Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore
6 of 7 committee members voted
- Ace Alliance71aa5b3a…8f04YesActive · term ends epoch 726Rationale
Ace Alliance finds the proposed "Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore" Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action Constitutional. Rationales are archived at https://github.com/ace-alliance/ace-voting/
A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.
This TWGA requests 14,076,539 ada (approximately $3.66M USD at $0.26/ada) to fund two co-located Singapore events in October 2026: the Cardano Foundation-hosted Cardano Summit 2026 (Oct 5–6, 9,615,385 ada) and an EMURGO-managed Title Sponsorship at TOKEN2049 (Oct 7–8, 4,461,154 ada). Funds are withdrawn to a Sundae Labs treasury contract and split into two isolated vendor contracts, one per proposer, with milestone-based disbursement under a four-party Oversight Committee (DQuadrant, Intersect, NMKR, Sundae Labs).
Article II.6.1 (Metadata Format). The metadata is served from immutable IPFS (ipfs://QmPZ6yDL62ms5ZGQfrPUXEDANrY9e2qrrzWVXRzbhJennk) with a matching anchor hash referenced on-chain (c183fa5432c8f149aa9b4fe5b7e512a7e94474f804a4e1d4b3d2e561d32b6fb9), and conforms to CIP-0108. Post-submission tampering is cryptographically foreclosed.
Article II.6.2 (Metadata Structure). The metadata contains a title, abstract, motivation, rationale, and a full references section linking the PDF proposal, concept deck, 2025 results, 2025 KPI tracking report, and a live KPI/smart-contract dashboard (https://treasurywithdrawals.cardanofoundation.org).
Article II.7 (Treasury Withdrawals). This TWGA satisfies all six requirements:
II.7.1 (Terms). Purpose is clearly stated (delivery of Cardano Summit 2026 and Title Sponsorship of TOKEN2049 in Singapore). The delivery period is specified (events on October 5–8, 2026, with final milestone reporting and refund obligations extending up to six months post-event). Relevant costs are broken out line-by-line across ten Summit cost categories (venues/logistics 47.08%, speakers 4.18%, marketing 5.72%, production 8.89%, program 9.60%, sponsors/expo 9.43%, design 4.27%, hackathon 1.95%, legal/audit/tax 3.55%, external PM 5.33%) and four TOKEN2049 categories (sponsorship package 60.34%, booth build 18.97%, staffing 17.24%, legal/audit/tax 3.45%). Refund circumstances are enumerated: (i) event cancellation before vendor payments, (ii) unspent ada returned within six months, and (iii) Ada-price-appreciation profit returned within six months. The 2025 revenue carry-over of USD 313,000 is disclosed and already deducted from the gross ask.
II.7.2 (Prior Funding Disclosure). The proposal discloses that both the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO received ada in 2025 under the "Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano" TWGA and the "Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events" TWGA. References to both prior governance actions are included, along with links to ongoing milestone reporting on the Intersect dashboard. The Constitution requires disclosure, not absence, of prior funding; the disclosure requirement is satisfied.
II.7.3 (Net Change Limit). A Net Change Limit of 350,000,000 ada covering epochs 613–713 is in effect. Consistent with the precedent Ace Alliance established in the Amaru Treasury Withdrawal 2026 rationale and reaffirmed in the Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund rationale, the 350M ada NCL is treated as definitively set and active. The 14,076,539 ada requested in this proposal will not exceed the NCL.
II.7.4 (Periodic Independent Audits and Oversight Metrics). The Summit budget allocates USD 100,000 and the TOKEN2049 budget allocates USD 40,000 (totalling USD 140,000) for legal, audit, and tax services. The Cardano Foundation is subject to annual audit by Grant Thornton, and has, via the Reeve platform, attested its 2025 financials on-chain. Both proposers are engaging Grant Thornton, subject to final terms, for additional assurance that funds are paid to the correct wallets. A publicly available dashboard (https://treasurywithdrawals.cardanofoundation.org) tracks smart-contract state, KPI delivery, and milestone progress. Section 7 of the proposal commits to a detailed KPI scorecard across attendance, enterprise adoption, hackathon, ecosystem/governance, and media. These provisions satisfy the requirement for periodic independent audits and observable oversight metrics.
II.7.5 (Administrator). Administrators are specified: the Cardano Foundation administers the Summit vendor contract and EMURGO administers the TOKEN2049 vendor contract. Administration is executed through the Sundae Labs treasury contract framework (treasury.ak / vendor.ak), governed by a four-member Oversight Committee (DQuadrant, Intersect, NMKR, Sundae Labs). Disburse operations require 3-of-4 Oversight Committee authorization. This continues the established practice, previously accepted by the CC, of administrator-plus-smart-contract governance over withdrawn funds.
II.7.6 (Custody). Withdrawn ada flows to a single treasury contract script and is then routed into two cryptographically isolated vendor contracts. The proposal states the treasury and vendor script addresses are delegated to the auto-abstain DRep and are not delegated to any SPO, satisfying the neutrality requirements of the Constitution. Milestone conditions, pause/resume/modify, and expiration-triggered sweeping of unspent funds back to the Treasury are enforced on-chain. Each vendor is cryptographically prevented from accessing the other's funds.
Appendix I (Guardrails).
TREASURY-02a: The 14,076,539 ada requested wil not exceed the 350M ada NCL.
TREASURY-03a: The withdrawal is denominated in ada as required.
Ace Alliance finds the proposed "Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore" Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action Constitutional.
- Cardano Curia84feba94…6bd5YesActive · term ends epoch 799Rationale
Cardano Curia supports approval (YES) for the “Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore” Treasury Withdrawal as an ecosystem visibility and continuity initiative, while noting the action is superseded by a newer treasury action.
This governance action is submitted as a Treasury Withdrawal.
Cardano Curia supports this withdrawal on the merits because participation and representation of the Cardano ecosystem at flagship events (Cardano Summit in Singapore and presence at TOKEN2049) is important for brand visibility, continuity, and ecosystem presence.
Superseded action note: We are aware this action is superseded by a newer treasury action. Our YES should be interpreted as a merits-based signal supporting the objective and intent; we expect the community to treat the newer action as the authoritative execution vehicle and to ensure it carries forward (or improves) transparency, auditability, and oversight controls.
From a constitution/process perspective, Treasury Withdrawals should be sufficiently specified (purpose, delivery period, costs, refunds/close-out, audit provisions, and administrators/oversight). This rationale assumes those requirements are met by the canonical submission associated with this governance action.
Cardano Curia records a YES position in favor of approving this Treasury Withdrawal on its merits for ecosystem visibility and continuity, while explicitly noting supersession by a newer treasury action and expecting execution and controls to follow the newer action.
- Cardano Japan Council725d4d44…7b31YesExpired · term ends epoch 653Rationale
We consider this governance action to be constitutional.
This proposal is a Treasury Withdrawals proposal involving the withdrawal of funds from the Cardano Treasury, with the aim of organizing Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore. In accordance with Article 2, Section 6, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Constitution, the proposal text, URL, hash, supplementary materials, and related documents are provided, and the proposal’s content and supporting documentation are sufficiently identified. Furthermore, regarding Article 2, Section 7, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution, the intended use of funds, implementation period, breakdown of costs, and refund conditions are stated; regarding Paragraph 2, disclosures regarding the receipt of funds within the past 24 months are provided. Furthermore, regarding Paragraphs 4, 5, and 6, audits, supervisory bodies, segregated accounts, and delegation to auto-abstain are clearly specified, providing the management, audit, and accountability framework required for Treasury Withdrawals proposals. Furthermore, in relation to Article 2, Section 7, Paragraph 3, and the Treasury Guardrails (TREASURY-02a, TREASURY-03a), the requested amount of 14,076,539 ADA falls within the currently valid Net Change Limit (epochs 613–713, 350,000,000 ADA), and is submitted in ADA. Therefore, no conflict with the current Constitution or related guardrails has been identified. Based on the foregoing, this proposal meets the disclosure and governance requirements necessary for a Treasury Withdrawals proposal, and as no unconstitutional elements have been identified in light of constitutional requirements, it is deemed constitutional.
For the reasons stated above, we determine that it is constitutional.
- Eastern Cardano Council2ea7a78e…10ecYesActive · term ends epoch 726Rationale
We have determined that this treasury withdrawal governance action is constitutional.
The governance action with ID "gov_action1hkg...t5459v" and title "Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore" is a Treasury Withdrawal, and is therefore subject to the following sections and guardrails in the Cardano Constitution.
ARTICLE II, Section 6 of the Cardano Constitution states that governance actions must follow a standardized and legible format, including a URL hosting an immutable document and a corresponding hash, and must provide sufficient rationale including a title, abstract, justification, and supporting materials.
This governance action includes a valid URL and hash, which matches the hash of the off-chain documentation referenced. The rationale also meets the minimum content specified in this section.
ARTICLE II, Section 7 specifies that Treasury Withdrawal governance actions must include the following:
1. Purpose, Delivery Period, Costs, and Refund Conditions
This governance action specifies:
- The purpose of the withdrawal is for "the coordinated delivery of a flagship Cardano Summit in Singapore and the sponsorship of TOKEN2049 in Singapore to increase Cardano’s presence"
- The period for delivery of proposed activities is specified as "The Cardano Summit 2026 will take place from 5-6 October and TOKEN2049 will take place from 7-8 October"
- The relevant costs and expenses are provided under Section 5, titled "Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown"
- The circumstances under which funds may be refunded to the Cardano Treasury are "The cancellation of TOKEN2049 or the Cardano Summit 2026 before vendor payments are due", "The events are executed successfully but total expenses fall under the requested amount", or "Due to ada price appreciation, there is a profit on withdrawn ada"
These elements fulfil the requirements of Article II, Section 7(1).
2. Prior Treasury Funding Disclosure
ARTICLE II, Section 7(2) requires disclosure of whether the prospective recipient has received ada from the Cardano Treasury within the last 24 months.
This governance action states that "Both the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO received ada during 2025 treasury withdrawals". This statement fulfils the requirement of ARTICLE II, Section 7(2).
3. Net Change Limit (NCL)
ARTICLE II, Section 7(3) requires that Treasury Withdrawals must not exceed the Net Change Limit.
The Net Change Limit in effect at the time of submission of this vote on-chain is the governance action with ID "gov_action1m3x...4jsr7q".
- A. Current NCL Amount: 350000000 ada
- B. Current NCL Time Period: Epoch 613 to Epoch 713 (Inclusive)
- C. Total of Treasury Withdrawals within the Current NCL Time Period: 67842000 ada
- D. Amount of this Treasury Withdrawal: 14076539 ada
- E. "C" plus "D" = 81918539 ada
- F. "A" minus "E" = 268081461 ada
As the value of "F" is greater than or equal to zero, this governance action fulfils the NCL requirement.
4. Audit Allocation and Oversight Metrics
ARTICLE II, Section 7(4) states "Treasury Withdrawals actions shall require an allocation of ada as a part of such funding request to cover the cost of periodic independent audits and the implementation of oversight metrics as to the use of such ada."
The budget breakdown for the Cardano Summit specifies an amount of 384,615 ada for "Legal, Audit, Tax". The budget breakdown for the Token2049 specifies an amount of 153,846 ada for "Legal, Audit, Tax". These entries fulfil the requirements of ARTICLE II, Section 7(4).
5. Designated Administrators
ARTICLE II, Section 7(5) requires that one or more administrators are designated to monitor fund usage and ensure deliverables are achieved.
This governance action states that the "Cardano Foundation and EMURGO will ensure direct administration of their respective portions of the budget, assisted with an on-chain smart contract based on the treasury management contract developed by Sundae Labs, with oversight from: DQuadrant, Intersect, NMKR, Sundae Labs.", which fulfils this requirement.
6. Fund Management Requirements
ARTICLE II, Section 7(6) states "Any ada received from a Cardano Blockchain treasury withdrawal, so long as such ada is being held by an administrator prior to further disbursement to the Treasury Withdrawal Recipient, must be kept in one or more separate accounts that can be audited by the Cardano Community, and such accounts shall not be delegated to an SPO but must be delegated to the predefined abstain voting option."
This governance action specifies the following withdrawal address, which at the time of assessment is not delegated to an SPO and is delegated to the auto abstain voting option:
- stake17y0259mwcxx2yqgpt78rdmssa44nkcpxvwvn3r0hx3l0hxgeg9dty
Finally, the guardrails that require consideration for this governance action are TREASURY-01a, TREASURY-02a, and TREASURY-03a. These are addressed as follows:
- TREASURY-01a - The net change limit with governance action ID "gov_action1m3x...4jsr7q" is currently in effect, after being "agreed by the DReps via an on-chain governance action with a threshold of greater than 50% of the active voting stake".
- TREASURY-02a - As per the above assessment, this treasury withdrawal does not exceed the current Net Change Limit.
- TREASURY-03a - This treasury withdrawal is denominated in ada.
We therefore find this governance action Constitutional.
This governance action sufficiently fulfils the criteria specified for treasury withdrawals in the Cardano Constitution, so is deemed constitutional.
- Phil_uplc68bb0b42…8746YesActive · term ends epoch 799Rationale
- Tingvard646d1b3a…be43NoActive · term ends epoch 726Rationale
Tingvard judges the “Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore” treasury withdrawal governance action unconstitutional.
This governance action is submitted as a Treasury Withdrawal under Article II, Section 7 of the Cardano Constitution. It requests a total of 14,076,539 ada (USD 3,659,900), consisting of two components:
9,615,385 ada (USD 2,500,000) for the Cardano Summit 2026 managed by the Cardano Foundation, and
4,461,154 ada (USD 1,159,900) for TOKEN2049 sponsorship managed by EMURGO.
Tingvard assesses the constitutionality of the governance action as a whole. Where a governance action contains separable allocations with distinct purposes and justifications, each component should demonstrate alignment with the requirements of the Constitution. A material concern in any component may affect the assessment of the governance action in its entirety.
The proposal satisfies the formal requirements of Article II, Section 7, §1 through §6. It specifies the purpose of the withdrawal, delivery period, cost breakdown, refund conditions, prior funding disclosures, audit provisions, and administrative structure. The use of smart contract-based fund management, milestone-based disbursement, and public reporting mechanisms further supports procedural compliance.
The Cardano Foundation component requests 9,615,385 ada (USD 2,500,000) for the Cardano Summit 2026. This represents a notable increase relative to the previously presented financial model for the Summit, which outlined an expected cost of approximately 4,615,385 ada (USD 1,200,000) for 2026 as part of a trajectory toward reduced costs and increasing financial sustainability.
The proposal provides additional strategic context for the 2026 Summit, including a shift toward higher-impact positioning, co-location with a major industry event, and increased focus on institutional engagement. It also includes Key Performance Indicators relating to attendance, enterprise engagement, and ecosystem activity.
These elements contribute positively to the clarity of intent and delivery expectations.
However, while a revised strategic approach is described, Tingvard is unable to identify a sufficiently clear linkage between this shift in strategy and the magnitude of the increase in requested resources. The proposal does not clearly explain how the change in format, positioning, or scope results in a cost increase from approximately USD 1,200,000 to USD 2,500,000 for the Summit.
The objectives and expected outcomes, including ecosystem engagement, institutional exposure, and global reach, remain broadly consistent with those previously articulated. While the positioning of the event has evolved, the proposal does not provide a clear comparative framing that would allow the community to assess whether the increase in resource allocation is proportional to the change in approach.
Tingvard emphasizes that this is not an assessment of whether the proposed budget is appropriate in absolute terms, nor a judgment on return on investment. Such considerations fall within the mandate of DReps. Rather, the assessment concerns whether the proposal provides sufficient context on-chain to support a determination that the use of resources is reasonable within the meaning of Article I, Section 1, Tenet 8.
Taken together, the increase in cost, the departure from the previously communicated cost trajectory, and the absence of a clearly articulated connection between revised strategy and resource requirements make it difficult to determine whether the proposed use of resources can be considered reasonable.
As each component of a Treasury Withdrawal should demonstrate alignment with the Constitution, this uncertainty in the Cardano Foundation component affects the assessment of the governance action as a whole.For these reasons, Tingvard judges the “Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore” treasury withdrawal governance action unconstitutional, as the Cardano Foundation component does not sufficiently demonstrate reasonable use of treasury resources under Article I, Section 1, Tenet 8 of the Cardano Constitution.
- KtorZ64f97568…3a49Not votedExpired · term ends epoch 653No rationale