Cardano Protocol Parameter Change Proposals

Intersect's Parameter Committee proposes a single Parameter Update governance action bundling two independent, previously recommended protocol parameter changes: 1. **minPoolCost:** decrease `minPoolCost` from 170,000,000 Lovelace (170 ada) to 75,000,000 Lovelace (75 ada), a decrease of approximately 55.9%. 2. **Plutus memory unit limits (Part 2 of 2):** increase maxTxExecutionUnits[memory] from 16,500,000 to 17,500,000 units (+6.1%) and maxBlockExecutionUnits[memory] from 72,000,000 to 77,500,000 units (+7.6%), completing the two-step, cumulative 25% increase to both parameters begun in the linked Part 1 action. These two changes are otherwise unrelated: one lowers the stake pool fixed-fee floor, the other increases Plutus script execution headroom. The changes are bundled here for submission efficiency and to allow SPOs to give input on `minPoolCost`. No other protocol parameters or Plutus cost model settings are changed by this action.

Intersect’s Civics Committee and Technical Steering Committee propose to change the **minimum** Constitutional Committee size (`committeeMinSize`) from 7 to 5 in order to improve operational resilience while maintaining constitutional safeguards. The ratification of this Governance Action depends on the enactment of another live Parameter Change Governance Action (`gov_action1eqhnsdyf3exhp5mqt7sdjtl7xy69wqg8tvg854psns2jt72cra3qqrcnr8r`), which will change a number of Plutus cost model settings in preparation for the van Rossem hard fork.

Intersect's Parameter Committee proposes to update the Plutus V3 Cost Model via a Parameter Update governance action to enable the new Plutus primitives that will be available following the van Rossem hard fork (to Protocol Version 11), to enable all Plutus primitives in Plutus V1 and V2 as well as Plutus V3, and to change settings for some existing Plutus primitives. Note that the new primitives will not be enabled in Protocol version 10, but only following the enactment of the hard fork to Protocol Version 11. However, the changes for existing primitives will happen immediately on enactment of this governance action.

Reduce the minimum Constitutional Committee size (`committeeMinSize`) from 7 to 5 in order to improve operational resilience while maintaining constitutional safeguards.

Intersect's Parameter Committee proposes the first of two Parameter Update governance actions. The following change is proposed together in this rationale, but will require two separate, linked governance actions as per guardrail MTEU-M-04. 1) increase Plutus script memory unit limits per transaction by 25% to allow greater flexibility for DApp developers. 2) increase Plutus script memory unit limits per block by 25% to remain consistent with the current block memory limits. No other protocol parameters or Plutus cost model setting will be changed.

This governance proposal seeks to reduce the treasury cut from 20% to 10% to enhance staking incentives, improve decentralization, and align economic sustainability with the Cardano ecosystem's long term growth. The adjustment aims to optimize staking rewards without compromising the financial health of the treasury, ensuring a balanced economic model that incentivizes participation and network security.

We propose to update the Plutus V3 Cost Model via a Parameter Update governance action to enable the new Plutus primitives that will be available following the Chang#2 hard fork (to Protocol Version 10). Existing Plutus cost model settings will not be changed. Note that the primitives will not be enabled in Protocol version 9 (as enabled by the Chang hard fork).

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