Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026
On-chain changes
- 1,310,960 ₳paid tostake1784...kq5u3j9v
Abstract
This Treasury Withdrawal funds Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026.
This Treasury Withdrawal is submitted by Intersect on behalf of the vendor. The content for the following sections; Abstract, Motivation and Rationale have been sourced from the approved proposal submitted by the Vendor as part of the Intersect budget process.
Motivation & rationale
Why now: Cardano protocol evolution, vendor firmware and app release cycles, and growing wallet and dApp integration demand continue to create compatibility risk on this security-critical access layer. Funding continuity in 2026 is less costly and less disruptive than waiting for breakage to accumulate and reacting only after users or integrators lose access.
Cardano’s hardware-wallet stack must be maintained continuously or users and integrators lose secure access when Cardano, Ledger, or Trezor introduce breaking changes. This proposal requests 12 months of funding for production maintenance of Cardano hardware-wallet support: Ledger and Trezor compatibility updates, maintenance of supporting interoperability libraries and cardano-hw-cli, developer support for ecosystem integrators, support for integration paths involving externally maintained components where shared hardware-wallet flows intersect, and vendor-required product or security audits where firmware or app changes trigger them.
This is a continuity proposal for an already-proven Cardano access layer, not a request to build a new wallet product; scope is limited to compatibility, security, supporting libraries/tooling, release support, and vendor-required audit work needed to keep supported hardware-wallet flows operational. This proposal is limited to hardware-wallet compatibility, tooling, and vendor-required assurance, and does not duplicate broader core-node, ledger, or general infrastructure maintenance budgets.
The value to Cardano is continuity: users retain secure signing,builders avoid broken integrations, protocol and vendor changes do not strand hardware-wallet users, and newer utility layers can rely on a maintained hardware-wallet path. The proposal aligns with Cardano’s strategy around security, interoperability, developer experience, and adoption,and it will be delivered with clear milestones,evidence,and transparent capped T&M reporting so DReps can verify value as it is produced.
Strategic Pillar Alignment
Primary alignment is with Pillar 1 because hardware-wallet maintenance preserves a secure, reliable, and interoperable signing layer as Cardano, Ledger, and Trezor evolve. Cardano’s strategy describes Pillar 1 as keeping Cardano “secure, fast, and interoperable,” and its security/resilience focus includes reliability, interoperability, and protection against operational breakage. This proposal directly supports that by preventing protocol and vendor changes from breaking real user access. Secondary alignment is with Pillar 2 because adoption depends on secure UX and compatibility: users cannot benefit from DeFi, payments, stablecoins, or other utility when hardware-wallet flows break, and developers cannot integrate confidently when supporting libraries and tools fall behind. Pillar 2 explicitly emphasizes superior UX, enterprise-grade security, developer experience, and compatibility with common tooling.*
Intersect Budget Process
This proposal achieved the required 67% support threshold during the 2026 Intersect Budget Process Hydra Voting phase and has therefore been advanced for on-chain Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action submission in accordance with the approved Budget Process Framework.
Net Change Limit Compliance
The requested amount does not at time of submission, on its own or in aggregate, breach the applicable 350M Net Change Limit covering Epoch 613 to Epoch 713.
In accordance with the guardrail TREASURY-02a, this withdrawal does not exceed the NCL at the moment of submission.
Audit & Oversight
Audit and oversight costs are included within the overhead applied to this proposal. The Intersect administration fee covers administrative oversight and is reflected within the cost of this proposal. Independent oversight will be provided through Intersect and technically capable third-party, including reporting obligations and milestone-based disbursement controls.
Prior Treasury Funding Disclosure
Hardware Wallets Maintenance: https://gov.tools/governance_actions/8ad3d454f3496a35cb0d07b0fd32f687f66338b7d60e787fc0a22939e5d8833e#3
Ledger App Rewrite: https://gov.tools/governance_actions/8ad3d454f3496a35cb0d07b0fd32f687f66338b7d60e787fc0a22939e5d8833e#9
IO & VacuumLabs: Enhancing Plutus (joint) https://gov.tools/governance_actions/73e171a4c0730b4b59ecae271ab89f12a9d56360b02920e1f95107dbdc1d6762#6
https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/dapps-products-and-integrations/ledger-live-integration-2
Budget Summary
| Work Package | Total (ADA) |
|---|---|
| WP1 – Cardano Hardware Wallet Maintenance & Compatibility Assurance | 1,272,777 |
| Intersect Budget Administration fee | 38,183 |
| Total | 1,310,960 |
Intersect Budget Management Tooling
To administrate treasury funds on-chain, Intersect will utilize the treasury management smart contract framework developed by Sundae Labs. A new instance of these smart contracts has been deployed for 2026, mirroring the contracts from the 2025 budget cycle.
- The 2026 Treasury Reserve Smart Contract stake address:
stake1784sdxt6jjennmstphgdu7l7c2scf5d02a6cve2dgn5s2kq5u3j9v - The 2026 Treasury Reserve Smart Contract payment address:
addr1x84sdxt6jjennmstphgdu7l7c2scf5d02a6cve2dgn5s2k8tq6vh499n88hqkrwsmealas4psng674m4sej5638fq4vqmxs59w - The 2026 Project Specific Smart Contract payment address:
addr1x9d6k9z6t6fvsetj2djmerargk475lef9gfvshy4rwh4h7jm4v295h5jepjhy5m9hj86x3dtafljj2sjepwf2xa0t0aq048cay
Specifics
Intersect will utilize a single Treasury Reserve Smart Contract (TRSC), with one Project-Specific Smart Contracts (PSSC). Intersect’s management consists of five ‘admin’ and three Intersect ‘leadership’ roles. An Oversight Committee consisting of six external, independent third-party entities will provide checks and balances on Intersect, and safeguard against errors and unilateral control. The administration of both TRSC and PSSC will be managed by Intersect, with external oversight on certain actions from the Oversight Committee.
The Oversight Committee consists of Sundae Labs, Cardano Foundation, Dquadrant, NMKR, Sundial and Eternl. Their role is to independently verify key administrative actions using on-chain logic, ensuring accuracy and consistency without exercising discretion over governance decisions.
For all details on Intersect’s configuration please see the Smart Contract Guide on the knowledgebase.
The high level permissions are as follows:
- TRSC Fund and PSSC Modify
- Two of the five Intersect admins, two of the six trusted entities and one of the three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
- TRSC Disburse
- Two of five Intersect admins, three of six trusted entities and two of three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
- TRSC Pause and Resume
- Two of five Intersect admins, and one of three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
- TRSC Sweep
- One of five Intersect admins, and one of three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
- TRSC Reorganize
- Two of five Intersect admins and three of six trusted entities must authorize
Processes
Upon enactment of this governance action, funding for this project will be directed into the TRSC’s stake address. All instances of TRSC and PSSC can not be staked with a SPO and are delegated to the auto-abstain predefined DRep. From here funds will be withdrawn into a UTxO remaining at the TRSC payment address.
When the Legal contract is prepared and the vendor is ready, funding for this project will be transferred using the Fund action to the PSSC. All milestones will be outlined within the metadata.
A dashboard is available (treasury.sundae.fi) for the community to audit the TRSC or PSSC and track metrics related to this withdrawn ada as well as being immutably verifiable on chain.
Rationale highlights
Why some of the largest DReps voted for and against, in their own words. About vote rationales
Yoroi DRep votes YES on Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026. The Cardano community has spoken clearly through the Hydra off-chain voting platform, and Yoroi is committed to honouring that voice. Honouring the Community Mandate: With a...
Yoroi DRep votes YES on Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026. The Cardano community has spoken clearly through the Hydra off-chain voting platform, and Yoroi is committed to honouring that voice.
- Honouring the Community Mandate: With a supermajority of over 67% in the off-chain governance process, this proposal carries a strong and unambiguous signal of community support. Yoroi votes Yes in alignment with that collective decision.
Please check the following link for the reasons for the vote.（投票理由は次のページを参照してください。)
This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process. A PDF version of this rationale is also made...
This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.
A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.
Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.
No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.
Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.
Conclusion
The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.
Voting Record
Governance Action ID Title Vote Rationale gov_action1k02...cw2nc5 Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex YES The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes. gov_action1k02...tttste Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2 YES The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes. gov_action1k02...hyg4hw Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 NO The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No. gov_action1k02...ypfkyr Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support YES IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes. gov_action1k02...x6wlxf Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem ABSTAIN This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain. gov_action1k02...4l0u4y Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol YES The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes. gov_action1k02...fsvefn Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply YES The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes. gov_action1k02...64d667 Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline YES The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes. gov_action1k02...d0ztd8 Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2 YES The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes. gov_action1k02...72rg72 Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols ABSTAIN The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain. gov_action1k02...z9qdza Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2. YES The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes. I am voting No on this proposal. This year's Net Change Limit (NCL) has been set well above the level I consider sustainable. Under my published voting framework, an appropriate NCL is roughly 15% of the previous year's staking rewards (on the order of...
I am voting No on this proposal. This year's Net Change Limit (NCL) has been set well above the level I consider sustainable. Under my published voting framework, an appropriate NCL is roughly 15% of the previous year's staking rewards (on the order of ₳82M), whereas the NCL currently in force is several times that amount. Because the treasury is already authorized to disburse far beyond my personal NCL threshold, I am voting No on all treasury withdrawal proposals until aggregate withdrawals are brought back within a sustainable limit — regardless of the individual merits of any single proposal. This vote reflects a position on total treasury spend, not a judgment on the value of your specific project. Reference: https://coffeepool.jp/notes/drep-voting-framework-for-sustainable-ecosystem/ [Japanese version follows] 本提案に反対票を投じます。今年のNet Change Limit（NCL）は、私が持続可能と考える水準を大幅に上回って設定されています。公開済みの投票フレームワークでは、適正なNCLは前年のステーキング報酬の約15%（₳82M程度）ですが、現行のNCLはその数倍に達しています。トレジャリーは既に私のpersonal NCL（個人として許容する上限）を大きく超える出金が認められている状態にあるため、出金総額が持続可能な範囲に戻るまで、個別提案の良し悪しに関わらず、すべてのトレジャリー出金提案に反対票を投じます。本投票はトレジャリー支出全体に対する立場の表明であり、貴提案の価値そのものを否定するものではありません。参照: https://coffeepool.jp/notes/drep-voting-framework-for-sustainable-ecosystem-jp/