Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem
IntersectMBO
ID: 69e7a834d6a29288536b1200
This proposal funds Intersect’s core operating model for June 2026 to June 2027: the Member Based Organization that supports open ecosystem coordination, a reserved capacity to address critical unowned processes, and critically technical stewardship, incident response, and release coordination required to help keep Cardano secure, reliable, and operationally resilient. This proposal reflects how Intersect has evolved to better match the needs of the ecosystem. Over the past two years, Intersect has matured from a new coordination body into a more focused operational layer for Cardano. That includes supporting committees and working groups, stewarding the core Haskell repositories, coordinating upgrades and incident response, and administering community-approved initiatives through a distinct and more scalable model. Our proposal is more focused than last year’s. Compared to last year, the overall ask has reduced from **$7.875M** to **$6.35M**, while preserving the functions that are most critical to Cardano’s continuity and maturity. That technical remit should not be underestimated. Intersect has already coordinated two network upgrades, is preparing for a third, and led ecosystem coordination during the November 2025 chain partition incident. As Cardano moves further into decentralized governance, a multi-client future, and the advancements of AI models this function becomes more important, not less. Funding this proposal means Cardano retains an open coordination layer for governance participation, a mechanism to respond to critical unowned issues, and a technical stewardship function covering release coordination, incident response, repository management, and security initiatives such as bug bounties. Together, these functions provide the operational backbone that helps Cardano evolve with resilience, accountability, and confidence.
Scorecard
How this score works
Each criterion is worth between 1 and 4 points. The score is the points earned out of the points on criteria that have been answered — shown as a percentage. Green is 75% or higher, Amber is 50–74%, and Red is below 50%.
Some criteria are checked automatically against the proposal data (open source, doxxed team, treasury return clauses, etc.). Others are human-judgment calls — value for money, public good, whether the deliverables are realistic. Those stay blank until a DRep ticks them.
Criteria can also be marked Not applicablewhen they don't fit the proposal — for example, "open source" doesn't apply to a DAO governance proposal with no software output. Those are excluded from the score entirely, neither helping nor hurting.
Green requires 80% coverage. If less than 80% of the applicable criteria (by points) have been answered, the verdict stays at Amber — "pending review" — even when every answered criterion passes. This proposal's coverage is currently 68% (13 of 19 applicable criteria answered). The auto-calculated band would have been Green, but coverage is below the threshold so the verdict is shown as Amber to flag that judgment criteria are still pending.
Vote intent
Export & audit
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{
"_meta": {
"schema_version": "1.2.0",
"ingested_at": "2026-05-11",
"ingested_by": "ai",
"proposal_id": "69e7a834d6a29288536b1200",
"title": "Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem",
"proposer": "IntersectMBO"
},
"id": "hydra-intersect-governance-technical-stewardship",
"title": "Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem",
"proposer": "IntersectMBO",
"administrator": "Self (Intersect administers own proposal)",
"identity": {
"doxxed": true,
"doxxed_notes": "IntersectMBO is a Wyoming-registered member-based organisation with public board, elected committees, and annual reporting."
},
"ask": {
"total_ada": 25400000,
"usd_equivalent": 6350000,
"usd_peg": 0.25,
"usd_peg_vs_market": "neutral",
"duration_months": 12,
"milestone_payments_disclosed": true,
"milestone_schedule_disclosed": "amounts_and_dates",
"work_packages": [
{
"id": "WP1",
"title": "Intersect Operations and Ecosystem Coordination",
"ada": 6000000
},
{
"id": "WP2",
"title": "Technical Stewardship, Incident Response & Coordination (core Cardano repos)",
"ada": 18800000
},
{
"id": "WP3",
"title": "Management of Critical Processes",
"ada": 600000
}
]
},
"metadata": {
"open_source": "yes",
"has_prior_delivery": true,
"prior_delivery_notes": "2025 allocation of ₳15,750,000 delivered. Coordinated Chang and Plomin hard forks, November 2025 chain partition incident response, first Constitution, first ecosystem budget process (270M ADA approved), 45+ governance actions.",
"admin_model": "self_with_oversight",
"duplicate_of_existing_solution": {
"value": "no",
"confidence": "high",
"set_by": "ai"
}
},
"treasury_return": {
"has_return_clause": true,
"return_description": "Unspent funds returned under: bug bounty underspend, red-team pilot non-delivery, project cancellation, alternative funding secured, or general budget line efficiencies.",
"treasury_favourability": "moderate"
},
"ecosystem_demand": {
"evidence_level": "strong",
"evidence_level_confidence": "high",
"evidence_level_set_by": "ai",
"active_users_known": true,
"active_users_examples": [
{
"name": "6,000+ Intersect members/associates across 74 countries",
"kind": "user"
},
{
"name": "8 elected committees, 30+ working groups",
"kind": "user"
},
{
"name": "40 vendors under contract from 2025 cycle",
"kind": "integrator"
}
],
"developer_demand_signals": [
"Cardano Constitution mandates a technical stewardship and governance coordination function",
"100+ repositories require stewardship with no alternative steward identified",
"November 2025 chain partition required Intersect-led incident coordination — no other body could have played this role",
"2025 budget cycle (270M ADA, 194 proposals, 39 on-chain actions) demonstrates operational demand at scale"
],
"adoption_risk_notes": "Demand is institutional/structural. Intersect is the designated steward of core Cardano infrastructure. The DRep comment noting the large NCL consumption is the primary governance concern, not demand."
},
"incumbents": {
"has_existing_solution": "no",
"has_existing_solution_confidence": "high",
"has_existing_solution_set_by": "ai",
"existing_solutions": [],
"differentiation_claim": "Intersect is the sole MBO providing technical stewardship of core Cardano Haskell repos, incident response coordination, and on-chain governance administration. No alternative organisation provides this function.",
"differentiation_credibility": "high"
},
"risk_flags": {
"aggressive_peg": false,
"self_administered_no_oversight": false,
"incumbent_already_delivering": false,
"no_evidence_of_demand": false,
"competes_with_in_batch": false,
"concentration_risk": true
},
"source": {
"hydra_id": "69e7a834d6a29288536b1200",
"channels": [
"hydra"
]
}
}