Governance ReviewNo. 17Epochs 573 to 57528 Jul 2025 to 12 Aug 2025
Input Output Engineering, Catalyst and Midgard receive ₳168.4M
Cardano's treasury paid ₳168.4M for Input Output Engineering, Catalyst and Midgard at the start of epoch 575. The Cardano Foundation abstained on the ₳96.8M engineering request, saying it was not confident the proposal offered sufficient transparency or accountability.
₳168.4M is paid for Input Output Engineering, Catalyst and Midgard
At the start of epoch 575 the treasury paid ₳168.4M across three withdrawals. ₳96.8M went on the core engineering payment, Input Output Engineering’s work on Ouroboros Leios, the Acropolis node architecture, Hydra and Mithril, tools that check Plutus smart contracts, and maintenance, support and audits. ₳69.5M went on the Catalyst payment, a proposal by Input Output that puts ₳61M into three funding rounds and the rest into new interfaces, decentralised infrastructure and the running of the programme. ₳2.2M went on the Midgard payment, for optimistic rollups built by Anastasia Labs and administered by Intersect.
All three were ratified at the start of epoch 574 and paid one epoch later. Their stored tallies read 75.0%, 72.1% and 74.7% of DRep power, against the 67% a treasury withdrawal needs, and include votes cast in epoch 574, after the ratification.
The three payments of epoch 575, in delegated ada
Bars show delegated ada behind votes cast, labels the stored DRep share against the 67% a withdrawal needs
The Cardano Foundation abstains on Input Output Engineering’s ₳96.8M
On the core engineering payment ₳3.81B of delegated power voted yes and ₳0.02B no, on 199 yes votes to 6 no and 7 abstain. The Cardano Foundation abstained in epoch 572, in one document setting out its vote on all 39 requests. It wrote that it was “not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability”, because scope, cost effectiveness and safeguards had not been adjusted after community feedback. The same document abstains on the ₳26.8M Input Output Research request as “materially too high”, votes yes on the Catalyst payment, and turns an earlier abstention on Intersect’s request into a yes after Intersect revised its budget to ₳15.8M.
Hephaestus Stake Pool voted yes in epoch 573, writing that it might not agree with bundling so large a scope of work into one proposal but that any disruption in delivery “would be far more damaging to progress” than pushing for a more modular one. Cardanians abstained in epoch 572, writing that at nearly ₳97M the request gives “no clarity on staffing levels, workstream budgets, or even basic cost per deliverable”. On the Catalyst payment Medusa DRep voted no in epoch 574, after the ratification, preferring a “larger number of smaller withdrawals” and finding no account of how the programme’s existing funds are used. On the Midgard payment Cardano Cypherpunks voted no in epoch 571, finding no return calculation and no “business justification”.
27 requests worth ₳78.1M are ratified
The 27 were ratified at the start of epoch 575, from ₳26.8M for Input Output Research down to ₳45,217 for Cardano.nix maintenance by MLabs, with stored tallies between 68.7% and 82.8% of DRep power. A withdrawal is paid one epoch after it is ratified, so none of the ₳78.1M had left the treasury by the close of epoch 575. The other nine of the 39 requests were still open at the close, the largest ₳12.0M for Cardano Builder DAO, with voting ending at the start of epoch 577.
Counting paid withdrawals only, ₳169.9M of the ₳350M ceiling had been used by epoch 575 and ₳180.1M remained, ₳78.1M of which was already ratified. The treasury reading fell ₳160.1M between the epoch 573 and epoch 575 readings, less than the ₳168.4M paid, because income into the treasury continued over the same epochs.
GovTool’s budget closes at 57.2%, Tempo’s stands at 41.0%
Cardano GovTool Budget - 12 months full active maintenance and development closed at the start of epoch 574 with 57.2% of DRep power behind it, on 175 yes votes to 53 no and 11 abstain, ₳2.71B of delegated power for it against ₳0.91B, with ₳0.66B abstaining. All seven committee members voted yes. GovTool is the software used to register as a DRep, delegate, submit proposals and vote. The Cardano GovTool Consortium, whose builders are ByronNetwork, WeDeliver, LidoNation and Dquadrant, asked for ₳1.15M for twelve months of maintenance and development, with a separate withdrawal action to follow if the budget found support. YUTA had voted yes in epoch 568 and the Cardano Foundation in epoch 572.
Yoroi, EMURGO and the Eternl DRep Committee cast their votes in epoch 573, the last epoch of voting. Yoroi W₳llet voted yes, calling GovTool “a critical, open-source governance infrastructure” and writing that the consortium had answered recent bugs with more test coverage and refactoring, while delivery structure and operational clarity still needed improvement. EMURGO abstained “not out of opposition, but out of caution”, asking for more clarity on execution risk and delivery accountability. The Eternl DRep Committee abstained, calling the amount “way too high” for the proposed work and what had been delivered so far, and offered to help host the tool if no other solution were available.
Also in epoch 573, Sebastien Guillemot セバ voted no because the interface “has always been confusing and burdensome” and the sum is a lot for a product he thinks delivered a bad experience. Kyle Solomon voted no, putting basic maintenance at under about 50,000 dollars a year with serverless infrastructure. Dan changed a yes to an abstention after encountering errors several times while trying to vote on the treasury withdrawals through GovTool.
Tempo for Cardono Governance - Maintenance & Development Budget for 2025 asks for ₳380,000 over six months for Tempo.Vote, a voting application built for phones, ₳200,000 of it to run its own node and indexer and ₳180,000 for development. As of the close of epoch 575, its last epoch of voting, it stood at 41.0% of DRep power, with three committee members for it and four against.
An elected committee, constitution v2.0 and Snek listings are filed
Four actions were filed. Replace Interim Constitutional Committee would seat seven members chosen in an election held off chain in place of the interim committee. CARDANO BLOCKCHAIN ECOSYSTEM CONSTITUTION v2.0 would remove the requirement that a treasury withdrawal be preceded by a budget info action. The Snek Foundation filed Withdraw ₳5M for Cardano’s Global Listing Expansion - Powered by Snek and Cardano Global Listing Expansion - Powered by Snek for the same ₳5M listing plan, the second recording only ₳5 on chain. Voting ends at the start of epoch 580 for the committee and the Snek requests and at the start of epoch 581 for the constitution.
Committee members cast 271 votes in three epochs
The window recorded 4,139 votes, 3,785 from DReps, 271 from committee members and 83 from pools. Committee members had cast 5 in the whole previous window, and each treasury withdrawal needs a committee vote of its own. The DRep votes came from 226 distinct DReps, out of 845 holding delegated power at epoch 575, the most up to then. The power delegated to DReps rose ₳91.2M between the epoch 573 and epoch 575 readings to ₳5.39B, the ten largest holding 47.3% of it, and the count with a vote in the previous twelve epochs rose from 336 to 343.
Decided in this window
31 actions, open the full list
Open at the close of the window
14 actions, open the full list
n/a: the record holds no DRep share from inside this window for this action, only a tally read after it closed.
The numbers behind the window
- Delegated to DReps, at the start of epoch 573
- ₳5.30B
- Delegated to DReps, at the start of epoch 575
- ₳5.39B
- Votes cast in the window, superseded votes included
- 4,139
- DReps whose final vote fell in the window
- 226
- Treasury, at the start of epoch 573
- ₳1,818.2M
- Treasury, at the start of epoch 575
- ₳1,658.1M
- DRep shares are the share of counted power: abstaining power is left out, while power that did not vote and power delegated to the always no confidence option are folded into the no side. Committee shares are yes votes over the members active at the decision minus those who abstained.
- Paid and ratified are separate states and are kept separate here. A withdrawal is ratified at one epoch boundary and paid at the next, so the ₳78.1M of requests ratified at the start of epoch 575 had used nothing of the ceiling by the close of the window. Use of the ceiling counts paid withdrawals only.
- The ₳168.4M is gross payment out of the treasury. The treasury reading fell ₳160.1M between the epoch 573 and epoch 575 readings, a smaller figure, because income into the treasury continued over the same epochs. Neither number is the other.
- A vote count is not a count of voters: a DRep voting across 39 requests casts 39 votes, and the counts include superseded votes. Per epoch DRep counts exclude votes without a block time.
- What the three payments, the GovTool and Tempo budgets, the listing requests, the committee replacement and the revised constitution ask for is read from their own documents, named under the sources below. The ceiling in force runs to the end of epoch 604, which is not the end epoch the site registry carries today, because a later action extended the period.
- The Tempo budget, whose vote closes at the boundary that ends this window, is quoted as of that close and without an outcome. The actions still open beyond that boundary are decided after this window, so no share is given for them. Each quoted vote is dated by the epoch it was cast. The stored tallies of the ratified withdrawals include votes cast after their ratification boundary, in epoch 574 for the three payments and in epoch 575 for the 27 further requests. The reasons quoted are the published rationales of the voters named, cited under the sources below, and say nothing about voters who published none. The Cardano Foundation's reasons on the payments come from one document covering all 39 requests.
Sources and further reading
21 sources, open the list
- The Cardano Foundation abstained on the core engineering payment in epoch 572, writing in an aggregate rationale covering all 39 requests that it was not confident the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability, because scope, cost effectiveness and safeguards had not been adjusted after community feedback. The same document abstains on the Input Output Research request as materially too high, votes yes on the Catalyst payment, and changes an earlier abstention on Intersect's request to a yes after Intersect revised its budget to 15,750,000 ada. the aggregate rationale of the Cardano Foundation on the 39 requests
- Hephaestus Stake Pool voted yes on the core engineering payment in epoch 573, writing that it might not agree with bundling such a large scope of work into one proposal, but that any disruption in delivery or negative headlines would be far more damaging to progress than pushing for a more refined or modular proposal at this time. the rationale of Hephaestus Stake Pool on the core engineering payment
- Cardanians abstained on the core engineering payment in epoch 572, writing that at nearly 97,000,000 ada it is the largest ask in the budget and gives no clarity on staffing levels, workstream budgets or cost per deliverable, and that its success depends on transparent delivery and communication with the community. the rationale of Cardanians on the core engineering payment
- Medusa DRep voted no on the Catalyst payment in epoch 574, writing that it is not a fan of giant bulk withdrawals and prefers a larger number of smaller ones approved on merit, and that the proposal does not say how the programme's existing funds are used or whether unused funds return to the treasury. the rationale of Medusa DRep on the Catalyst payment
- Cardano Cypherpunks voted no on the Midgard payment in epoch 571, writing that there is no return calculation or justification for why it is needed and that it is a cool technical project without a business justification. the rationale of Cardano Cypherpunks on the Midgard payment
- Yoroi voted yes on the Midgard payment, describing Midgard as optimistic rollups by Anastasia Labs that use the eUTxO model and scale Cardano without a new token. the rationale of Yoroi on the Midgard payment
- Yoroi voted yes on the GovTool budget in epoch 573, writing that GovTool is critical open source governance infrastructure supporting the full on chain process from DRep registration to voting, that the team behind it, the Cardano GovTool Consortium, had responded to recent bugs by expanding test coverage and refactoring outdated modules, and that delivery structure and operational clarity still need improvement. the rationale of Yoroi on the GovTool budget
- EMURGO abstained on the GovTool budget in epoch 573, writing that the tool plays a vital role but that execution risk and delivery accountability need deeper clarity, and that it abstained out of caution rather than opposition. the rationale of EMURGO on the GovTool budget
- The Eternl DRep Committee abstained on the GovTool budget in epoch 573, writing that the requested amount is way too high for the proposed work and what has been delivered so far, and that Eternl could help host the tool in its current state if no other solution were available. the rationale of the Eternl DRep Committee on the GovTool budget
- Sebastien Guillemot voted no on the GovTool budget in epoch 573, writing that the user interface has always been confusing and burdensome, and that it is a lot of money for a product that had delivered a bad experience when alternatives work better. the rationale of Sebastien Guillemot on the GovTool budget
- Kyle Solomon voted no on the GovTool budget in epoch 573, writing that the proposal goes well beyond foundational maintenance into needs the community has not defined, and that keeping the lights on should cost under about 50,000 dollars a year with scalable serverless infrastructure. the rationale of Kyle Solomon on the GovTool budget
- Dan changed a yes to an abstention on the GovTool budget in epoch 573, writing that a smaller budget could cover core maintenance, and that it had encountered errors several times while trying to vote on the treasury withdrawals through the tool. the rationale of Dan on the GovTool budget
- The document behind the core engineering payment, filed by Intersect on behalf of the vendor Input Output, lists Ouroboros Leios, a refresh of the node architecture called Acropolis, Hydra and Mithril development, tools for verifying and analysing Plutus smart contracts, and maintenance, support and audits. the document behind the core engineering payment
- The document behind the Catalyst payment, a proposal by Input Output, puts ₳61M of its ₳69.5M into three funding rounds, with its other workstreams covering new interfaces, decentralised infrastructure and fund operations. the document behind the Catalyst payment
- The listing plan asks for 5,000,000 ada to secure listings for the SNEK token on large exchanges, together with liquidity provision, legal and compliance work and an advisory board, on the argument that Cardano native tokens are barely present on the platforms most people use. The Snek Foundation states that it has self funded earlier exchange listings. the document behind the listing plan, as filed with the ₳5 action
- The document filed with the ₳5M action carries the same plan and the same 5,000,000 ada figure. the document behind the listing plan, as filed with the ₳5M action
- The document behind the GovTool budget, proposed by the Cardano GovTool Consortium, formed by GovTool's builders ByronNetwork, WeDeliver, LidoNation and Dquadrant together with users of its code and individual contributors, asks for ₳1.15M for twelve months of maintenance and development and says a positive reception of the info action would be followed by a separate treasury withdrawal action. the document behind the GovTool budget
- The document behind the Tempo budget, for Tempo.Vote, a governance voting application aimed at phones and wallets, asks for ₳380,000 over six months, ₳200,000 for infrastructure because it runs its own node and indexer, and ₳180,000 for development. the document behind the Tempo budget
- The document behind the committee replacement says the interim committee's term ends with epoch 580, and that the action seats the seven members chosen in an election held off chain, three for 146 epochs and four for 73 so that the seats are staggered. the document behind the committee replacement
- The document behind the revised constitution lists its changes as wording, definitions, the removal of unused provisions, and the removal of the requirement that a treasury withdrawal be preceded by a budget info action. the document behind the revised constitution
- The ceiling in force caps paid withdrawals at ₳350M for the period from the start of epoch 532 to the end of epoch 604. the document behind the ceiling in force