Withdraw ₳889,500 for Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions
210 DReps voted · 65 with a rationale
Open a row to read the rationale.
- No 17.4M ₳ Rationale
Structures that look like a slush fund governed by a single individual must be avoided. Project Catalyst is preferable for such funding with its direct community voting and oversight.
- Yes 17.1M ₳ No rationale
- No 16.7M ₳ Rationale
Long-Term Sustainability
While global visibility matters, temporary physical booths at exhibitions do not provide lasting infrastructure or technical advancement. This initiative does little to enhance the core sustainability of the Cardano protocol or ecosystem.Builder and Ecosystem Growth
The proposal claims to support growth by increasing awareness, but its indirect benefits to actual builders are limited and speculative. There is no guarantee that pavilion exposure translates to dApp adoption, developer onboarding, or long-term engagement.Decentralization and Community Engagement
Pavilion presence at events is inherently top-down and PR-driven. It does not empower the community, improve transparency, or advance decentralization in any measurable way.Responsible Treasury Spending
₳889,500 is an extremely high price for short-lived, hard-to-measure promotional impact. The budget lacks justification, is not tied to KPIs, and diverts funding from higher-impact proposals. We recommend voting NO based on cost inefficiency and low ecosystem return. Treasury funds should prioritize reusable infrastructure and verifiable outcomes.. - Yes 16.4M ₳ Rationale
Treasury withdrawals
Software Development Proposals:
Development budgets should not be funded from the treasury. Instead, the treasury should be used to incentivize feature completion through grants. The treasury should not operate as a venture capital fund or to fund ongoing development budgets. It should be results oriented and decoupled from budgeting. Dracula DAO Deep will make exceptions this round for projects that deliver specific, high value features or results at a reasonable ask amount.Marketing Proposals:
Marketing budgets are the best way to fund these types of efforts. Judgement should be used based on the ask amount and value proposition.Research Proposals:
Research budgets should be evaluated based on the track record of the team being funded, the value proposition and whether the results are released to the public.DAO Funding:
DraculaDAO believes DAOs should find other ways to support operations other than public treasury funds.Bitcoin:
Dracula DAO Deep is against purchasing Bitcoin with treasury funds, and are generally not in favor of a tight Bitcoin / Cardano partnership. Bitcoin DeFi is ok as long as the value proposition remains with Cardano. Cardano is already Bitcoin++ and treasury funds should not be used to encourage or sustain BTC energy waste and outdated consensus model.Yes - MLabs Core Tool Maintenance. Ask is reasonable.
Yes - Midgard Optimistic Rollups. This is urgently needed as an L2 solution for Cardano and the ask is reasonable.
Yes - Hardware Wallets Maintenance. This is necessary and ask is reasonable.
Yes - Pallas Rust Tooling. Core tooling used by many projects and ask is reasonable for the specific deliverable.
Yes - UTxO RPC
Yes - Lucid Evolution Maintenance
Yes - zkFold ZK Rollup
Yes - Dolos. Ask is reasonable with specific deliverable.
Yes - Ledger App rewrite
Yes - Paid Open Source Model. This looks like a nice way to take the VC function out of the treasury and start towards incentivizing projects through features and benefits like bug bounties. Willing to take a chance on this, but will vote no in the future if results are disappointing.
Yes - Gerolamo node in typescript
Yes - MLabs Core Tools: Plutarch. Ask is reasonable
Yes - ZK Bridge
Yes - Eternal maintenance
Yes - Scalus Development Platform
Yes - Cexplorer.io
Yes - Native Asset CDN
Yes - Adastat.net
Yes - Intersect MBO. DraculaDAO does not like the high ask amount and the budgeting approach, but for Intersect MBO there may not be a better way like there is with software development. Therefore DraculaDAO supports this proposal, realizing this possibly breaks with the general guidelines DraculaDAO described above.
Yes - Beyond Minimum Viable Governance. Focused feature set and reasonable ask. IOHK should use this approach for all its teams.
Yes - Cardano Summit
Yes - Unified Global Events Marketing
Yes - Quadratic Funding. Reasonable ask for a specific feature.
Yes - Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions
Yes - High-yield RWA Asset. Direct communication with this vendor increased our faith in this project and have changed our stance on this.
Yes - Expanding Stablecoin / Native Asset Support. This was marginal in terms of ask amount and number of features grouped together.
Yes - OpShin
Yes - PyCardano
Yes - Cardano Product Committee
Yes - BloxBean Java Tools
Yes - Input Output Research
Yes - MLabs ResearchAbstain - Input Output Core Development. This is simply a warning shot as DraculaDAO expects this proposal will pass. We are generally in favor of the initiatives and features being delivered by IOHK, but believe the ask is too high as a single budget line item and do not want to set a precedent of another ask of similar magnitude for the next budget cycle. Instead, IOHK should divide its deliverables into features and ask the treasury for grant incentives delivered on completion of the each feature (see Beyond Minimum Viable Governance as what we see as a good example). We are not in favor of such a large withdrawal encompassing such a large number of features. In general we do not support using the treasury for budget line items as mentioned in the introduction to this rationale.
Abstain - Blockfrost Community Budget. We support Blockfrost and operate an icebreaker node. There are no specific features mentioned, just an ongoing budget line item, which we do not support. We will support Blockfrost in other ways.No - Web3 developer stack for Bitcoin integration. DraculaDAO does not support a tight integration with Bitcoin.
No - TWEAG Proposals. We see value there but the ask is too large and too many deliverables bundled together.
No - Catalyst 2025. Ask is too large as a single budget request.
No - Cardano Builder DAO. Treasury should not be used to incentivize features, not fund ongoing budgets for software development or DAOs.
No - Market making should have other ways to fund operations. - Yes 14.2M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 14.1M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 13.3M ₳ Rationale
RCADA is voting **YES **on this proposal because it meets constitutional requirements for treasury withdrawals by providing a legal contract, milestone-based delivery and third-party oversight. Its purpose — improving Cardano’s presence at major exhibitions — is a legitimate and valuable activity within the scope of ecosystem growth.
While RCADA’s primary funding priorities are often focused on upstream infrastructure, developer tools and dApp enablement, we recognize that strategic marketing can be a critical growth driver. This proposal aims to close the visibility gap for Cardano projects in global markets, giving them affordable access to events where investors, developers and users make decisions. By partially subsidizing participation costs, it enables smaller projects to gain exposure they might otherwise miss.
The proposer, operating under Supplyoneers FZ-LLC but widely known in the community as Discover Cardano, has a track record of sustained, self-funded marketing efforts. They have hosted educational spaces such as Cardano Over Coffee, created onboarding materials for new users, organized IRL events and represented Cardano at industry exhibitions even without treasury support. Their past initiatives — including giving multiple projects stage presence at a Dubai TradFi innovation event — demonstrate a commitment to filling marketing gaps left by founding entities, making them a credible operator for this initiative.
There are centralization concerns around Intersect’s role in administering these funds, but Intersect remains an open membership organization where any community member can participate in governance and contribute to operational oversight. The vendor’s shared-cost approach also helps mitigate risk by ensuring projects have their own stake in the effort rather than relying entirely on treasury funds.
The vendor’s decision to reduce the request from ₳1.11M to ₳889,500 shows responsiveness to community concerns. However, we expect to see clear and publicly verifiable participant selection criteria, post-event reporting that measures tangible outcomes such as leads, partnerships, or developer sign-ups and coordination with other treasury-funded marketing to avoid duplication of effort.
The sustainability of this initiative will depend on how effectively it equips participating projects with the skills and knowledge to maximize exhibition ROI without requiring repeated subsidies. The educational model at the core of this proposal gives it potential long-term value, but those benefits will only materialize if results and lessons learned are documented and shared openly with the community.
For these reasons, RCADA supports this treasury withdrawal on the condition that it delivers transparent impact metrics, inclusive access for participants and effective coordination within the broader marketing strategy. If these conditions are not met, it will directly influence RCADA’s stance on similar proposals in the future.
- Yes 12.8M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 12.2M ₳ Rationale
Disclaimer: This is a general rationale we have prepared to support our “yes” vote on all the 39 treasury withdrawal actions. This follows careful review and consideration of the metadata of these treasury withdrawal proposals and hence is not a blanket voting practice.
We, the Wada DRep Committee, have decided to upvote on all 39 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions currently live on-chain and submitted under the administration of IntersectMBO. These actions are the necessary implementation step following the community's approval of the ₳275.3 million Cardano Ecosystem Budget, the necessary budget info action that precedes the treasury withdrawal process. Our support reflects not only continuity with our earlier "yes" votes on the overarching budget info action and its constituent proposals but also our confidence in the smart contract guide and project execution mechanisms Intersect has established as an administrative body for these proposals.
Each of these 39 withdrawals corresponds directly to proposals that have already passed a respective Budget Info Action with wide community and DRep support of 64.23%. As Wada DRep, we reviewed, scored, and supported many of these initiatives during the budgeting phase, using our internal ₳280M Net Change Limit framework. Our endorsement of the full ₳275.3M package was not a blanket approval but the outcome of detailed deliberation. Therefore, we see it as our responsibility to honor those community-approved funding decisions by affirming these follow-up Treasury withdrawal governance actions.
Importantly, we are confident in Intersect’s role as the administrator of these treasury disbursements. We have independently reviewed the Smart Contract Guide, disbursement architecture, and accountability structures associated with these withdrawals. The use of milestone-gated smart contracts, multi-signature treasuries, and on-chain/off-chain tracking mechanisms provides strong assurance of transparency, risk management, and community accountability. We are particularly satisfied that Intersect has adopted security-audited contract templates and provides public documentation on how treasury funds will be administered, paused if necessary, and even returned if unused.
In our view, rejecting or abstaining from these Treasury Withdrawals at this stage would risk destabilizing delivery timelines, undermining community trust, and introducing administrative conflicts that may violate the spirit of the Constitution’s Articles on budgeting. We believe that treasury funding is not just about allocation; it’s about consistent and credible execution. As such, the DRep role requires continuity and follow-through, especially when prior voting outcomes have clearly mandated action.
Therefore, in alignment with our constitutional responsibilities, community-aligned decision-making, and our assessment of Intersect’s administrative protocols, we have decided to upvote on all 39 Treasury Withdrawals Governance Actions.
- Yes 11M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 10.8M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 10.5M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 8.8M ₳ Rationale
「275M ADA Administered by Intersect」に含まれるすべての個別提案に対して、エクレシア投票の段階では必ずしもすべてに賛成していたわけではありませんが、最終的には本ガバナンスアクションに賛成票を投じました。Cardanoエコシステム全体への貢献を高く評価し、その前進を後押しする立場から、今回提出された39件すべての提案に賛成票を投じる判断をいたしました。\n\nWhile I did not necessarily support every individual proposal included in "275M ADA Administered by Intersect" during the Ekklesia vote, I ultimately voted Yes on this governance action. Recognizing its overall contribution to the Cardano ecosystem and in support of continued progress, I cast a Yes vote on all 39 proposals submitted under this initiative.
- Yes 8.1M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 7.8M ₳ No rationale
- No 7.3M ₳ No rationale
- Abstain 7.1M ₳ Rationale
I have voted ABSTAIN on this proposal during the Ekklesia tool voting stage. I reiterate my ABSTAIN vote for a Treasury Withdrawal.
I have voted ABSTAIN on this proposal during the Ekklesia tool voting stage. I reiterate my ABSTAIN vote for a Treasury Withdrawal.
This proposal for Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions has - in the meantime - adjusted its budget downwards to ₳889,500, from the Budget Info Action approved ₳1,119,333. WHich is welcome for the Treasury, hopefully it is good enough for the team's plans still.
This is a tough one and I sense the committment from Dave and the DiscoverCardano team and their wish to promote the Cardano ecosystem through an approach that they have devised.
I am not a marketing expert. Yet, none of the marketing proposals (among the 39 ones) so far have received a YES vote from me.
I generally have a feeling that Cardano marketing has been stumbling - however it might also be a reflection of Cardano's better-than-thou serious narrative (research-driven... functional programming... yada, yada, yada ). Maybe this narrative is just off-putting to outsiders.
For this proposals - despite reading through the materials I do not know enough to be able to confidently judge the effect of ecosystem pavilions in the proposed events (listed as: Web3 Amsterdam, Paris Blockchain Week, HODL Summit Dubai, Crypto Expo Dubai, Gitex Nigeria, Future Blockchain Week Dubai, Gitex Thailand, and India Blockchain Week).
Overall, I think that the other marketing proposals involving some of the Cardano founding entities showed less sel-awareness (in terms of the image problems that Cardano faces - and how they have accumulated between 2017 and 2025) and as those ones were also much more demanding in financial terms, I had to vote NO on those.
For this one, I leave the possibility that I may be unable to grasp its significance, so I will ABSTAIN, thus not weighing against it with a direct NO vote. - No 6.2M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 6M ₳ Rationale
Voting decision was made to be consistent with my reconciliation back in May 2025;
https://2025budget.intersectmbo.org/voters/drep1yfdfs28uwafjgmrkatdektlzrvha2cmvqjhuz700e04mawq23rmrgReady to move forward overall with the budgeting process and look forward to a smoother process next year. I voted for a lower NCL overall (200M), however found in supporting things that we really ought to have funded to keep momentum in development and enhancements on-chain (supporting both open and non-open-sourced projects) I came a bit higher than that (250M+).
We will need to strike a balance in treasury withdrawels for projects that push development forward (and therefore the chains efficiency, performance, resiliancy, and seucrity) -- and businsess that wish to participate, of any size, and extend the capabilities and real-world use cases of Cardano.
My votes, I hope, align with my overall goal as a DRep to see continuous improvement in the ecosystem. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Tarrant64/mr_cata_gov/refs/heads/main/mr_cata_gov%20.txt
- No 5.5M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 5.3M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 5.3M ₳ Rationale
STORM Partners votes YES on this initiative to enhance Cardano’s presence at major events. The proposal presents a pragmatic and cost-effective approach, accompanied by clear ROI metrics and a credible team. While we also supported a higher-budget, similar proposal from founding entities, we view both as complementary efforts targeting different segments and execution styles. Going forward, we believe it will be valuable for the community to compare outcomes between the two initiatives to better assess cost-effectiveness, reach, and long-term impact.
- No 4.8M ₳ Rationale
No proven record of marketing experience.
No proven record of marketing experience.
- Yes 4.6M ₳ No rationale
- Abstain 4.6M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 4.5M ₳ No rationale
- No 4.4M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 4.2M ₳ Rationale
[Portuguese]
Optamos por votar "SIM" nesta ação de governança (gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzj3lnzp7), pois a exibição da Cardano e projetos do ecossistema em eventos de nicho ao redor do mundo será proveitosa e é objeto de desejo da comunidade dentro de ações de marketing que fortaleçam a imagem da Cardano e promovam visibilidade e adoção em massa. Além disso, a justificativa de gastos apresentada, bem como as métricas de avaliação e controle, foram bem apresentadas.
[English]
We chose to vote "YES" on this governance action (gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzj3lnzp7), because showcasing Cardano and ecosystem projects at niche events around the world will be beneficial and is something the community desires within marketing actions that strengthen Cardano's image and promote visibility and mass adoption. Furthermore, the expense justification presented, as well as the evaluation and control metrics, were well presented. - No 4.2M ₳ No rationale
- No 4.2M ₳ Rationale
I'm voting no, as per list described in my tweet:
https://x.com/OracleAltcoin/status/1917257059071934483Core engineering first, decentralization of influence and conservative with the treasury.
Strength and honor. - No 4M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 3.8M ₳ Rationale
Voting Rationale for 2025-08 Treasury Withdrawals
The following outlines the general lenses and beliefs that guided my voting decisions on the 39 withdrawal proposals submitted under Cardano’s Voltaire governance. I am reusing this rationale for proposals that aligned with these principles and did not require additional explanation due to unique mitigating concerns.
⸻
Cardano: State of Play
The vision of the Cardano ecosystem—to create a fairer financial system, less subject to the whims of individuals, elites, nations, or cultures—remains worthy of support. In general, we are progressing toward that goal.
The bedrock tenet of any blockchain is trustworthiness. While Cardano’s base layer and transaction integrity are mature, the ecosystem has not yet reached the scale needed to fulfill its mission. Infrastructure that supports scaling—especially when open-sourced—should be prioritized for funding.
Because the ecosystem currently allows for anonymity and lacks effective mechanisms to penalize bad actors, it is vulnerable to abuse. Public funding is at risk from fraud, budget inflation, frivolous proposals, and well-intentioned but economically unviable ideas. Given that grift is currently viable, all funding requests must be critically reviewed—with a strong default bias toward skepticism.
However, in any new system, failure and error are expected. The many problems we’ve seen in this first funding cycle are normal and should be treated as feedback to help us improve, not as reasons to disengage.
⸻
Fiscal Philosophy
I view the Cardano treasury as a sovereign wealth fund—a public resource meant to grow over the long term. Spending should be closely aligned with income.
Most projects should ultimately sustain themselves by generating revenue commensurate with their value. But Cardano is still an immature economic system, and many valuable contributions will require public funding at this stage—analogous to early government support for foundational infrastructure.
⸻
Approach to the Budget Process
This first Voltaire budget cycle has experienced serious growing pains. I do not believe that builders should be asked to shoulder the full financial risk of an immature, unclear, and delayed funding process.
Many proposers have worked through most of 2025 without knowing whether their funding would come through. This has impaired their ability to allocate resources intelligently.
I believe the greater ecosystem risk lies in failing to fund projects that were already approved by the community—under the reasonable assumption that funding would follow—than in inadvertently funding a few proposals that should have been rejected. Accordingly, I adopted a bias toward optimism and benefit of the doubt.
However, in cases where proposals appeared excessively extractive, failed to demonstrate economic value in line with their requests, or raised too many concern flags, I voted “no” despite that bias.
⸻
Bias Toward Core Infrastructure and Open-Source
Cardano is first and foremost an infrastructure system. Public funding is best directed toward foundational layers and tooling, rather than toward products that should be able to find product-market fit and attract users or investors.
Public money should come with public return—either in the form of open-sourced outputs or equity-like participation in future value creation.
⸻
Additional Beliefs and Disclosures
I believe in the wisdom of crowds. My votes are based on independent reading of the proposals, personal communications with teams, and my own biases and interpretations. I assume some of my conclusions are incorrect—but trust that the collective judgment of voters will yield a generally sound outcome despite individual errors.
I voted in good faith and without compensation. I have no proposals of my own and no financial interest in any proposal beyond that of any other ADA holder.
- No 3.7M ₳ Rationale
I am unfamiliar with the vendor, and the proposal for $900,000 to fund Cardano pavilions lacks sufficient detail. Given the current focus on core technology development, I cannot support this withdrawal. I would reconsider if the vendor submitted a detailed proposal through Catalyst with clear objectives and justifications.
- Yes 3.7M ₳ No rationale
- No 3.5M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 3.2M ₳ Rationale
Cardano community events are vital for the growth and awareness of our ecosystem. Dave with Discover Cardano has been continuing to contribute to onboarding newcomers to Cardano by hosting several in-person events and workshops. I have personally attended several of his events while in Dubai and can see the passion and commitment he carries for the community. He has been pushing forward despite not having received any financial support from the Cardano treasury, and I believe it's now more important than ever to get his proposals funded to continue expanding community-led events.
- No 3M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 2.8M ₳ No rationale
- No 2.7M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 2.7M ₳ Rationale
A couple of months ago, I supported the resolution to bundle all of the Intersect Budget Proposals into 1 or 2 formal on-chain governance votes.
Each of these proposals has already received 50% or greater support from the active DReps in the ecosystem, and I will honor that prior decision.
A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.
A couple of months ago, I supported the resolution to bundle all of the Intersect Budget Proposals into 1 or 2 formal on-chain governance votes.
Each of these proposals has already undergone extensive scrutiny and received 50% or greater support from the active DReps in the ecosystem, and I will honor that prior decision and the work these prospective developers have put in by voting yes on all the proposals from the Intersect Budget team.
- No 2.6M ₳ Rationale
I'm not sure, but isn’t that what the Cardano Foundation is supposed to be for?
- Yes 2.5M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 2.5M ₳ Rationale
Fuck it. Let's give the little guy a chance.
- Yes 2.5M ₳ Rationale
展示会出展のための部分補助を通じ、エコシステム参加プロジェクトの外部発信力を高める提案であり、投資・開発者・ユーザーの獲得に向けた実践的手段です。全額補助を避け、主体性と効果重視の運営が組み込まれている点も評価し、賛成します。
This proposal supports partial subsidies for ecosystem projects to participate in global exhibitions, enhancing visibility and outreach. The model avoids full funding to maintain project accountability and strategic impact, making it a cost-effective outreach initiative. I vote in favor.
- Yes 2.5M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 2.4M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 2.1M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 2.1M ₳ No rationale
- Yes 2.1M ₳ No rationale
- No 2M ₳ No rationale