Cardano Treasury Withdrawal Proposals

This governance action requests the withdrawal of ₳23,000,000 (USD 5,750,000 based on $0.25c) from the Cardano Treasury to cover a focused ‘Year 2’ contracted cost and a 12-month enhancement & maintenance program for the critical integrations already delivered or currently being integrated under the first Cardano Critical Integrations Budget (“CCI V1”): Circle (USDCx), LayerZero, Pyth Price Feeds, Dune Analytics, and a new full native integration of Fireblocks. The CCI V2 initiative provides the necessary funding for the ongoing operation and optimization of infrastructure previously established. While CCI V1 was responsible for delivering the primary foundational framework and launch readiness, CCI V2 ensures that this infrastructure remains functional, reliable, and equipped with advanced features to support the expanding needs of the ecosystem. ### Fund administration Funds will be administered by Intersect under the Treasury Reserve Smart Contract Framework over a 12 month delivery window. Drawdowns occur only after signed agreements and Statements of Work are submitted and verified. Funds are expected to be ringfenced and held in stablecoins, until such time that they are needed. ### Prior Treasury Receipt Disclosure Pursuant to Article II, Section 7, Item 2 of the Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Constitution, the proposer discloses that the prospective recipient of this Treasury Withdrawal, acting through the Pentad steering structure with Intersect as Administrator, received ₳70,000,000 from the Cardano Treasury in the prior 24 month period under the “Cardano Critical Integrations Budget” (gov_action1lqun78lcznfa2gek49m3ydslakfnm8heargfp8sax9fk54yl6ghsqp042zv). The following integrations have either been successfully launched on mainnet or are currently in the implementation phase under CCI V1: Circle (USDCx on Cardano), LayerZero cross-chain messaging and bridge infrastructure, Pyth pricing oracles, and Dune Analytics coverage. V2 exists only to sustain, optimize and extend what V1 built, with the addition of Fireblocks institutional custody as a new integration funded within this withdrawal.

Eternl is a non-custodial Cardano light wallet for the web, browser extension, Android, and iOS. Users rely on Eternl for payments, staking, governance, and DApp interaction. This proposal enables 12 months of operations, maintenance, and improvements. It includes frontend and backend maintenance and development, backend infrastructure, user support, and day-to-day operations.[^1] The goal is to keep Eternl secure, compatible, stable, and available as Cardano keeps evolving. This costs around $420,000 per year.

Cardano is moving. Protocol upgrades, critical integrations, DeFi liquidity, and VC capital are aligning. But the next bottleneck is no longer core infrastructure, it is application delivery. Teams still struggle to ship non-trivial applications because they must master and assemble too many moving parts themselves: smart contracts, formal verification, chain access, operations, and scaling. The ecosystem does not lack tools. It lacks an integrated application platform that has it all and just works. [Scalus](https://scalus.org/) was built to address exactly this bottleneck. It is an established Cardano smart contract and dApp development platform built by [Lantr Engineering](https://lantr.io/), with three years of continuous delivery, ecosystem adoption, and integrations. Hydrozoa and Bifrost build on it. MeshJS SDK, Cardano Client Lib, and Evolution SDK integrate it. This proposal extends Scalus from a development environment into a full application platform: one coherent stack to build, verify, launch, and scale Cardano applications, with its own L1 node, native L2 integration, formal verification, and production-grade runtime capabilities. Lantr Engineering requests ₳8,503,000 (including 10% contingency) from the Cardano Treasury for a 12-month delivery period (July 2026 to June 2027). By the end of this period, both existing Cardano builders and new Java, Scala, and Kotlin teams entering the ecosystem will be able to develop and operate mission-critical and scalable applications on a unified JVM-native platform, reducing setup complexity while improving self-sovereignty and time to market. For Cardano, that means a stronger application layer: more serious teams shipping, more resilient infrastructure in production, and a faster path to the applications that drive transactions, users, and TVL.

Cardano's infrastructure depends on open source software maintained by a handful of individuals with no formal support, succession planning, or continuity funding. Research shows 96% of commercial codebases contain OSS with fewer than 10 contributors. Critical protocol libraries, wallet SDKs, developer tooling, and indexing infrastructure have single maintainers, no succession plans, and no stable funding beyond episodic grants. This program establishes a community-governed, data-driven open source sustainment architecture. Funded through direct treasury withdrawal, operated by an independent entity, and overseen by two advisory councils — an External Open Source Advisory Council and a Technical Community Advisory Council. Four programs: (1) a Maintenance Fund providing long-term retainer funding for the highest-risk infrastructure, selected by dependency data; (2) a Maintainer Development program building structured mentor–mentee pipelines; (3) a CodeForUs bounty program for targeted delivery work; and (4) an Ecosystem Activation Reserve funding contributor entry programs. Selection follows published dependency centrality data, not relationships. Reporting is public and quarterly. All programs carry explicit sunset criteria. The operator is replaceable by community governance. Total: 12,000,000 ADA over 36 months.

**Proposal as pdf:** [here](https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmbrCWbfcJYUeBVzTkqRFUNej86YAcEwiDkQNgY2gWrq1X) Cardano Vision 2026 (CV26) delivers a structured, end-to-end innovation pipeline that translates foundational research into deployable system capabilities and measurable impact. Building on CV25, where delivery exceeded targets by 20%, the programme is executed through an integrated IO Research delivery model combining research (IOR), applied engineering (ARC), and product alignment (Cardano Business Unit). CV26 is anchored around 3 priorities. * **Human-centred design** improves usability, incentives, and governance participation through enhanced DevEx (e.g. decentralized APIs), better SPO alignment, and reduced user friction via intent-based interaction. * **Scalability** is addressed through a layered architecture combining consensus improvements (Leios/Peras integration), L2 execution and ZK-enabled scaling, and mid-term research like sharding. * **Post-quantum security** ensures long-term resilience through evaluation and migration of quantum-resistant cryptographic primitives, supported by a cross-cutting roadmap spanning security, transaction efficiency, ZK/L2 infrastructure, and partner chains. The programme is organised into 7 work packages aligned to ecosystem outcomes: WP1 Trust, Security & Reliability Infrastructure; WP2 Scalability & Execution Layer; WP3 Developer Platform & User Experience; WP4 Applications, Adoption & Liquidity; WP5 Economic Systems & Incentives; WP6 Governance, Identity & Social Infrastructure; and WP7 Delivery, Dissemination & Partnerships. CV26 delivers **42 outputs across the innovation pipeline**: 38 papers and technical reports at early TRL; 8 Cardano Problem Statements (CPS) and 12 prototypes at mid-TRL (including Leios/Peras integration designs, dynamic fee mechanisms, SPO incentive models, and a decentralised Babel fee marketplace); and 5 Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs) enabling implementation in identity services, ZK-enabled L2 scalability, and post-quantum security. The ₳32.916M (\$7.9M) funds a consortium of 9 R&D partners led by IOR, including leading universities (Edinburgh, Tokyo, Oxford, Buenos Aires) and ecosystem contributors (Eryx). In total, 36 FTEs operate as a research network under the leadership of Aggelos Kiayias, positioning Cardano for sustained, research-driven growth.

Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs for short) is an R&D firm born and focused solely on the Cardano ecosystem. Harmonic Laboratories supports and maintains a considerable portion of the TypeScript tooling for the Cardano ecosystem, which the majority of Cardano developers use, either directly, or indirectly via other libraries that depend on code written and maintained by HLabs. The mission of HLabs is for true decentralization to become the baseline of application development, not only a nice-to-have feature. This proposal funds two complementary engineering tracks: - **[Pebble](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble)**: the first production-ready imperative smart-contract language on Cardano. Pebble brings to UPLC a programming paradigm Aiken structurally cannot deliver, ships a TypeScript-shaped surface syntax that the largest developer community on earth already uses, and (per HLabs' published benchmarks) produces on-chain code that strictly outperforms Aiken and is competitive with Plutarch, while remaining dramatically more readable than either. - **Tooling maintenance**: keeping HLabs' TypeScript stack (`cardano-ledger-ts`, `ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts`, `plutus-machine`, `uplc`, etc.) synchronized with protocol upgrades. This stack is not optional infrastructure: it is what production projects across the ecosystem already depend on, including [Mesh](https://meshjs.dev/), [Lucid Evolution](https://github.com/Anastasia-Labs/lucid-evolution), and L2 systems like [Midgard](https://github.com/Anastasia-Labs/midgard). When HLabs ships a hard-fork update, the rest of the TypeScript ecosystem ships with it; when HLabs lags, every downstream project lags. A separate proposal funds the [Gerolamo light node](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/gerolamo) at 5 FTE and is voted on independently. ### Duration & Milestones This proposal spans over **12 months**, throughout which there will be several deliveries and demos. Amongst the key deliveries, we note: - maintenance for an upcoming hard fork; - a production-ready, imperative and efficient, programming language for smart contracts ([Pebble](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble)). ### Total Budget Ask The estimated USD budget is of **`$1,000,000`** (or **`₳4,000,000`**) + 15% in refundable contingency (**`₳600,000`**); for a total ask of **`4,600,000 ADA`**.

Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs for short) is an R&D firm born and focused solely on the Cardano ecosystem. Harmonic Laboratories supports and maintains a considerable portion of the TypeScript tooling for the Cardano ecosystem, which the majority of Cardano developers use, either directly, or indirectly via other libraries that depend on code written and maintained by HLabs. The mission of HLabs is for true decentralization to become the baseline of application development, not only a nice-to-have feature. This proposal funds [Gerolamo](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/gerolamo), the first production-ready Cardano node that runs **in the browser**, at 5 FTE. Cardano's eUTxO design and low-footprint protocol make it the only major blockchain where a fully-validating, in-browser node is technically realistic. This is not a research demo or a stripped-down SPV client; it is a real, fully-validating node. Shipping it turns a latent property of the protocol into a Cardano-specific competitive advantage that no other ecosystem can replicate without redesigning their base layer. A separate proposal funds [Pebble](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble) and ongoing TypeScript tooling maintenance at 5 FTE and is voted on independently. ### Duration & Milestones This proposal spans over **12 months**, throughout which there will be several deliveries and demos. The key delivery is: - a production-ready light node that runs in the browser ([Gerolamo](https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/gerolamo)). ### Total Budget Ask The estimated USD budget is of **`$1,000,000`** (or **`₳4,000,000`**) + 15% in refundable contingency (**`₳600,000`**); for a total ask of **`4,600,000 ADA`**.

**OriLife Alliance proposes 2,400,000 ADA from the Cardano Treasury to deploy tamper-evident traceability across 12,000 hectares of durian in Đắk Lắk, Vietnam — before the December 1, 2026 deadline ([Article 15, Circular 11/2026/TT-BCT](https://chinhphu.vn/?pageid=27160&docid=217126&classid=0)).** This is not a research grant. The PoC works today: AI fruit identification is live at [orilife.io/demo](https://www.orilife.io/demo), VeData batching is [verified on Cardano Preprod](https://preprod.cardanoscan.io/transaction/a8dd2f28d7b4d4a162d752070d839496e671f608abde9bb95a021cbbe7574dde), and farmers across 46 communes have been onboarded over two harvest seasons ([verifiable on TON](https://tonviewer.com/UQAftkW5i-ON2qIPIRub2Z8zZL_KzbvX8jPnF9-6uwnowmcD?section=nfts)). The Alliance self-invested ~$500,000 USD before this GA. The Treasury funds production deployment. **Treasury-funded deliverables (capacity targets):** - **180M durian fruits/season** identified via Bio-ID — identity inseparable from the fruit. - **24,000 PhoenixKey DIDs** on Cardano — W3C-compliant, biometric, seedless recovery. - **12,000 CIP-68 Dynamic Farm NFTs** on Mainnet, ~1M–1.2M on-chain events/year at full scale. - **~75,000 ADA permanently locked** at M4 across NFTs, wallets, and escrow contracts. - **Midnight ZK Proof** — subject to mainnet availability; fallback uses Cardano L1 with off-chain trade fields on [LampNet](https://lampnet.cloud/). - **MIT-licensed SDK** so any developer can build on OriLife. **Cost & who pays.** OriLife operating cost ~$200/ha/year vs ~$300 for QR labels and $1,500–8,700 for RFID. All on-chain fees paid by end-users via [MAGIC](https://docs.magiclamp.network/MAGIC) credits (VND-funded), not by this GA. **ADA-price commitment.** Anchor $0.25/ADA. **≥ $0.25**: full scope executes. **Below $0.25**: Alliance self-funds the gap. **Above $0.30**: surplus reimburses self-funded then contingency or ecosystem reinvestment. All ADA locked in Intersect-managed escrow; M0 advance protected by 90-day Clawback. **Why demand is non-discretionary.** Vietnam's Circular 11 makes traceability connection a legal obligation for all food production establishments by Dec 1, 2026. China's GACC (>90% of durian export market) is tightening enforcement after the 2025 scandal. EU EUDR and US FSMA 204 reinforce value as the SDK expands — not preconditions. Aligns with Intersect 2026 Budget Framework — Pillar: Ecosystem Growth & Real-world Adoption.

This treasury withdrawal requests **₳39,787,316** (USD $9,946,829) to fund Tweag by Modus Create's delivery of 17 work packages across 9 core infrastructure areas for the Cardano ecosystem over 2026–2028. The primary focus is the **mainnet deployment of Peras** (faster finality: ~2 min vs. ~12 min today), alongside improvements to resilience, scalability, developer tooling, and network observability. Work packages include: - **Peras v1** – production cryptography, KillSwitch, mainnet readiness - **Peras v2** – pre-agreement algorithm, cooldown recovery, performance optimizations - **History Expiry** – partial-history nodes to reduce SPO storage costs - **Hard Fork Mempool Bridger** – transaction preservation during fork incidents - **Conformance Testing** – CTC framework extended for Peras and Leios - **Adversarial Fork Testing** – Genesis property-based test improvements - **Canonical Ledger State & Mithril** – standardized state snapshots (CIP-0165) - **Plutus Script Re-Executor** – debugging tooling for DApp developers - **Mutation Testing** – test suite adequacy framework for Haskell/Cardano - **Hoarding Node** – live deployment, distributed mode, embedded consensus validation, transaction collection - **Block Cost Investigation** – empirical and analytical cost models - **Genesis Sync Accelerator & Node Emulator** – ongoing maintenance Intersect is requested to serve as proposal and contract administrator. All deliverables are open-source and publicly tracked.

Modular top-up unlocks the ‘**Title’ Sponsorship** tier, the highest level of visibility at TOKEN2049. This is an incremental request of **1,768,167 ada (equivalent to $424,360 USD, calculated at an estimated rate of $0.24 per ada)** to upgrade Cardano’s presence from a 108 sqm booth to a massive 144 sqm footprint and secure a Mainstage Keynote. **Dependency Notice:** This is a top-up proposal intended to be voted on in conjunction with the Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Baseline ‘Platinum’ Sponsorship proposal (Gov Action ID: `gov_action18u8lpkzge2csxe3plynn9lh4agwtv3nrqkyfwalwj4ykjv7l68jqqzmul9z`). If this proposal is ratified without the approval of the ‘Platinum’ Sponsorship proposal, EMURGO commits to returning 100% of the funds to the Cardano Treasury within 30 days of enactment, as there would be no underlying sponsorship to upgrade. By splitting the funding request, we enable DReps to make a clear, isolated decision on the value of premium marketing exposure. The baseline ‘Platinum’ proposal ensures Cardano’s presence, while this upgrade proposal asks whether the community wishes to secure additional benefits, including a 15-minute mainstage keynote, premium media access (press release inclusion and introductions), expanded branding via lanyards, a high-traffic engagement point through the protein shake station, and a larger booth footprint, all of which enhance Cardano’s visibility and reach across the event. The expanded booth and mainstage presence will also amplify the visibility of Cardano ecosystem projects showcasing at the event, providing them with exposure to a broader and more prominent audience. **Important Notes:** Regarding the vote for this “Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Top-Up ‘Title’ Sponsorship Upgrade (Modular Extension)”, please vote **"YES"** only if you support the "Cardano at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026: Baseline ‘Platinum’ Sponsorship Proposal" as a DRep and wish to upgrade it to a ‘Title’ Sponsorship.