 registrations per day, with a 100% blockchain success rate. The work being funded is integration and scaling, not greenfield development.

The scale opportunity is credible. The Syngenta Foundation India network of 26,000 Agri-Entrepreneurs already reaches 2.6 million farmers, and the three named application paths, AE certification via Andamio, traceability and compliance via Zengate Global, and finance and credit via Seedstars SIGMA, are specific, partner-backed, and gated on observable evidence at each milestone. The 10,000,000 ADA hard cap is milestone-gated at 5/2/3 ADA, surplus above $3.5M returns to the Treasury, and the Foundation commits to operating on commercial revenue by 2028 without returning to the Treasury. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the parameter change titled "Update Plutus Cost Models", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

This governance action updates the Plutus cost models across V1, V2, and V3 to prepare for the van Rossem hard fork and Protocol Version 11. The changes serve three purposes: providing cost model settings for new Plutus primitives that will become available after the hard fork, ensuring consistency by making previously V3-only primitives available in V1 and V2, and updating existing primitive settings based on benchmarking data.

The new primitives introduced span cryptographic operations, list and array manipulation, and value handling, covering modular exponentiation, multi-scalar multiplication over BLS12-381, array builtins, and MaryEraValue operations. These additions expand the capabilities available to smart contract developers and enable more efficient on-chain computation, particularly for cryptographic and cross-chain use cases.

EMURGO is satisfied that the process behind this change is sound. The changes were recommended by Intersect's Parameter Committee in March 2026, confirmed by the Technical Steering Committee in May 2026, and validated through equivalent enactments on SanchoNet, Preview, and Preprod testnets prior to this mainnet proposal. All cost model values have been benchmarked against the reference architecture, no values are negative, and the action is consistent with constitutional guardrails PCM-01, PCM-02, and PCM-03. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes NO on the treasury withdrawal titled "Scalus: Cardano's Application Platform for Building, Launching, and Scaling", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

EMURGO recognises the quality of the Lantr Engineering team and the genuine problem Scalus is designed to solve. The application layer remains a real bottleneck for Cardano, and the argument that builders need an integrated platform rather than a collection of tools to assemble themselves is well-founded. The team has demonstrated delivery discipline across three years of Catalyst funding and a 2025 treasury cycle, completing milestones on time and publishing public reporting throughout.
The core concern is proportionality. Scalus has received approximately 1,085,692 ADA in total across Catalyst and treasury funding. This proposal requests 8,503,000 ADA, nearly eight times all prior funding combined, for a platform whose JVM adoption thesis within Cardano remains largely unvalidated. The developer survey data available today shows Cardano developers primarily rely on JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Rust, and Haskell, with Scalus selected by a small number of respondents as their smart contract language of choice. The argument that Scalus opens Cardano to 26 million JVM developers reflects long-term market potential, not demonstrated current demand within the ecosystem.
Treasury funding at this scale should be anchored to demonstrated traction, not projected adoption. The proposal itself sets adoption targets of five external teams and two production deployments during the funding period, which does not reflect the level of validated demand that would justify a commitment of this magnitude. For these reasons, EMURGO votes NO.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes NO on the treasury withdrawal titled "Cardano dOSPO and OMF Program", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
EMURGO recognises the structural problem this proposal is trying to solve. Open source infrastructure in Cardano is undermaintained, selection of funded projects has historically been driven by relationships rather than dependency data, and the ecosystem lacks a sustained operational layer to translate governance decisions into maintenance outcomes. The dOSPO and OMF design addresses these failures more systematically than previous attempts, and Christian Taylor's institutional knowledge of where earlier programs broke down is evident in the proposal's architecture.
That said, 12,000,000 ADA over 36 months is a significant commitment, and the proposal asks the community to make it before the most critical precondition has been met: the independent legal entity that is meant to underpin the program's governance independence does not yet exist. The two advisory councils that are designed to prevent unilateral decision-making cannot be constituted under an entity that has not been registered. For the first six months, the program operates entirely through Open Source Cowboy Consulting, a sole-founder consulting firm, with full portfolio reserve authority sitting in a transitional arrangement that the proposal itself acknowledges carries structural risk.
A three-year treasury commitment of this scale is difficult to justify when the operator, the entity, the council composition, and the dependency methodology are all being established simultaneously in the first quarter. The program's governance independence is the core of its value proposition, but it is promised rather than demonstrated. For these reasons, EMURGO votes NO.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled "Cardano Vision 2026: Human Centred, Scalable, Post Quantum Secure - IO Research", with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
EMURGO previously voted Abstain due to reservations regarding the scale and bundled structure of the proposal. While we continue to believe that greater granularity would improve community evaluation of treasury-funded initiatives, further review has led us to conclude that these concerns are outweighed by the strategic value of the proposed research program and IOR's demonstrated delivery record.
IOR has consistently delivered meaningful research outputs that have contributed to Cardano's technical development. The proposal addresses several areas of strategic importance, including scalability, post-quantum readiness, interoperability, governance, and developer tooling. Although the breadth of the proposal makes it challenging to assess individual workstreams in isolation, many of these areas are interconnected and form part of a broader long-term research agenda.
EMURGO therefore believes that the value of maintaining Cardano's research pipeline justifies support for this proposal and has updated its vote from Abstain to Yes.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled "Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Baseline 'Platinum' Sponsorship Proposal", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
EMURGO is the proposer of this governance action, and we want to be transparent about how we arrived at a YES vote. Our initial position was to abstain, recognising the conflict of interest that comes with voting on a proposal we ourselves submitted. Two developments have since changed that position.
First, EMURGO has waived the 15% management fee that was originally included in the proposal and will refund it in full to the Treasury. Every ada requested now represents true third-party vendor costs, covering the sponsorship package, booth build, and community support, with zero economic benefit accruing to EMURGO. This decision reflects our full alignment with the community's interests: we are here as a facilitator, not a beneficiary. Second, Charles Hoskinson has personally committed his own resources to amplify Cardano's presence at the event, a signal that reflects genuine conviction in this initiative beyond any organisational interest.
At its core, this proposal exists for one purpose: to give Cardano builders a world-class stage. TOKEN2049 Singapore is the largest gathering of institutional capital, enterprise decision-makers, and Web3 builders in Asia, and the Platinum tier secures the second-largest booth footprint at the event, putting the people actually building on Cardano in front of the audiences that matter most. All funds are administered through Intersect's audited smart contract infrastructure, with milestone-based disbursements and a full post-event report committed within 60 days. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “IO & VacuumLabs: Enhancing Plutus — Performance, Correctness, and Usability”, with rationale outlined below. This represents a change from our earlier ABSTAIN position.

Rationale

EMURGO previously abstained on this proposal, citing caution around the volume of treasury commitments being considered in the current cycle. Having since assessed the aggregate spend across approved and pending proposals, we are satisfied that this proposal fits within responsible treasury limits and that the prioritisation concern that drove our earlier position no longer holds.

On further reflection, the conformance testing framework and Agda formalization delivered here are not supplementary infrastructure. They are a prerequisite for alternative node implementations to verify their Plutus evaluators ahead of Dijkstra. Deferring this work creates a gap that compounds the longer it remains unfunded, and the sequencing risk of waiting now outweighs the timing concern that informed our abstention.

The VacuumLabs co-venture further reinforces this position. Distributing Plutus maintenance expertise across multiple expert organisations reduces a single-point-of-failure risk in one of the most critical parts of the stack, and that structural benefit is time-sensitive as node diversity becomes a practical reality. Combined with IO’s demonstrated accountability within the treasury framework, EMURGO is satisfied this is a well-governed proposal that serves the ecosystem’s foundational interests. For these reasons, EMURGO changes its vote to YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep revises its prior ABSTAIN to YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “IO: Developer Experience Initiative”, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

EMURGO previously abstained on this proposal, citing concerns around attribution methodology and the reliance on third-party coordination for key outcomes. We are revising that position to YES. The proposal has not changed, and we do not withdraw those concerns. What has changed is our assessment of their weight relative to the cost of continued inaction on one of the most important challenges facing the ecosystem.

Developer experience is a direct determinant of builder adoption, and the empirical foundation of this proposal, grounded in developer survey data and cross-ecosystem growth analysis, remains stronger than is typical for initiatives of this kind. IO’s track record in delivering complex ecosystem programmes gives us sufficient confidence that the delivery risks flagged in our abstain are manageable in practice. We will monitor progress against the stated outcomes and expect IO to refine coordination and attribution commitments as the programme unfolds.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “Cardano Critical Integrations V2”, with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
The integrations delivered under CCI V1, specifically Circle USDCx, LayerZero, Pyth, and Dune Analytics, are now live infrastructure. Keeping them live carries recurring operational costs that must be funded on an ongoing basis. Without a ratified V2 budget, individual maintenance line items would require separate governance actions, each with its own timeline, creating operational gaps in infrastructure the ecosystem now depends on. This proposal addresses that risk in a straightforward way.

The addition of Fireblocks as a new integration is a reasonable extension of scope within this cycle. Institutional custody infrastructure is a practical prerequisite for exchange listings, regulated custody, and broader institutional participation in the Cardano ecosystem. Funding the native Fireblocks integration here, alongside existing maintenance obligations, is more efficient than bringing it as a separate governance action.

EMURGO notes that specific vendor-level cost breakdowns are not publicly disclosed due to confidentiality obligations with integration partners. The Steering Committee structure, which includes representation from IO, Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, Midnight Foundation, and Intersect as administrator, provides the governance layer that substitutes for full public granularity. EMURGO is a member of that Steering Committee and accepts the accountability that comes with it. On that basis, and given the operational necessity of the maintenance covered here, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on the treasury withdrawal titled "The first node in the browser; a Cardano USP", with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
EMURGO recognises the technical effort behind this resubmission and acknowledges that HLabs has responded constructively to community feedback by separating proposals and narrowing the scope of this request. A browser-native validating node is a genuinely differentiated capability, and Cardano's eUTxO architecture does create meaningful conditions for it that other chains cannot easily replicate.

Our position carries over from our view on the earlier combined proposal. Questions raised through conversations with external technologists about TypeScript as the foundation for a production-grade node environment remain open. We hold that view with humility and do not consider it settled, but it continues to inform our assessment. Additionally, with Amaru and Dingo already funded and progressing, the case for committing treasury resources to a third node implementation in the same cycle, even one scoped to a distinct browser use case, is not yet clearly established to our satisfaction. The Cardano 2030 framework targets two live alternative node clients, a benchmark that existing funded efforts are already working toward.

We appreciate HLabs's continued engagement with the ecosystem and the deliberate effort to right-size this request. Our abstain reflects a continuation of our considered position on node diversity sequencing rather than any new concern about the team or the concept itself.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “Pebble & Ecosystem Maintenance: TypeScript Core of Cardano”, with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
EMURGO previously abstained on the combined HLabs proposal that bundled Gerolamo, Pebble, and tooling maintenance into a single request of over 8 million ADA. Our reservations at that time centered on the scale of the ask, questions around TypeScript as a foundation for a production node, and uncertainty about the necessity of a new smart contract language alongside Aiken. This proposal addresses the first and second concerns directly: Gerolamo is now a separate governance action voted on independently, and this proposal focuses exclusively on Pebble and TypeScript ecosystem maintenance at a materially reduced cost of 4,600,000 ADA.

On Pebble specifically, our view has evolved on the basis of the evidence now available. The UPLC-CAPE benchmark results, produced through IOG’s independent framework, show that Pebble produces on-chain code that outperforms Aiken in both CPU and memory budget and is competitive with Plutarch, while offering an imperative, TypeScript-shaped syntax that addresses a genuinely different developer audience. This is not a redundant addition alongside Aiken; it is a complementary on-ramp for the TypeScript and Solidity developer populations that Aiken’s functional-first design does not serve. The case for Pebble is now grounded in verifiable performance data rather than assertion.

The tooling maintenance component is straightforward. The HLabs TypeScript stack underpins Mesh, Lucid Evolution, Midgard, and a long tail of production dApps. When a hard fork lands, those projects depend on HLabs updating the foundational libraries. Funding that maintenance through this proposal is more efficient than leaving the cost to be absorbed inconsistently across dozens of downstream teams. The governance structure, with an independent oversight board, milestone-based disbursements, and automatic return of unused funds, is well-designed. EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on the treasury withdrawal titled "Tweag Core Cardano Infrastructure: Treasury Withdrawal 2026-2028", with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
Tweag has a long and well-documented track record on Cardano's core infrastructure, and the work packages in this proposal address areas of genuine importance to the ecosystem. The focus on Peras mainnet readiness, including production cryptography, conformance testing, and operational hardening, is directly aligned with one of the most consequential protocol milestones in the current cycle. EMURGO recognises the value of that continuity and does not question Tweag's capability to deliver.

The primary concern is the scale and duration of the commitment being requested. At 39.79M ADA over two years, this is one of the larger single-team allocations in the current budget cycle, and the proposal covers 17 work packages spanning a wide range of scope and maturity. A multi-year, multi-package request of this size benefits from clearer year-by-year prioritisation and more granular milestone gates that allow the community to assess progress before the full amount is committed.

EMURGO would be more comfortable supporting this proposal if it were structured in annual tranches, with the second year's funding contingent on verified delivery of the first. This would preserve the continuity of Tweag's work while giving the community appropriate oversight over a commitment of this magnitude. We would encourage the team to consider whether a phased submission would better serve both the project and the broader governance process.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on the treasury withdrawal titled "Blockfrost: Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing", with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
Blockfrost has played a meaningful role in lowering the barrier to building on Cardano, and Project Cayley addresses a genuine infrastructure challenge. As Leios scales throughput, the cost of full-chain indexing will become increasingly prohibitive for smaller operators, and a decentralized slice indexing model is the right direction for ensuring that data infrastructure remains accessible as the network grows.

The concern is not with the Cayley work itself, but with the structure of this proposal. Bundling new R&D infrastructure with an operational subsidy for an existing commercial service makes it difficult to evaluate the two components on their own merits. The operational subsidy raises reasonable questions about where the appropriate boundary lies between treasury support and the commercial sustainability of a freemium business that operates a paid tier alongside its free offering.

EMURGO believes both components may have merit when assessed independently, and would find it easier to take a clear position if they were presented separately. A proposal focused on Cayley as standalone infrastructure work, with the operational subsidy either restructured or accompanied by clearer financial transparency, would provide a stronger basis for treasury consideration.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on the treasury withdrawal titled "Pogun: Capital Without Compromise", with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
Pogun presents a technically considered vision for Bitcoin DeFi on Cardano, and the bilateral lending model addresses real shortcomings in conventional credit infrastructure. The treasury repayment structure, committing a share of EBITDA until the full amount is returned followed by a perpetual contribution, reflects a more mature approach to public funding than is typical for proposals of this kind.

The difficulty lies in the relationship between the current stage of the project and the scale of the request. At 12.29M ADA, this is a substantial commitment for a team that has not yet established a mainnet delivery track record on Cardano at this level of complexity. The three components, a credit market, a yield layer, and a BitVM bridge, each carry meaningful execution risk independently, and the bridge relies on cryptographic infrastructure that has not yet been demonstrated in a Cardano production context.

A more incremental structure, one that funds the credit market to mainnet first and gates subsequent tranches on demonstrated performance, would give the community a stronger basis for committing at this scale. EMURGO would welcome a resubmission along those lines and remains genuinely interested in the direction this project is pursuing.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on the treasury withdrawal titled "IO & Midgard Labs: L2 Scalability Initiative", with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
The case for Layer 2 infrastructure on Cardano is well established, and this proposal addresses it across three workstreams of genuinely different character. The Hydra hardening work is grounded in live ecosystem demand, with Delta DeFi and Masumi already building production commitments that depend on its continued development. EMURGO recognises the urgency of that and does not take it lightly.

The difficulty is that the three workstreams differ considerably in maturity and risk profile, and a single governance action does not allow them to be evaluated independently. Shared data availability infrastructure is early-stage research, Hydra hardening is incremental delivery against live commitments, and Midgard represents a new permissionless rollup moving from testnet toward mainnet. Grouping them together makes it difficult to endorse the well-evidenced parts without also underwriting the more speculative ones.

EMURGO is not opposed to any of the individual workstreams and recognises the importance of each to Cardano's scalability roadmap. A structure that provides clearer accountability boundaries between components, or separates them into distinct proposals, would allow the community to engage more precisely with what is being asked and would make each workstream significantly easier to support.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes NO on the treasury withdrawal titled "[OriLife × TonFarm] Identifying 180 Million Durians Without Physical Labels", with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
EMURGO recognises the genuine problem this proposal addresses, the technical differentiation of the Bio-ID approach, and the Alliance's substantial self-investment before submitting this governance action. We do not question the team's commitment or capability.
Our concern is with the treasury return case. The proposal's own framing argues that Circular 11 and GACC enforcement create non-discretionary demand, which implies that farmers, exporters, and government agencies have a direct commercial incentive to fund compliant infrastructure themselves. The MAGIC credit economy is a closed system with no presented pathway to broader Cardano participation, and the fee contribution at full scale is modest relative to the ask. EMURGO does not view this as a sufficient return profile for a 2,400,000 ADA allocation in the current budget cycle.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “IO: Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration”, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

This proposal funds the infrastructure that makes Cardano’s positioning as a high-assurance platform credible at the tooling level. Blaster has already proven correctness properties for production DApps, including Djed and USDCx. This proposal extends it to full DApp-level verification, integrates it across four smart contract languages, and delivers it as shared public infrastructure accessible to the entire developer community.
EMURGO is particularly supportive of the consortium delivery model, with Lantr, Harmonic Labs, SAIB, Midgard Labs, TxPipe, and No.Witness Labs each contributing defined work packages.

This distributes delivery and long-term maintenance across the ecosystem, reducing dependency on any single team’s future funding. The containerised Developer Environment, converting a multi-day Nix setup into a single-command initialisation, further removes a measurable barrier to developer onboarding. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “IO: Cardano Upgrades”, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

The Cardano Upgrades proposal addresses three platform-level capabilities that are individually valuable and collectively transformative. CIP-159 lifts the minUTxOValue constraint blocking micro-fee collection and L2 reserve patterns. The Multi-Asset Treasury CIP begins design work to allow the Treasury to hold stablecoins, insulating funded teams from ADA price volatility. Babel Fees enables any native asset to serve as a transaction fee medium, removing the ADA acquisition requirement for new users.

Each workstream resolves a practical barrier the ecosystem is encountering today, not a theoretical future problem. EMURGO is also satisfied with the dependency structure: CIP-159 targets the Dijkstra era already on the roadmap, the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP builds directly on CIP-159, and Babel Fees builds on CIP-118 Nested Transactions. The sequencing is coherent and the technical prerequisites are either in place or actively being delivered. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “IO: Consensus Initiative, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

Cardano’s 2030 ambitions rest on a single critical dependency: throughput capacity that does not yet exist at the required scale. Leios, designed as an overlay on Ouroboros Praos, delivers a 10 to 65x throughput increase while preserving Cardano’s security guarantees and decentralisation properties. Without it, the 2030 target of 27 million monthly transactions is structurally out of reach.

This proposal picks up from a 2025/26 cycle that has already delivered an early public testnet and a feature-complete alpha. The 26/27 cycle focuses on the hardest phase: maturing to a mainnet-ready release candidate, completing conformance testing against the formal Agda specification, and doing everything within IO’s control to enable the Leios hard fork. This is not speculative research. It is the execution phase of a protocol upgrade the community has already directionally endorsed.

The 27.7 million ADA request is consistent with the complexity of what is being delivered, spanning consensus engineering, ledger, networking, cryptography, formal methods, and performance validation. SPO workshops and updated guardrails documentation reflect a responsible approach to hard fork preparation. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “IO & Ensurable Systems: Cardano Maintenance Initiative”, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

Every capability the Cardano ecosystem is building toward depends on a platform that is stable, well-tested, and reliably released. The Cardano Maintenance proposal funds exactly that foundation. It is not a feature investment; it is the operational envelope without which every other treasury-funded initiative carries elevated execution risk.

The scope is comprehensive and appropriately so. Node bugfixing, CI/CD operations, security reviews, E2E testing, performance benchmarking, Plutus interpreter maintenance, DB-Sync consistency, and the Cardano Blueprint documentation together constitute the non-negotiable maintenance surface of a production blockchain. Deferred maintenance compounds, and the cost of catching up consistently exceeds the cost of continuity.

IO, in collaboration with Ensurable Systems, is the team best positioned to deliver this work. The institutional knowledge embedded across consensus, ledger, networking, and release engineering is not easily replicated. The 62.1 million ADA request reflects the true cost of sustaining a production-grade blockchain at this level of complexity across a nine-month period, and EMURGO is satisfied that it is a proportionate ask. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
Acting in its capacity as a DRep, EMURGO formally casts a YES vote in favor of the treasury withdrawal request for the "Revised Cardano Summit 2026 Singapore." Our support is predicated on the proposal’s refined strategic focus, which balances high-impact global positioning with a significantly optimized fiscal framework. We recognize this initiative as a critical commercial vehicle designed to accelerate the protocol's transition into a mature, enterprise-grade financial operating system. By strategically co-locating this summit with TOKEN2049, we create a powerful value accelerator for Cardano’s visibility, allowing our builders to tap into a massive global footfall while offering the community a cost-effective way to attend two premier industry events in one journey. EMURGO’s affirmative vote reflects our confidence in the Foundation’s revised execution strategy and the substantial long-term value this summit will secure for the ecosystem.

Rationale
EMURGO recognizes that hosting a flagship summit is a fundamental market requirement; every leading Layer 1 protocol maintains a major annual event as a cornerstone of its business development strategy, often with significantly higher capital outlays than what is proposed here. This investment is essential to maintain protocol parity and institutional mindshare within a hyper-competitive industry. The 2026 Summit is intentionally timed to coincide with TOKEN2049 in Singapore, a move that functions as a strategic value accelerator. By concentrating the world’s most influential institutional leaders and capital allocators in a single geography, Cardano can capture high-value attention and mainstream financial interest without the prohibitive costs of independent audience acquisition. Furthermore, this alignment provides a pragmatic benefit to the Cardano Community: by anchoring our event to the TOKEN2049 calendar, community members can effectively attend two of the year’s most significant industry gatherings in a single trip, drastically reducing individual travel, lodging, and per-diem expenses.

This move perfectly aligns with the Cardano Vision 2030, specifically our shared objective of transitioning the protocol into a self-sustaining, global financial and social operating system. We appreciate the Foundation’s responsiveness to community feedback, which has resulted in a significantly optimized proposal that demonstrates both fiscal responsibility and strategic maturity. Furthermore, the budget has been reduced by 22%, or approximately $550,000, through smart architectural changes such as consolidating from three stages to two. This leaner approach significantly lowers production and logistics overhead while maintaining the tier-one experience expected of a leading Layer 1 blockchain. This efficiency is further bolstered by increasing the Cardano Foundation’s internal resource contributions to $380,000, a commendable commitment that reduces reliance on external vendors and optimizes treasury use.

EMURGO fully agrees with the defined KPIs, which provide the transparency and rigor necessary to measure real-world impact and growth throughout this transition. We also value the continued dedication to inclusivity through the provision of discounted tickets based on on-chain activity, ensuring our core supporters remain at the heart of the event. This more focused proposal remains dedicated to delivering tangible results for Cardano and its builders while demonstrating a sophisticated commitment to responsible treasury management. For these reasons, EMURGO confidently votes Yes.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes ABSTAIN on the treasury withdrawal titled "Pebble + Gerolamo - HLabs 2026 Budget", with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

EMURGO recognizes the technical strength of Harmonic Laboratories and appreciates their ongoing contributions to the Cardano TypeScript ecosystem. This position should not be interpreted as a reflection on the quality of their work or their role within the community.

From a technical perspective, while we recognise the merits of additional node implementations, both discussions with external technologists in the ecosystem and the internal technical team at EMURGO suggest there are reservations around the use of TypeScript as the foundation for a production node environment.

We remain open to hearing from experts who hold different views, and we do not consider this question settled. In the meantime, with Amaru and Dingo already funded and progressing, the case for committing treasury resources to a third alternative node at this stage is not yet clearly established.

On the matter of Pebble, we do not believe further development of a new smart contract language is critical to the ecosystem at this point. Aiken continues to serve developers well, and we see no clearly defined gap that would justify the additional investment in the current cycle.

Beyond the technical considerations, the scale of the funding request remains a concern. We would warmly welcome the team to resubmit with a revised cost that better reflects the scope of work proposed. For these reasons, EMURGO votes Abstain.

Summary
EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on the Treasury Withdrawal titled “Cardano DeFi Liquidity Budget – Withdrawal 1,” with the rationale outlined below.
Rationale
This withdrawal funds the foundational infrastructure required to responsibly manage treasury funds for the proposed DeFi liquidity initiative, including legal setup, smart contract audit, and Amaru multisig deployment.
We view the staged approach as a prudent step, allowing legal and technical guardrails to be established before any larger allocation.
The proposal includes governance and security safeguards, including a 5-of-9 multisignature Amaru contract and an independent audit by Invariant0 LLC. Smart contract development is contributed at no cost, reducing treasury exposure.
This withdrawal is consistent with EMURGO’s prior support for this initiative and represents an operational step toward implementation. As this is an initial setup phase, we expect subsequent withdrawals to provide clearer detail on deployment approach, transparency mechanisms, and governance processes.
Given the defined scope and oversight mechanisms, we view this as a reasonable setup step prior to any future liquidity deployment. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on the treasury withdrawal proposal titled "Dingo: a Production-Grade Block Producer in Go by Blink Labs," with rationale outlined below.
Rationale
EMURGO supports this proposal as a meaningful step toward strengthening node diversity within the Cardano ecosystem. Advancing multiple independent node implementations is important for improving network resilience, reducing reliance on a single codebase, and supporting the long-term decentralization of Cardano.
The Dingo project represents a credible and well-progressed effort toward delivering a production-grade Go-based node. Blink Labs has demonstrated strong technical capability and consistent contributions to the ecosystem through projects such as gOuroboros and Plutigo, alongside measurable progress on Dingo itself. EMURGO recognizes Blink Labs as a serious contributor whose work has already added value to the Cardano ecosystem.
From a strategic perspective, this proposal aligns with the Cardano 2030 Strategic Framework, particularly the primary core KPI of achieving ≥ 2 live, spec-conformant alternative full node clients. Supporting Dingo contributes directly to this objective while broadening Cardano’s technical base. A Go implementation also improves accessibility for a wider pool of developers and operators, supporting long-term ecosystem growth.
The proposal also includes milestone-based delivery, oversight mechanisms, and transparent reporting, providing a reasonable level of accountability for treasury funds. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary
EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund,” with the rationale outlined below.

Rationale
This proposal introduces a tranche-based ecosystem fund intended to support Cardano-native and Cardano-integrated companies while creating a pathway for value to return to the Treasury over time. EMURGO recognizes that this structure is more complex than a typical treasury withdrawal, but also notes the potential for a professionally managed ecosystem fund to support builder growth, ecosystem infrastructure, and broader commercial activity on Cardano.

At the same time, this vote only approves the first tranche, while any future withdrawals would require separate governance approval. This staged approach allows the community to evaluate deployment discipline, reporting transparency, and ecosystem impact before additional capital is committed.
EMURGO also notes Draper Dragon’s established venture investment experience and broader Draper network track record in supporting technology startups and blockchain ecosystems. While investment outcomes are inherently uncertain, this experience provides some confidence in the team’s ability to source and support ecosystem projects.

On balance, EMURGO believes approving the first tranche is a reasonable way to test this model while preserving future governance oversight. EMURGO therefore votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on the Info Action to approve the transition of Project Catalyst’s managing entity from IOG to the Cardano Foundation, based on rationale outlined below.

Rationale

This proposal enables a required administrative transition to ensure Catalyst continues operating without interruption. It does not introduce new funding or strategic changes, but focuses on maintaining continuity for Funds 10–14.

EMURGO acknowledges IOG’s role in establishing and operating Project Catalyst to date, including its contribution in supporting ecosystem experimentation and funding early-stage innovation.
Without timely approval, Catalyst operations could face delays, particularly impacting milestone reviews and payments to ongoing projects. EMURGO considers this an avoidable operational risk.

The Cardano Foundation represents a credible and immediate successor capable of assuming this role within the required timeframe. While broader discussions on Catalyst’s future structure remain important, they are separate from this decision. EMURGO therefore supports this transition as a practical step to ensure continuity and stability.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on Info Action titled Cardano Budget Process Framework (facilitated by Intersect), with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

EMURGO supports initiatives that strengthen transparency and operational clarity in Cardano’s governance processes. Publishing the Intersect Budget Process Framework as an on-chain reference helps ensure that all governance participants operate from a shared understanding of how ecosystem budgeting is conducted.

The framework outlines a structured, multi-stage process covering strategic planning, proposal preparation, review, consolidation, and execution. Formalizing this workflow improves predictability for proposers and DReps, while also helping to raise proposal quality through standardized templates, strategic alignment requirements, and structured feedback cycles.

In addition, the inclusion of clear proposal data requirements, work package based budgeting, and milestone tracking mechanisms contributes to stronger accountability for treasury funded activities. The framework also introduces safeguards such as identity verification, proposal thresholds, and review phases that help reduce spam and improve the overall signal quality of submissions.

Finally, defining the administrative and oversight mechanisms for execution provides important clarity on how approved proposals will be delivered and monitored. The described use of transparent smart contract based disbursement, multi party checks and balances, and milestone tracking aligns with the goals of responsible treasury stewardship.

For these reasons, EMURGO supports recording this framework as a governance reference and therefore votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES to fund the continued development and production-readiness of the Amaru node under the Amaru Treasury Withdrawal 2026, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

Amaru demonstrated meaningful progress in 2025 across ledger, governance, and testing infrastructure, and returned unused funds to the treasury, reflecting fiscal discipline and responsible budget management. The 2026 roadmap represents a structured transition from foundational engineering to production readiness, including relay completion, block production capability, and completion of an external security audit prior to mainnet confidence.

EMURGO views node diversity as strategically important to reduce reliance on a single client and strengthen Cardano’s long-term resilience. With milestone-based disbursement, formal testing, and defined accountability mechanisms, this proposal reflects a disciplined continuation of previously funded work. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes NO on the proposal to set the Net Change Limit at 300M ADA for Epochs 613–713, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

EMURGO supports the principle of fiscal discipline and acknowledges the reasoning that aligning the NCL below prior year inflows signals prudence. However, the Net Change Limit is a ceiling, not a spending mandate. Tightening the ceiling does not in itself improve spending quality or accountability, which should instead be driven by rigorous evaluation standards, milestone based releases, and alignment with the 2030 Cardano KPIs.

The proposed 300M cap covers a 17 month period, which introduces meaningful uncertainty. Most ecosystem delivery costs are effectively fiat based, and in a lower ADA price environment the same real world work requires more ADA. Reducing the ADA ceiling during a period of reduced purchasing power may unintentionally constrain legitimate strategic initiatives, even under disciplined governance.

In addition, broader ecosystem signals, including direction at the Pentad level and discussions around Critical Integrations, emphasize strengthening infrastructure and longer term readiness. Governance parameters should not unintentionally limit execution capacity for these priorities without a forward looking treasury needs assessment.

For these reasons, EMURGO believes that maintaining the 350M ceiling provides necessary flexibility while still allowing strict scrutiny at the proposal level, and therefore votes NO.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the governance action titled “Increase Transaction and Block Memory Units (Part 1 of 2)”, based on the rationale outlined below.

Rationale

This proposal removes a practical bottleneck for Plutus development by relaxing per-transaction constraints, allowing more meaningful work to be executed in a single transaction without being driven by network congestion considerations. The change reduces unnecessary script fragmentation and improves developer and user experience without modifying the cost model or introducing new protocol complexity.

From a governance perspective, the update is responsibly designed and well substantiated. It remains within Constitutional guardrails, has undergone extensive technical review, and has been validated on multiple testnets.

The proposal also reflects a disciplined Conway era governance process, with clear staging and correlation of parameters. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on the treasury withdrawal titled “Cardano DeFi Liquidity Budget – Withdrawal 1”, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
This withdrawal is a direct implementation step of the previously approved Stablecoin DeFi Liquidity Budget Info Action. It funds the minimum foundational work needed to operationalize the program, specifically the legal vehicle setup, the administrative smart contract and interfaces, and an independent security audit, without expanding scope or changing objectives.

EMURGO also supports the proposed accountability structure. Funds are received and managed on chain through an Amaru contract with a 5 of 9 multi-signature requirement, disbursed based on milestones, and subject to tDAO oversight with dRep governance controls. With these safeguards in place, EMURGO views Withdrawal 1 as a reasonable and constitutionally aligned step to execute what the community has already approved. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES to the info action titled “Name Protocol Version 11 hard fork - van Rossem,” with rationale outlined below.

Rationale
Cardano has an established convention of assigning names to hard forks that reflect important moments and contributors in the network’s history. This proposal follows that convention by recognizing a community member whose work had a tangible impact on Cardano’s governance framework.

Max van Rossem was actively involved in governance design and coordination during the network’s transition toward on-chain governance. His contributions across constitutional work, governance working groups, and the Constitutional Committee election process supported the development of more structured and representative governance mechanisms.

Naming the next hard fork in his memory serves a commemorative purpose and aligns with prior ecosystem practice. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

EMURGO as DRep votes NO on Budget Info Action titled “DeltaDeFi: Hydra Trading Infrastructure Budget (₳1,500,000)”, with the rationale outlined below.

Rationale

We value the DeltaDeFi team’s continued dedication to the Cardano ecosystem and their technical contributions, including their work on Hydra-based designs. Their efforts meaningfully support the evolution of Hydra technology and are well recognised.

That said, in our view, projects funded by the Treasury should demonstrate clear and durable ecosystem-wide benefits, particularly when they are framed as infrastructure rather than commercial applications. While DeltaDeFi positions itself as core trading infrastructure, the proposal remains structured as a privately operated product and does not clearly articulate how value would flow back to the Treasury or ADA holders if the project succeeds, whether through repayment terms, revenue sharing, or other mechanisms.

In addition, the proposal does not clearly explain how the requested ₳1.5 million budget over six months was benchmarked or justified. Although the proposal includes detailed KPIs and reporting commitments, these do not sufficiently address concerns around proportionality, long-term sustainability, or the balance between public funding and private benefit. The framing also raises broader governance considerations, including the risk of setting a precedent where private ventures seek Treasury funding by positioning themselves as infrastructure without meeting consistent standards for public accountability.

For these reasons, EMURGO does not support this Budget Info Action at this time. We remain open to continued dialogue and would welcome a revised proposal that more clearly explains how the use of Treasury funds would sustainably benefit the ecosystem and the Treasury itself.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES for “Cardano 2030: Vision, Mission, Strategy Framework and KPIs”, with rationale outlined below.

Rationale

We appreciate the Intersect Product Committee for putting forward this 2030 Vision, Mission, Strategy Framework, and KPI set through a genuinely community-led process. As Cardano moves deeper into community-led governance, funding and priority-setting benefit from a shared reference point. Without common direction and agreed indicators, treasury decisions risk becoming fragmented.

We welcome the inclusion of adoption and commercial KPIs such as Total Value Locked, monthly transactions, monthly active users, and protocol revenue, which help anchor governance decisions to real-world usage and long-term sustainability. We recognize that this initial KPI set was developed at a high level to support the current budget cycle and is intentionally flexible rather than final, reinforcing its role as an evolving reference. Clearer articulation over time of how revisions are triggered and reviewed would further strengthen its usefulness.

While EMURGO supports this framework as a strong long-term reference, its effectiveness would be enhanced by clearer alignment between long-term KPIs and the Budget Committee’s shorter 12–18 month funding cycles. Greater clarity on how five-year objectives translate into interim targets would help DReps assess proposals more consistently within each budget period and improve treasury accountability. Even with these areas for improvement, EMURGO views this proposal as a constructive and timely foundation for shared strategic alignment. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the Net Change Limit (NCL) 2026 governance action submitted by the Budget Committee with rationale below.

Rationale

The Cardano Constitution requires an agreed Net Change Limit before any treasury withdrawal actions can be considered constitutional. Establishing an NCL is therefore a structural requirement to allow treasury governance to function as intended, rather than an approval of future spending. The proposed limit of 350 million ADA is grounded in realized treasury inflows for 2025, supporting fiscal discipline and continuity with prior governance decisions.

EMURGO also considers the revised NCL duration to be a meaningful governance improvement. Realigning the cycle with the mid-year budget season reflects learnings from earlier governance rounds and improves participation and planning for treasury governance. This action defines a constitutional ceiling only, with all treasury withdrawals remaining subject to separate scrutiny, justification, and approval under the Constitution and applicable guardrails. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action titled Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Constitution v2.4 with the rationale outlined below.

Rationale

EMURGO appreciates Yuta’s continued leadership and constructive engagement with community feedback in advancing the Cardano Constitution. Since our previous NO vote on v2.3, several of our key concerns have been addressed in v2.4, justifying a change in our voting position.

In particular, revisions to terminology related to ADA ownership and custodianship improve clarity around consent and representation. The removal of unenforceable expectation clauses strengthens the Constitution’s role as a binding and operational governance document.

We also support the simplification of the governance process through the removal of the mandatory Budget Info Action, while noting positively that enhanced accountability and audit requirements continue to apply consistently to all Treasury Withdrawal governance actions, preserving core fiscal safeguards.

Overall, v2.4 represents a material improvement over the current v1.0 Constitution and advances Cardano’s governance in a more practical, enforceable, and ecosystem aligned direction. We view this Constitution as a work in progress and are hopeful that, over time, the ecosystem will continue to develop more structured and iterative processes to refine its provisions, reduce remaining ambiguities, and ensure the Constitution performs as effectively as possible in practice. For these reasons, EMURGO votes yes.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes NO on the governance action to add an additional Constitutional Committee member, with rationale below.

Rationale

While we acknowledge the qualifications of the proposed individual, Christina Gianelloni, and the good intentions behind the proposal, the Intersect snap election was explicitly conducted to elect one Constitutional Committee member, and Cardano Curia was the clear winner of that process. Adding the runner-up cannot be considered an outcome of that election.

The Cardano Constitution does not clearly permit or prohibit expanding the committee beyond replacing a resigning member, placing this proposal in a procedurally ambiguous area. Expanding the committee from seven to eight members also carries concrete implications, including changes to decision thresholds and potential additional compensation costs, which should not be introduced without a clear basis.

As DReps, we consider it reasonable to vote based on constitutional interpretation to avoid setting an unclear precedent. For these reasons, EMURGO votes NO.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES to add Cardano Curia as a new Constitutional Committee member, with rationale below.

Rationale

A Constitutional Committee member’s retirement reduced the committee to six members, which is below the committeeMinSize parameter. This has effectively paused Constitutional Committee ratification for most governance actions. Ratifying this action is the necessary continuity step to bring the Constitutional Committee back to seven members so that governance can function normally again.

Intersect’s snap election followed constitutional guardrails and a stake-weighted DRep process, and Cardano Curia received the highest support from participating DReps. We respect this community decision and trust Cardano Curia to carry the responsibilities of constitutional oversight for the remainder of the term. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on the treasury withdrawal governance action titled “Withdraw ₳70,000,000 for Cardano Critical Integrations Budget,” for the reasons outlined below.

Rationale

This decision aligns with our earlier YES vote and rationale for the corresponding Budget Info Action (gov_action13a2dqgwxum7d6kjfprcs57cf9733ek2dkt5qnuhqd4ll5ntcwu7sqluwkxd). The community has shown strong momentum and conviction around this budget. The BIA surpassed 50 percent DRep approval at an exceptional pace just a few days after launch, signaling both clear agreement on the direction and a shared urgency to move into execution.

We also observe that this momentum has continued to build. This is reinforced by the community-initiated extension of the 2025 NCL, which has also surpassed 50 percent DRep support, alongside overwhelming backing from multiple directions across the ecosystem. Together, these signals reflect a growing consensus that Cardano critical integrations are not optional enhancements, but a core requirement for ecosystem reliability, adoption, and long-term scalability.

In this context, the treasury withdrawal is the necessary operational follow-through on a priority that the community has already validated. It also reflects the trust placed in the pentad to carry this mission forward, a responsibility we take very seriously. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on the Info Action titled “2025 Net Change Limit Extension.” Our rationale is provided below.

Rationale

This Info Action keeps the ₳350M Net Change Limit (NCL) unchanged and extends its duration by eight epochs. Since the current NCL expires at the conclusion of Epoch 604 and treasury withdrawals enact one epoch after ratification, this extension gives the Cardano Critical Integrations Budget a clear and constitutional runway to complete within the existing NCL. It is a straightforward timeline fix that upholds continuity without changing the cap that the community agreed on or weakening financial discipline.

We appreciate HOSKY and other Constitutional Committee members for submitting this in such a timely and constructive way. We see this as a strong sign of trust and collaboration between the founding entities and the Cardano community, showing that when governance needs support, we step in for each other and keep the process moving forward together.

Since the next NCL has not yet been proposed, this short extension provides a responsible bridge, allowing governance to transition into the next NCL period without unnecessary friction. For these reasons, EMURGO votes YES.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES for the Budget Info Action titled “Cardano Critical Integrations Budget” with the rationale provided below.
Rationale

We see this action as a proactive step to accelerate Cardano’s ecosystem maturity. The proposal focuses on critical integrations that Cardano needs for large-scale economic activity and external liquidity integration, including tier one stablecoins and the supporting infrastructure such as oracle networks, cross-chain bridges, institutional digital asset custody and wallet infrastructures, and on-chain analytics platforms.

Delivering these integrations at the ecosystem level will strengthen the shared foundations every dApp depends on, expand access to external capital, and position tier one stablecoin onboarding as a clear near-term milestone for DeFi growth.

We also place strong weight on Intersect’s leading role in this initiative. This Budget Info Action is submitted by Intersect, which will act as the Administrator under Cardano’s constitutional framework and administer the entire budget.

Input | Output Global, the Cardano Foundation, and EMURGO are supporting this pathway as co-authors, with the Midnight Foundation providing strong support in advancing all commercial discussions and negotiations. All five organizations are represented through a shared Steering Committee.

This structure, with Intersect leading as the Constitutional Administrator and the founding entities backing the program’s strategic direction, increases confidence in partner selection, execution readiness, and long-term ecosystem value. EMURGO’s direct involvement in the Steering Committee and negotiations reflects our commitment to ensuring these integrations deliver meaningful outcomes for Cardano.

EMURGO believes this budget is vital for onboarding critical integrations that Cardano requires for large-scale economic activity and external liquidity integration. We therefore endorse this Budget Info Action and cast a YES vote.

Summary

EMURGO DRep votes YES on the Budget Info Action to reimburse 100,000 ADA related to the “Cardanoの生きがい (Ikigai)” Info Action.

Rationale

We support reimbursing the original 100,000 ADA deposit because it was lost due to a protocol bug during the very early phase of on-chain governance, not due to user misconduct. Restoring the deposit aligns with community sentiment at the time and reflects fairness toward early governance participants.

However, the proposal does not clearly establish who is submitting this reimbursement request, what their relationship is to the original Ikigai author, nor whether the original author explicitly wishes to have the deposit returned. We would like to see explicit confirmation from the original proposer, or a clear proof of continuity before any withdrawal is executed.

The community has discussed Ikigai reimbursement for a long time, yet this request (especially the extra 3,000 ADA) is only coming now, raising concern that the longer someone waits, the more “missed opportunities” they can claim, potentially incentivizing strategic delays in future cases. While we will still vote YES on the proposal as submitted, our expectation for similar cases in the future is clearer identification of the claimant and a concrete, data-based justification for any amount that exceeds the original deposit.

EMURGO recognizes this as a critical, forward-looking investment in Cardano's brand integrity and digital sovereignty. Acquiring .ada and .cardano generic top-level domains proactively safeguards our ecosystem's identity from misuse and establishes a trusted foundation for future growth.

The fact that the Cardano Foundation is fully funding this initiative demonstrates strong alignment with its core mission and delivers immense strategic value to the entire community at absolutely no cost to the treasury. This is a prudent and necessary step.

Conclusion:

EMURGO as a DRep votes YES, fully supporting this initiative to secure vital digital assets that are inherently linked to our identity and future.

Rationale

We are highly supportive of ensuring that Constitutional Committee members receive sustainable compensation for their meaningful contributions. Their constitutional oversight is central to Cardano’s governance, and the Constitution itself anticipates that key governance roles should be fairly and appropriately compensated.

At the Cardano Summit in Berlin, EMURGO and Intersect organized a brief session with DReps, CC members, stake pool operators, and other governance enthusiasts to gather broader feedback. It became apparent that there is a gap in how the proposer and the DReps interpret the clarity of this Budget Info action.

Some DReps noted that the 1,000,000 ADA figure remains unclear, or that they are unsure where to find the most up-to-date supporting materials, while the proposer has provided certain rationales on X and other platforms.

This difference in perception highlights the need for a shared space where all relevant information can be presented transparently and discussed before moving forward. We acknowledge the materials and explanations provided by current CC members, but a common forum would help refine assumptions and strengthen collective understanding of the proposed compensation model.

Conclusion

Our abstention reflects the need for additional clarity and alignment. We remain highly supportive of establishing sustainable compensation for the Constitutional Committee; however, this proposal requires clearer justification and stronger consensus across stakeholders before we can fully endorse it.

Summary

EMURGO DRep votes YES on the Treasury Withdrawal proposal titled “Loan ₳5,000,000 to Expand Cardano's Global Listings.”

Rationale

As a follow-up to our prior YES vote on the Budget Info Action for this same initiative, EMURGO reaffirms its support for this proposal, recognizing it as a milestone in advancing Cardano’s governance and financial maturity. By adopting a loan-based funding structure, the proposal strengthens fiscal responsibility within Treasury operations, ensuring that ecosystem capital is both utilized productively and replenished over time.

The Snek Foundation has already demonstrated strong operational capability by independently securing Tier 1 listings, historic achievements for Cardano-native assets. Their consistent delivery record and readiness to engage in structured repayments underscore both competence and commitment.

Additionally, with EMURGO CEO Phillip Pon serving on the Board of Advisors, this proposal offers a valuable opportunity to contribute to oversight and strategic alignment, ensuring that execution remains accountable, transparent, and aligned with Cardano’s broader market growth objectives.

Conclusion

EMURGO supports this governance action as a natural progression of our earlier endorsement under the Budget Info Action. The proposal not only amplifies Cardano’s global visibility but also pioneers a sustainable funding model for the ecosystem. We encourage the Snek team to maintain continued transparency and detailed performance reporting throughout its implementation.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes NO on the governance action to adopt Cardano Constitution v2.3.

Rationale

EMURGO deeply appreciates Yuta’s leadership and continued dedication in advancing the Cardano Constitution. The proposed v2.3 introduces valuable refinements to structure, consistency, and readability that contribute to the ongoing evolution of Cardano’s governance framework.

However, several changes in this version raise substantive concerns regarding governance clarity and decentralization safeguards. The revised Net Change Limit weakens the explicit link between approved budgets and treasury withdrawals, potentially diluting fiscal accountability.

The updated Audit Requirement creates uncertainty around execution and funding responsibility, reducing procedural clarity. Additionally, the expanded Custodian Consent clause broadens custodial authority, which may inadvertently increase centralization risks and weaken user consent protections.

While these issues may stem from good intentions to streamline the Constitution and the governance process, the current wording introduces ambiguity in areas that are foundational to Cardano’s accountability and decentralized governance model.

Conclusion

EMURGO’s NO vote reflects a commitment to preserving procedural integrity, transparency, and decentralization within Cardano’s constitutional design. We commend Yuta’s continued effort and emphasize that EMURGO remains ready to collaborate and facilitate further discussions to refine these sections in future amendments, ensuring clarity and balance in the governance framework moving forward.

Summary:

EMURGO as DRep abstains on the governance action to fund Cardano GovTool – Treasury Withdrawal for 12 months of active maintenance and development, following the previously approved Budget Info Action for ₳1.15M.

Rationale:

EMURGO recognizes that GovTool has made clear progress since the previous Info Action, particularly in technical performance and delivery structure. The proposal presents a stronger framework for accountability and transparency under Intersect’s oversight.

However, given the ongoing adjustments in Cardano’s governance landscape and the need to observe how these operational improvements perform over time, EMURGO believes a neutral position is most appropriate. Abstaining reflects continued support for the process and the principle of community-driven governance, while allowing room for further evaluation of execution consistency in the months ahead.

Conclusion:

EMURGO as DRep abstains, acknowledging GovTool’s significance and progress, while maintaining a balanced and observant stance in alignment with EMURGO’s responsibility to support both accountability and long-term ecosystem stability.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes to ABSTAIN on the governance action titled Cardano 2030 Vision & Strategy.

Rationale

EMURGO fully supports the importance of establishing a clear, community-backed long-term vision and strategy for Cardano. However, based on information from the Product Committee of Intersect, an official governance action covering this topic is already scheduled to be released at the end of October. Voting on the current version would lead to overlapping actions and potentially incomplete inputs being considered ahead of the full proposal.

Conclusion

By abstaining now, EMURGO signals support for the process, but will provide its full position once the official governance action is published to ensure clarity, completeness, and alignment with community expectations.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action titled Stablecoin DeFi Liquidity Budget.

Rationale
EMURGO supports this proposal as we believe it directly strengthens the foundations of Cardano’s decentralized finance ecosystem. Deep, reliable liquidity, especially in fiat-backed stablecoins, is critical for onboarding new users, enabling developers, and ensuring that DeFi protocols can scale sustainably.

This proposal introduces a balanced model: revenue generation for the treasury through protocol deployment, legal structures to safeguard community funds, and transparent oversight via the tDAO with dRep participation. Importantly, it creates public goods such as open-source governance contracts and legal frameworks that will benefit future initiatives beyond this single fund.

The mechanism to minimize ADA price impact through OTC deals and gradual liquidation demonstrates responsibility and foresight. By seeding liquidity now, Cardano positions itself to attract professional market makers, spur innovation, and increase long-term adoption.

Conclusion

EMURGO believes this initiative is well-structured, constitutionally compliant, and crucial for Cardano’s growth trajectory. As one of the interim committee members, EMURGO is committed to ensuring this fund is administered responsibly, transparently, and always in the best interest of the community.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes to ABSTAIN on the governance action to fund Cardano in Oceania: A community-led strategic plan for investing in growth.

Rationale

We deeply appreciate the effort and intention behind this proposal, which is well-prepared, transparent, and aligned with Cardano’s values. Regional initiatives like this are important in strengthening Cardano’s global presence, and we value the proposer’s commitment to community building and adoption in Oceania.

At the same time, EMURGO is currently advancing a unified global marketing initiative aimed at creating consistent and cohesive branding for Cardano worldwide. We believe the activities described in this proposal, such as events, storytelling, and community engagement, would thrive as part of that unified effort. For this reason, we highly recommend that the proposer connect with the GMC of Intersect to explore opportunities for consolidation and integration into the unified marketing plan for 2026.

Conclusion

By abstaining, EMURGO acknowledges the strong value of this initiative and encourages closer collaboration with the broader marketing framework to maximize impact and ensure a globally unified Cardano presence.

Summary

EMURGO DRep votes YES on the Budget Info Action titled “₳5M Loan for Cardano’s Global Listing Expansion - Powered by SNEK.”

Rationale

We view this proposal as an important innovation in governance. By introducing a loan-based model, it sets a precedent for how Treasury funds can be used responsibly while ensuring capital can be recycled back into the ecosystem. This aligns with EMURGO’s vision of evolving Cardano’s governance with sustainability and accountability at its core.

The Snek Foundation has already proven execution capacity by self-funding Tier 1 exchange listings on Kraken, Crypto.com, and KuCoin, and is now positioned to expand Cardano’s visibility and liquidity globally. The inclusion of a high-profile Board of Advisors adds credibility and alignment with Cardano’s broader strategic goals.

Conclusion

EMURGO supports this governance action as a meaningful step toward strengthening Cardano’s market presence and governance maturity. If this governance action passes, the subsequent Treasury Withdrawal should include a clear repayment plan and well-defined tangible success metrics.

These details will be critical to ensure accountability and to demonstrate the measurable benefits this initiative brings to the broader Cardano ecosystem.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes to ABSTAIN on the governance action to ratify the Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Constitution v2.0.

Rationale

We appreciate the effort to improve the Constitution through amendment, especially the attempt to clarify definitions and introduce additional oversight standards. These updates show a genuine commitment to strengthening governance and moving the ecosystem forward.

At the same time, we remain concerned with both the process and content. The proposal moved on-chain while significant feedback was still emerging, showing that broader consensus has not yet been reached. On substance, removing the budget Info Action weakens the link between treasury withdrawals and long-term priorities. In addition, changes to the auto-abstain safeguard create ambiguity around the influence of treasury funds on governance outcomes.

Conclusion
Given these open concerns and the need for wider deliberation, EMURGO chooses to abstain at this stage. This decision reflects a call for further discussion and refinement before bringing forward such an important revision.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes NO on governance action titled “Withdraw ₳5M for Cardano's Global Listing Expansion - Powered by Snek”

Rationale
The Snek team has demonstrated exceptional execution capability, securing Tier 1 listings through self-funding and driving unmatched adoption for a Cardano-native token. These achievements are commendable and recognized.

However, EMURGO maintains a principle that treasury allocations for exchange listings should be tied to clear, measurable benefits for the broader ecosystem, either through collective infrastructure, demonstrable long-term ROI, or repayment to the Treasury. In its current form, this proposal focuses on a single-token listing without such mechanisms in place, creating a precedent that may be difficult to sustain.

Conclusion
We invite the Snek team to submit a revised version that:

Provides a corrected, transparent budget
Establishes either a repayment model or a shared infrastructure plan
Aligns deliverables with measurable ecosystem-wide outcomes

With such adjustments, EMURGO would be open to reassessing support.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes NO on the governance action to fund the Cardano Global Listing Expansion initiative by the Snek Foundation.

Rationale

The Snek team has demonstrated exceptional execution capability, securing Tier 1 listings through self-funding and driving unmatched adoption for a Cardano native token. These achievements are commendable and recognized. However, EMURGO maintains a principle that treasury allocations for exchange listings should be tied to clear, measurable benefits for the broader ecosystem, either through collective infrastructure, demonstrable long-term ROI, or repayment to the Treasury. In its current form, this proposal focuses on a single-token listing without such mechanisms in place, creating a precedent that may be difficult to sustain.

Conclusion

We invite the Snek team to submit a revised version that: Provides a corrected, transparent budget

Establishes either a repayment model or a shared infrastructure plan

Aligns deliverables with measurable ecosystem-wide outcomes

With such adjustments, EMURGO would be open to reassessing support.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to enact the newly elected Constitutional Committee (CC), replacing the Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC) at the end of epoch 580.

Rationale
This governance action ensures a smooth transition from the ICC to the newly elected CC, following a transparent, accessible, and independently verified election process. The staggered 73- and 146-epoch terms will maintain stability while allowing for periodic renewal. EMURGO welcomes this change as part of Cardano’s decentralization journey and is confident the new CC will serve the community well.

Summary:

EMURGO as DRep votes NO on the governance action to fund Tempo for Cardano Governance – Maintenance & Development Budget for 2025.

Rationale

EMURGO appreciates and acknowledges Tempo.Vote’s intention to enhance Cardano governance accessibility, particularly its efforts in running independent infrastructure and offering mobile-friendly governance tools. These contributions align with Cardano’s long-term vision for decentralization and user empowerment.
However, as this proposal functions as a Budget Info Action, which signals community intent for future treasury withdrawal, we believe it must meet a higher threshold of clarity and accountability. At this stage, the proposal falls short in several key areas:

The budget requested lacks sufficient justification. No clear roadmap, milestones, or timeline have been provided to track the proposed deliverables.

Details regarding the development team, their past contributions, or their public accountability mechanisms are missing.

There are no stated metrics for success or community impact, making it difficult to evaluate outcomes.
Although Selfdriven is listed as the fund administrator, no governance process for fund management has been described.

While we support the proposed features, such as mobile-friendly governance action creation and improved UX, the absence of structural elements and execution clarity limits our confidence in the proposal as a credible basis for future funding.

Conclusion
We encourage Tempo.Vote to revise and resubmit with stronger documentation, clearer financial breakdowns, and robust transparency mechanisms. The Cardano ecosystem benefits from tools like Tempo, and we look forward to seeing a future iteration that the community can confidently support.

Summary:

EMURGO as DRep abstains from the governance action to fund Cardano GovTool – Budget for 12 months of full active maintenance and development.

Rationale:
We recognize that GovTool plays a vital role in shaping Cardano’s on-chain governance experience. The proposal outlines clear intentions and presents ongoing improvements in transparency and accessibility. However, there are still areas that need deeper clarity, particularly regarding execution risk and delivery accountability.

The timing of this proposal coincides with a pivotal moment in Cardano’s governance development. While the team behind the proposal is respected and has been involved since the tool’s inception, this context places even more importance on demonstrating operational resilience and clearly defined milestones. As it stands, the proposal leaves room for doubt regarding whether the team can sustain momentum and meet expectations in this critical phase.

We abstain from voting at this time, not out of opposition, but out of caution. We invite the proposers to strengthen their narrative around execution strategy and delivery assurance to ensure lasting trust in Cardano's foundational governance infrastructure

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano: Tokenized Real Estate based on the rationale below

Rationale
This proposal introduces a meaningful real-world use case that aligns with Cardano’s vision of connecting blockchain with global financial systems. By tokenizing home equity, Haus unlocks liquidity for homeowners while offering new, stable investment opportunities for users. The project is backed by an experienced team, proven traction, and a clear roadmap, including legal and DeFi integration. EMURGO also appreciates the project’s open-source approach and its commitment to donating back to the treasury, signaling long-term alignment with Cardano’s sustainability goals. We see this as a powerful driver of ecosystem growth and RWA adoption on Cardano.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund the Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin based on the rationale provided below.

Rationale
This proposal addresses one of the most urgent strategic needs for Cardano: unlocking Bitcoin liquidity through seamless developer tooling and infrastructure. As Bitcoin remains the largest asset in crypto, its integration into Cardano via Maestro’s stack has the potential to catalyze a new era of DeFi growth, TVL increase, and adoption.

We believe that Maestro’s solution is technically feasible, backed by a team with a proven track record in supporting Cardano projects like wallets, DeFi protocols, and L2s. Their experience building robust indexers and infrastructure tools makes them a credible executor for this ambitious vision.

Beyond its technical depth, this proposal offers immense ecosystem value. It lowers the barrier for developers to create powerful cross-chain applications, from DEXes and lending platforms to NFT marketplaces and wallets, all using Cardano smart contracts backed by Bitcoin assets. This may unlock real economic potential and reinforces Cardano’s role as a scalable, modular, and innovation-driven platform.

Conclusion

By open-sourcing the indexer framework, the proposal also aligns with Cardano’s decentralization ethos and ensures that long-term ecosystem ownership is preserved. EMURGO is confident that this proposal delivers on both strategic and technical fronts, and therefore casts a YES vote.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund the 2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal.

Rationale
This proposal represents a structural and long-term investment in the future of Cardano. It goes beyond isolated technical upgrades and instead outlines a holistic strategy to enhance Cardano’s scalability, decentralization, and utility. EMURGO sees this as a continuation of Input Output Engineering’s critical role in shaping the protocol’s foundation, particularly through initiatives such as Ouroboros Leios, Hydra, Mithril, and the modular Acropolis node architecture.

We also recognize the significant emphasis on knowledge transfer, maintenance, and supplier diversity, which aligns with Cardano’s goal of open, decentralized development. With clearly defined deliverables, strategic alignment with the Product Roadmap, and a deep history of proven delivery, we believe this proposal is essential to prepare Cardano for real-world, high-scale use cases. Therefore, we cast our full support for this proposal.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers.

Rationale
Looking back, NFTCDN has proven itself as a highly reliable infrastructure provider, serving hundreds of million API requests with zero downtime. Its tools are already embedded in key Cardano products like Pool.pm, Eternl, and NMKR, showing clear real-world utility.
By offering this service free for 18 months, the proposal lowers technical and financial barriers for native asset adoption, an area central to Cardano’s growth in NFTs and RWAs. While the scope remains narrow, its infrastructure value is well-aligned with improving developer experience and end-user content delivery. EMURGO decides to support this proposal based on this rationale.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund ZK Bridge.

Rationale
This proposal tackles one of Cardano’s challenge: the absence of a trustless, scalable bridge infrastructure. By building a zero-knowledge bridge framework, it opens the door for safe interoperability with external chains, unlocking liquidity, boosting utility, and laying the foundation for future ZK-powered innovations like digital identity and privacy layers.

EMURGO acknowledges the strength of the proposing team, Eryx, whose proven expertise in cryptography and Aiken smart contracts adds confidence to the project's feasibility. We also recognize that although the cost has risen compared to earlier stages of ZK experimentation, the proposed output reflects a higher degree of sophistication and system-level relevance.

While future sustainabilityI models would further strengthen this initiative, we believe this proposal is a critical enabler of Cardano’s long-term interoperability strategy. Therefore, we support this governance action.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund the Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano proposal based on the rationale below.

Rationale
A cohesive global events and marketing strategy is essential to elevate Cardano’s visibility on the international stage. Competing ecosystems have made significant gains through consistent branding and developer outreach via flagship events.

This proposal as a standalone or as complementary of the other similar proposals offers a focused approach to positioning Cardano as a serious Layer 1 contender by aligning messaging, strengthening branding, and creating touchpoints across developer, enterprise, and policymaker communities. Given the scale of the opportunity and the need to reduce brand fragmentation, we proudly support this initiative and vote yes.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund zkFold ZK Rollup.
Rationale
We believe that ZK rollups represent a key piece of Cardano’s long-term scalability roadmap. zkFold’s approach to compressing smart contract transactions into a single L1 interaction aligns well with the goals of reducing congestion, lowering fees, and supporting high-performance dApps.
With the team already building a prototype independently, this proposal is a timely opportunity to back an early mover in ZK infrastructure for Cardano. While technical execution in this domain carries complexity, the team’s experience in Rust, Haskell, and ZK proofs provides a credible foundation. EMURGO supports this proposal as part of Cardano’s broader commitment to competitive L2 innovation.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to support Scalus – DApps Development Platform based on the rationale below.

Rationale
Scalus lowers the barrier to build on Cardano by enabling Scala-based development for smart contracts and full DApp stacks. This unlocks access to a large pool of Scala, Java, and Kotlin developers, especially from fintech sectors, enabling accelerated mainstream enterprise integration.

EMURGO supports this proposal as a timely step toward expanding Cardano’s developer base and creating more accessible tooling for real-world adoption.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to support the Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research.

Rationale
As Cardano matures beyond its founder-defined roadmap, creating a long-term vision driven by real user needs and grounded market insights becomes not only valuable but crucial. This proposal introduces the systematic approach to ecosystem-wide product research and strategic direction setting, anchored in active community engagement across global regions.

Intersect’s Product Committee is well-positioned to lead this effort, given their collaborative structure, prior outputs, and integration with other governance and technical bodies. With a relatively modest budget, the proposal offers high strategic return by establishing reusable research frameworks, validating use cases, and ensuring community alignment for the 2030 vision. EMURGO supports this initiative as a necessary step to sharpen Cardano’s strategic focus and unlock more targeted growth.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions.

Rationale
We support this proposal as it complements other community-led exhibition efforts and contributes to broader marketing visibility for Cardano.

Conclusion
EMURGO acknowledges this proposal's practical model to empower projects, raise ecosystem awareness, and encourage marketing collaboration.

Summary
EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES for Hardware Wallets Maintenance, based on the rationale provided below.

Rationale
This proposal ensures the ongoing maintenance and timely upgrades of key hardware wallets like Ledger, Trezor, and Keystone, allowing users to safely interact with Cardano as the protocol evolves. Hardware wallet integration is a critical layer of user security, and any lag in updates can result in incompatibility with new features or complete access issues.

Vacuumlabs has consistently delivered high-quality work in this area since 2018, maintaining and improving core libraries and tools while actively supporting developers. Their expertise and deep familiarity with the ecosystem make them the ideal team to continue this work. The proposal also outlines support for audits and clear communication around developer tooling, showing a proactive approach to quality and accountability.

In conclusion, EMURGO strongly supports the continued development and maintenance of hardware wallet infrastructure and recognizes Vacuumlabs’ essential role in upholding the Cardano user experience and security standards.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action titled Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps based on the rationale below.

Rationale
This proposal tackles several critical infrastructure gaps that have long limited Cardano’s growth in DeFi, enterprise use, and global accessibility. From enabling institutional-grade custody to expanding the availability of USDA on exchanges and in frontier markets, the deliverables outlined show a clear path to solving real adoption barriers. EMURGO especially values the emphasis on low-cost on/off ramps and real-world integrations, such as payroll and remittances, which reflect Cardano’s founding mission to create equitable financial access. We also note that with the budget asked, the team plans to scale operations significantly and has demonstrated experience in both crypto infrastructure and global payments.

Cardano’s growth depends not only on technical evolution but also on practical usability across regions where blockchain can make a tangible difference. This proposal represents a coordinated push to realize that potential. We support the initiative and look forward to closely monitoring its execution and impact.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Blockfrost Platform Community Budget Proposal.

Rationale
Decentralizing access to Cardano data infrastructure is a critical step toward long-term ecosystem resilience. The Blockfrost Platform, through the Icebreaker initiative, enables Stake Pool Operators to play an expanded role while reducing dependence on centralized services.

This proposal introduces practical, scalable incentives for SPOs and aligns with the roadmap’s emphasis on infrastructure decentralization. With planned Hydra integration for micro-payments and a roadmap to open-source all core components, the initiative is not only technically sound but also strategically aligned with Cardano’s decentralization ethos.

EMURGO supports this effort as a meaningful investment into infrastructure that empowers builders and enhances the reliability of tools widely used across the ecosystem.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs

Rationale
EMURGO recognizes this proposal as a timely contribution toward refining the governance infrastructure surrounding Catalyst. By introducing decentralized identity, reputation tracking, and quadratic funding models, it opens up pathways for more equitable and efficient community participation.

We see strong potential in its experiment with reviewer-proposal pairing and structured impact reporting, both of which could help address long-standing issues in quality control and Sybil resistance. The inclusion of public dashboards and DID-backed performance data also strengthens transparency across the board.

This initiative doesn’t only aim to improve Catalyst—it also gives the community a clearer view of how identity-based governance might work on Cardano in the future. Since the budget also supports Cardano-native builders, we believe this is a smart and strategic reinvestment.

EMURGO is voting Yes in support of this effort, and we look forward to the insights it will generate for broader governance evolution.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Cardano Builder DAO based on the rationale below:

Rationale
This proposal addresses a critical funding gap for established dApps already driving usage, TVL, and utility on Cardano. EMURGO has always championed initiatives that empower builders to build and scale within the ecosystem, and this DAO offers the right structure for sustained support beyond Catalyst.

With a community-led approach, DAO governance, and transparent KPI-based accountability, this proposal complements existing funding pathways while elevating the application layer. We believe it will enhance ecosystem resilience and long-term developer retention;two pillars vital to Cardano's growth.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool submitted by Flowdesk.

Rationale
This proposal addresses two key bottlenecks in Cardano’s growth: the lack of Cardano Native Tokens (CNTs) on Tier 1 exchanges and the absence of institutional-grade market-making. Without access to these critical components, many CNTs remain illiquid and isolated from broader market participation.

Flowdesk, a well-established market infrastructure provider recently backed by BlackRock and HV Capital, proposes a service model that is transparent, non-custodial, and results-driven. The company will not receive any funds from the Intersect treasury for facilitating the listings. Instead, it will act as a gatekeeper, ensuring that only projects with verified agreements and adequate on-chain liquidity qualify for support. Treasury funds will be used to pay exchanges directly or fund MMAAS for eligible projects.

EMURGO believes that increasing CNT presence on major exchanges and ensuring sustained liquidity through MMAAS will not only improve token accessibility but also drive more users, capital, and confidence into the Cardano ecosystem. The value it promises in strategic market access, if executed with strong oversight, is worth supporting.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund OSC Budget Proposal – Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development.

Rationale
We support this OSC budget because it not only covers the maintenance of previously developed open-source tools, but also includes grants for building new ones — a combination we believe makes perfect sense. It strikes a thoughtful balance between sustaining the current ecosystem and fueling future innovation, under the stewardship of a credible committee.

Conclusion
EMURGO sees this as a pragmatic and strategic approach to securing the future of open-source on Cardano and we fully support it.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action titled TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025, based on the rationale below.

Rationale
TWEAG’s proposal reflects Cardano’s shift toward decentralized development by introducing high-impact infrastructure initiatives that complement its 2025 core roadmap. EMURGO sees this as a positive step in diversifying Cardano’s technical contributors beyond IOG, encouraging a more resilient and collaborative ecosystem. However, to avoid duplication and ensure efficient use of funds, we emphasize the importance of Technical Steering Committee oversight and coordination with other proposals. With clear deliverables and the right governance checks, this proposal holds strong strategic value.

Conclusion
EMURGO supports this proposal as a meaningful contribution to Cardano’s future and the evolution of its development model.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to support the Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision – Work Program 2025 based on rationale below.

Rationale
The Cardano Vision work program represents a strategic backbone for the ecosystem’s next chapter. As the network shifts toward decentralized governance, continued research leadership is essential to ensure technical continuity, protocol integrity, and credible innovation.

This proposal offers a comprehensive, multi-year framework grounded in academic rigor and designed to produce actionable insights ranging from peer-reviewed papers to validated prototypes and CIPs. With a proven history of delivering foundational breakthroughs across Cardano’s protocol stack, Input Output Global remains uniquely positioned to execute this initiative with the depth, expertise, and consistency it demands. EMURGO votes yes on this proposal as a foundational layer of Cardano’s future resilience.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Cardano Summit 2025 and Regional Tech Events based on rationale provided below

Rationale
As a global event platform, the Cardano Summit has consistently delivered strategic value; from developer onboarding and ecosystem coordination to attracting capital and media attention. The 2025 proposal builds on that momentum with a multi-regional model co-executed by community-aligned partners.

EMURGO is confident in the Cardano Foundation’s track record and its ability to deliver world-class events. This year, we are honored to contribute as a regional co-host for the India Summit and will continue to support initiatives that expand Cardano’s adoption across global hubs.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to support A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect.

Rationale
EMURGO acknowledges Intersect’s expanding role in coordinating Cardano’s governance and development activities, including managing roadmap processes, supporting elected committees, and maintaining community infrastructure. These responsibilities are essential as the network transitions toward more decentralized execution.

While the proposal presents a significant cost increase from the previous cycle, the capped allocation, quarterly disbursement, and commitment to return unused funds provide reasonable guardrails. However, the scale and ambition of the activities outlined make it especially important for the DReps and broader community to monitor delivery closely and ensure the intended value is realized.

Our support reflects recognition of the need for stable coordination infrastructure at this stage of Cardano’s evolution, while also emphasizing the importance of accountability and execution quality.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action for Midgard – Optimistic Rollups, based on the rationale below.

Rationale
Midgard presents a bold, deeply Cardano-native approach to rollups, directly leveraging the strengths of the eUTxO model to enable permissionless, non-custodial, and censorship-resistant L2s. Unlike many Ethereum-based alternatives, Midgard’s architecture allows for simplified, single-party fraud proofs and seamless fee alignment with L1 via ADA-based transactions.

Its tokenless design, L1-fee contribution model, and support for decentralized operators make it a potential cornerstone for scalable Cardano dApps. The proposal is highly technical but aligns with the core goals of L2 expansion, and the team at Anastasia Labs has a proven open-source track record.

Conclusion
Given the innovation, alignment with Cardano’s architecture, and the potential for long-term L1 economic value, EMURGO supports this proposal and votes Yes.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure, based on the rationale below.

Rationale
Catalyst has been instrumental in growing Cardano’s innovation layer, and this proposal represents a comprehensive next step in its decentralization journey. By combining infrastructure upgrades through Hermes, a redesigned user experience, and the execution of three funding rounds, the proposal aligns strongly with Cardano’s 2025 goals. EMURGO values the inclusion of diversified voting mechanics, better accessibility across devices, and infrastructure that promotes transparency and efficiency. The introduction of RetroPGF and continued support for open-source and grassroots projects signals a matured direction for Catalyst, with positive long-term impact on the ecosystem.

Conclusion
Conclusion
EMURGO acknowledges the critical role of the Catalyst program in advancing Cardano’s decentralized innovation funding and infrastructure. Accordingly, we vote YES on this governance action in support of its continued development.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire based on the rationale provided below.

Rationale
This proposal fills a critical gap in Cardano’s governance by introducing a structured, data-informed process to evaluate and improve how decisions are made. As governance becomes the core differentiator between Cardano and other blockchain ecosystems, continuous reflection and iteration are essential.
IOG’s leadership in delivering foundational governance frameworks like CIP-1694 and the Constitution lends strong credibility to this initiative. The proposal’s methodical approach that combines research, community feedback, and practical recommendations positions it as a high-impact enabler for long-term Cardano governance maturity.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund the Eternl Maintenance proposal.

Rationale
Eternl is one of the most widely used wallets in the Cardano ecosystem, playing a key role in user accessibility and developer testing. While the wallet remains a closed-source product, we recognize the operational importance of keeping its services stable and responsive.

This proposal provides transparent, cost-based justification for maintenance over the next year. Given its current role and community reach, we support this proposal with the understanding that further openness and long-term sustainability planning will be needed going forward.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Gerolamo – Cardano Node in TypeScript based on the rationale provided below.

Rationale
EMURGO supports the strategic vision behind this proposal, which aims to deliver a lightweight Cardano node that runs directly in the browser using TypeScript. This project has the potential to significantly lower technical barriers to entry and expand the developer base by offering a more familiar language and environment. The ability for dApps to operate without relying on centralized backend nodes is closely aligned with Cardano’s core principles of decentralization and accessibility.

While we recognize the proposal’s technical ambition and its potential to accelerate broader adoption, we also acknowledge the complexity of delivering a secure, performant node in a browser context. The success of this project will depend on its ability to demonstrate resilience, standards compliance, and real-world usability over time. Nonetheless, we find the innovation and direction promising and worth supporting.

Conclusion
In conclusion, EMURGO believes that investing in a browser-based light node implementation can be a transformative step for the Cardano ecosystem. We vote YES on this governance action and look forward to seeing how Harmonic Labs advances the decentralization and usability of Cardano through Gerolamo.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund PyCardano.

Rationale
PyCardano plays a foundational role in supporting Python developers building on Cardano, an essential step in broadening the ecosystem's reach beyond Haskell and JavaScript. With over 170 open source projects and 9,000+ monthly downloads, its community adoption is clear.

This proposal ensures PyCardano remains compatible with key upgrades such as Leios and Midnight. While the cost reflects a solo senior engineer, EMURGO sees value in sustaining a critical tool already integrated into Cardano DeFi, education, and infrastructure projects and decides to vote YES.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to support the Ledger App Rewrite proposal.

Rationale
Ledger remains a critical access point for ADA holders worldwide, especially those prioritizing hardware wallet security. This proposal addresses long-standing UX inconsistencies within the Cardano Ledger app, aligning it with modern standards and streamlining the user journey.

We believe that Vacuumlabs is well-positioned to carry out this work. Combined with their separate proposal on long-term hardware wallet maintenance, this rewrite ensures both compatibility with Ledger’s testing suite and future device updates. EMURGO supports this effort as a meaningful improvement to the Cardano user experience and ecosystem reliability and therefore has voted Yes for this propposal.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano, based on the rationale below.

Rationale
Cexplorer.io stands out as a high-traffic, well-maintained blockchain explorer already trusted by many users. Its robust infrastructure, clear deliverables, and strong team give us confidence in its ability to continue delivering real-time insights and developer-facing tools. While Cardano has several explorers, the platform’s proven utility and community presence justify further investment. Supporting this proposal ensures ongoing reliability and usability for developers, SPOs, and end users alike.

Conclusion
In conclusion, EMURGO supports this proposal due to its track record, high usage, and relevance to ecosystem infrastructure, especially for developer and user transparency needs.

Summary
EMURGO as a DRep votes YES on this governance action based on the rationale below.

Rationale
Plutarch plays a vital role in enabling performant, low-level smart contract development across the Cardano ecosystem. As an embedded Haskell-based DSL, it is foundational for advanced dApp developers, allowing for more efficient scripting and optimized transaction costs. Its wide adoption—by projects like Genius Yield, AADA, Liqwid, and many more—proves its importance. This proposal seeks funding for ongoing maintenance and enhancement, ensuring that Plutarch remains up-to-date with Cardano’s evolving protocol, especially ahead of upcoming hardforks. The technical scope is clear, and the team at MLabs has a proven track record in maintaining complex infrastructure tools.

In conclusion, EMURGO supports continued investment in Plutarch to ensure the resilience and reliability of Cardano’s smart contract ecosystem.

Summary
EMURGO, as a DRep, votes YES on "Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano," recognizing its essential contribution to the Cardano developer ecosystem.

Rationale
Pallas has proven itself as a foundational open-source library for Rust-based development within Cardano. It provides critical building blocks such as cryptographic primitives and CBOR encoding, serving as a backbone for many high-impact projects including Aiken, Lucid, Mithril, and Amaru. These integrations demonstrate Pallas’ wide utility and indispensable role in supporting infrastructure across the Cardano ecosystem.

The proposal outlines a clear, focused plan to sustain and enhance Pallas through ongoing maintenance, updates, and community engagement. TxPipe’s active track record, combined with their technical competence, provides confidence in their ability to deliver. The open-source nature of this project also ensures transparency and continued contributions from the broader community, aligning with Cardano’s principles of decentralization and collaboration.

In conclusion, EMURGO supports this proposal and we're optimistic it will contribute to Cardano ecosystem’s long-term resilience and developer experience, enabling innovation and reducing infrastructure complexity for builders working in Rust.

Summary
EMURGO, as a DRep, supports the “UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration” proposal and votes YES on this governance action.

Rationale
UTxO RPC plays a crucial role in the Cardano ecosystem by offering a standardized and developer-friendly interface for interacting with UTxO-based blockchains. EMURGO recognizes the importance of this tool in powering integrations for key applications such as Lace, Mesh, and Amaru. Continued development and support for UTxO RPC ensures stability, performance, and accessibility for projects building on Cardano. The proposal outlines a sustainable path forward with dedicated developer resources and community involvement, and its open-source nature ensures transparency and continuous innovation.

In conclusion, EMURGO supports this initiative as a key infrastructure layer that enhances developer experience and supports long-term growth of Cardano’s technical ecosystem.

Summary
EMURGO, as a DRep, votes Yes of the “Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node” proposal, based on the rationale provided below.

Rationale
Dolos represents a meaningful advancement in Cardano’s developer infrastructure. Designed as a lightweight data node, it enables dApps to query blockchain data efficiently without the resource demands of a full node. The project is already live, open source, and actively maintained by TxPipe, an established and proven contributor to the Cardano ecosystem. With over 366 commits and 21 contributors, Dolos has gained traction among developers who rely on it for fast, reliable access to on-chain data.

This proposal requests funding to ensure long-term compatibility with Cardano protocol updates, continued performance optimization, and improved developer support. Maintaining its stability is critical to the smooth functioning of other infrastructure projects built around it. By supporting this proposal, EMURGO affirms the value of tools that enhance scalability, developer experience, and decentralization across Cardano.

Conclusion
In conclusion, EMURGO supports this proposal as a strategic investment in Cardano’s backend infrastructure. We believe Dolos will play a key role in expanding accessibility and performance for developers and dApps, and we commend TxPipe’s continued commitment to open-source innovation.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action titled AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer.

Rationale
AdaStat.net is a long-standing and trusted blockchain explorer that contributes significantly to Cardano’s decentralization and transparency. Its consistent reliability, user-friendly interface, and real-time insights make it an essential tool for SPOs, DReps, developers, and users alike.

We especially value its privacy-conscious design, no-tracking policy, and free public API, which align with Cardano’s values. By continuing support for AdaStat, this proposal helps strengthen the infrastructure layer of the ecosystem—ensuring critical data remains accessible and open.

Conclusion
AdaStat has proven its value to the Cardano community and deserves continued support to stay robust, relevant, and community-powered.

Summary
EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano, based on the rationale provided below.

Rationale
EMURGO believes OpShin represents a crucial gateway for expanding smart contract development on Cardano by lowering technical entry barriers. Unlike other contract languages in the ecosystem that require specialized functional programming skills, OpShin leverages Python, one of the most widely adopted languages globally to make Cardano development far more accessible and familiar to a broader developer base.

The toolchain is already functional, open source, and has a history of steady development supported by multiple Catalyst grants. Its strict typing, compilation efficiency, and integration with modern Python tooling reflect a thoughtful and production-ready approach. Given the ongoing need to attract new talent and simplify onboarding in Cardano's smart contract space, we find this initiative highly strategic and cost-effective.

Conclusion
In conclusion, EMURGO supports funding OpShin as an impactful, developer-friendly toolchain that can drive adoption, ecosystem growth, and accessibility.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund Lucid Evolution Maintenance by Anastasia Labs, based on the rationale below.

Rationale

EMURGO recognizes that maintaining a seamless, well-documented, and community-supported tooling layer like Lucid is essential for onboarding new developers, reducing time-to-market for dApps, and ensuring that existing integrations remain reliable through protocol changes such as the upcoming Chang hard fork.

This proposal supports Lucid's evolution with critical updates, ecosystem engagement, documentation enhancements, and codebase optimizations, all of which contribute directly to the growth of Cardano’s dApp infrastructure and developer experience.

Conclusion
In conclusion, EMURGO supports this governance action as a cost-effective, high-impact investment into a library that already demonstrates high utility and adoption across the ecosystem.

Summary

EMURGO as DRep votes YES on the governance action to fund MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves – GrumpleStiltSkin based on the rationale below

Rationale

This proposal targets one of the foundational gaps in Cardano’s ZK and privacy infrastructure: reusable, composable cryptographic primitives. MLabs proposes to deliver a flexible and open-source elliptic curve toolkit in Plutarch that can support a wide range of use cases beyond current hardcoded implementations. By enabling developers to verify ZK proofs over customizable curves and fields, this work addresses a systemic barrier to ZK app growth.

EMURGO views this as a key technical foundation for advancing privacy, authentication, and smart contract innovation on Cardano. We are confident in MLabs’ capability to deliver meaningful results through their strong track record and deep ecosystem involvement.

Summary

EMURGO votes YES on the governance action to fund the maintenance and enhancement of Cardano.nix by MLabs.

Rationale

Cardano.nix is a foundational toolset that enables developers and operators to deploy Cardano infrastructure with reproducible builds via the Nix ecosystem. Its use by key Cardano stakeholders such as IOG and the Daedalus Wallet team underlines its importance in the broader development and operations landscape.

The proposal is focused on ensuring Cardano.nix remains compatible with upstream changes in Nixpkgs, Cardano node versions, and the Haskell ecosystem. It also plans to include usability enhancements and features based on evolving community needs. By preventing drift and maintaining compatibility, this work safeguards deployment stability for SPOs, dApp developers, and enterprises alike.

From a technical and operational perspective, the request is modest in scope, centered on necessary maintenance and minor improvements with clear deliverables and timeline. Given MLabs' proven expertise and consistent track record in Cardano infrastructure tooling, EMURGO believes this proposal represents high value with relatively low risk.

Conclusion

In conclusion, EMURGO strongly supports this proposal as a strategic investment in the reliability and robustness of Cardano's developer tooling ecosystem. Ensuring Cardano.nix continues to evolve and support reproducible infrastructure will enhance operational efficiency and lower onboarding friction for new builders.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes Yes on Amaru Treasury Withdrawal governance action.

Rationale

EMURGO supports this treasury withdrawal, recognizing it as a groundbreaking milestone for funding an alternative node implementation through a transparent and auditable process. We have unwavering confidence in PRAGMA’s technical expertise and their dedication to building a more flexible and resilient Cardano ecosystem. By diversifying node implementations beyond the current Haskell-based version, Amaru directly addresses long-standing challenges for developers and creates new opportunities for innovation, security, and growth within the community.

This proposal stands out for its strong commitment to financial transparency and accountability. We appreciate the inclusion of an independent auditor, whose oversight will ensure responsible management of funds. The project team has already taken clear, proactive steps to facilitate future audits for all transactions executed from the smart contracts.

We also find the use of intermediary smart contracts before any disbursement to beneficiaries particularly reassuring. This approach enforces robust on-chain controls: funds held in the contract cannot be delegated to any SPO and must be delegated to an auto-abstain DRep. This not only prevents misuse, but also upholds Cardano’s core values of transparency and responsible treasury management.

Finally, we view the proposed budget as both reasonable and efficient, demonstrating careful planning and a deep understanding of the requirements for such a pivotal initiative. As the first governance action of its kind, EMURGO is proud to support this project and set a positive precedent for future on-chain funding within Cardano.

We’re confident to cast a YES vote and look forward to seeing Amaru strengthen Cardano with greater diversity and resilience.

EMURGO upholds the importance of transparent, constitutionally grounded treasury processes that support sustainable growth for community-driven initiatives. While we strongly support grassroots contributions and have voted in favor of most within this governance action, not all included proposals align with our criteria for support.

In particular, we note that all of the initiatives listed are already being considered for funding under the Intersect MBO 2025 framework. Proceeding with an overlapping Info Action introduces the risk of duplicated funding efforts and compromises the clarity and accountability we strive for in treasury allocation.

To maintain consistency, prevent redundancy, and reinforce the integrity of Cardano’s budgetary systems, EMURGO has chosen to vote ‘No’ on this governance action. We continue to encourage all proposals to follow the established, transparent channels to ensure long-term fiscal responsibility and alignment with the community’s governance model.

Rationale:

This budget info action represents a constitutionally required checkpoint under Cardano Constitution, and its passage is a prerequisite for any treasury withdrawal. As such, EMURGO supports this budget info action not only for its content but also for upholding the governance framework that ensures decentralized, accountable, and transparent use of the Cardano Treasury.

The budget info action reflects months of collaborative effort across the Cardano community. It includes structured, community-driven submissions that span core infrastructure, governance tooling, open-source development, marketing initiatives and critical ecosystem services. We recognize the collective diligence demonstrated through multiple public AMAs, forums, and voting platforms, culminating in proposals that have met the quality standards expected of this process.

EMURGO acknowledges Intersect’s role as the designated Administrator, as well as the adoption of oversight mechanisms, including smart contract-based fund flows and audit requirements. These safeguard measures strengthen our confidence in the transparency and execution of the budget.

Ultimately, we believe this budget lays a solid foundation for Cardano’s next phase of growth. EMURGO supports this Info Action as a necessary and constructive step toward sustainable treasury allocation and the long-term vision of the Cardano blockchain.

Summary

As a DRep, EMURGO votes No on the Info Action titled Set a 300 million ADA Net Change Limit for Epochs 563–635.

Rationale

Repeatedly adjusting the cap could create delays in the governance process, which may prevent critical funding from reaching the necessary projects, ultimately slowing down Cardano’s development.
To conclude, 2025 Net Change Limit(9b62b3c632f329016a968ac25211825bb4f84b12461121c7da3aa11df92370f900), which was approved by the majority of DReps, represents the maximum possible withdrawal amount from the Treasury, but it’s not a fixed target that must be fully used. EMURGO believes this is a reasonable initial cap for the year.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes Yes on the info governance action

Rationale

At EMURGO, we’ve been closely following the development of Amaru and have great confidence in PRAGMA and its members as leading experts in the field. Their deep understanding of the complexities involved in building a full working Cardano node, combined with their extensive experience in the ecosystem, positions them as the ideal team to tackle the challenges of developing an alternative node implementation.

The existing Cardano node implementation leaves developers with little flexibility, and this is where Amaru’s alternative node can make a big difference. We see the introduction of an alternative node as critical for Cardano’s growth. By reducing reliance on a single node implementation, Amaru will not only increase security but also provide more options for developers. This diversity is essential for attracting new projects and talent, especially those who have been hesitant to join Cardano due to the Haskell-based limitations.

Amaru also aligns perfectly with our vision of decentralizing Cardano’s infrastructure. By offering a competitive alternative, we will improve the flexibility and resilience of the entire ecosystem.

Summary

EMURGO, as a DRep, votes No on this Info Action regarding the 2025 Cardano NCL (7d9fc9fe4cee64fb34e57783378ac869a85c78d6fbcd4078ed131ab6fa3c7db600).

Rationale

EMURGO maintains its voting stance on the 2025 Net Change Limit (9b62b3c632f329016a968ac25211825bb4f84b12461121c7da3aa11df92370f900).

Repeated attempts to redefine the cap may lead to delays in governance processes, which in turn pose a risk that critical funding will not reach the projects that need it. This could ultimately slow down the development of the Cardano ecosystem.
In conclusion, the 350M ADA proposed under the 2025 Net Change Limit, and approved by a majority of DReps, represents the maximum amount that can be withdrawn from the Cardano Treasury, but not a fixed amount that must be fully utilized. Therefore, we believe it is sufficient as an initial annual cap.

Summary

EMURGO as a DRep votes Yes on the info governance action.

Rationale

This Info Action proposes a 2025 budget of 350 million ADA. The year 2025 is expected to mark a critical period of transition, with significant regulatory developments anticipated in the United States and other key jurisdictions.

These developments are likely to open up new business opportunities across the blockchain industry. In light of this evolving landscape, and recognizing the importance of being strategically positioned for growth, we believe that setting the budget at 350 million ADA is appropriate. It provides the flexibility needed to respond to emerging opportunities while supporting Cardano’s ability to engage actively with an increasingly dynamic global environment.

Proposal link
https://adastat.net/governances/9b62b3c632f329016a968ac25211825bb4f84b12461121c7da3aa11df92370f900

GA: Defining the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond

https://gov.tools/governance_actions/56f39054758f1a3cedc1de9225d66bf270b62dfdbfbc5399f1d6d43aceffc636#0

https://adastat.net/governances/56f39054758f1a3cedc1de9225d66bf270b62dfdbfbc5399f1d6d43aceffc63600

Action ID: gov_action12meeq4r43udremwpm6fzt4nt7fctvt0ah7798x036m2r4nhlccmqqhmr9wx

Vote: Yes

Rationale

Regarding the Governance Action “Defining the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond” with the Action ID (gov_action12meeq4r43udremwpm6fzt4nt7fctvt0ah7798x036m2r4nhlccmqqhmr9wx), EMURGO has decided to vote “Yes.”

We believe that a few core tenets in this roadmap for 2025 and beyond align with EMURGO’s near-term objectives in select key focus areas, which can facilitate greater commercial adoption of Cardano while being flexible enough to accommodate long-term variables that may necessitate further discussion.

While this may leave the door open to later changes that can cause greater debate, especially about Treasury management and funding, EMURGO expresses support for the following mentioned key areas that we believe will help to accelerate the commercial and user adoption of Cardano:

Enhancing Cardano’s Technology

The Actively Validated Services (AVS) Layer for Partner Chains enhances Cardano’s ability to broaden its DeFi accessibility and scalability. This can unlock much-needed cross-chain asset management and facilitate greater DeFi activity in Cardano by supporting cross-chain DeFi applications and asset bridges to integrate with other widely adopted applications on other networks. Users can enjoy increased access to liquidity and financial services, helping to grow Cardano’s TVL and drive more assets into the Cardano ecosystem.

Layer-1 Improvements

Leios can enhance Cardano’s security and fairness, particularly for dApps and DeFi platforms. The introduction of anti-grinding mechanisms can prevent users from exploiting vulnerabilities in consensus protocols, ensuring that the network remains more resilient to malicious activities and grows its dApps and TVL sustainably.

Expanding the Developer Community

Cardano’s long-term expansion is mutually aligned with the continued growth of its developer community. The roadmap includes various measures to reduce technical barriers and enable greater developer activity in Cardano. These include multiple node implementations, support for popular programming languages (Rust, JavaScript, and Python), and wider integration with Web2 and Web3 infrastructures. The roadmap also focuses on improving developer documentation, tooling, and SDKs.

For full transparency and to ensure an accessible backup of the originally proposed roadmap in case of any alterations, we have hosted a PDF version on IPFS (https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafybeifaehl6mc44cikuucohxranujivnrj4ttmcjfxj7jq6bq66ur4r4i)