July 14th, 2025 Budget Comm Minutes

Attendees:

Name	Role
Jose Velazquez	Former Voting Member
Kristijan Kowalsski	Voting Member, Tweag
Pepe	Observer
Rita	Voting Member
Lloyd Duhon	Budget Secretary
Nico Cerny	Observer, Cardano Foundation Staff
Shunsuke Murasaki	Former Voting Member, Mentor, Emurgo
Mercy	Voting Member, WADA
Dimmitri	Voting Member
Kris Baird	Voting Member, IOG, Catalyst
Tex McCutchen

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C4VTrryFJL8qzev3c2lgikRMKqKxdBCI8SGeqocmnU8/edit?tab=t.c5y48gksoqcj

Agenda 1.16.25

• Finalizing Treasury Withdrawals & Oversight: The committee received critical updates on the imminent submission of 39 governance actions for treasury withdrawals, stressing the need for immediate review and finalization of metadata and oversight committee sign-offs.

• Comprehensive Committee Reformation & Retrospective: Discussions kicked off a deep dive into reforming the committee's governing documents (including the Charter and Code of Conduct) and initiated the internal "Stop, Start, Continue" retrospective to inform future processes.

• Navigating Ecosystem Challenges: The meeting highlighted ongoing complexities like ADA-to-fiat conversion volatility, emerging Travel Rule implications for large transactions, and the critical need for DREP engagement and clearer voting guidance.

Decisions/Actions

Topic	Discussion	Action Items
Attendance	Members: Jose V, Pepe, Rita Mistry, Shunsuke Murasaki, Chris K (Kristijan Kowalsski). Observers: Nico Cerny, Tex McCutchen. Secretary: Lloyd Duhon.
Open Meetings Policy	Tex McCutchen, Open Source Program Manager and committee liaison, proposed opening committee meetings for direct community observation to enhance transparency and maturity. Private work sessions could handle sensitive information. He suggested exploring Zoom access to manage observers and invited speakers.	Committee to consider and potentially raise a motion to officially open its weekly meetings for community observation.
Meeting Recording & Public Sharing	The committee discussed publicly posting meeting recordings (e.g., on YouTube), similar to other committees. Tex provided examples of how this is handled, including linking minutes in video descriptions.	Committee to decide on the public sharing of meeting recordings (e.g., via YouTube playlist).
Executive Sessions for Sensitive Topics	In response to concerns about discussing sensitive information in open meetings, it was clarified that executive sessions can be called under Wyoming law to handle such topics privately.
Budget Withdrawal Actions Tracking & Review	Lloyd Duhon shared the GitHub link where all 39 governance actions for treasury withdrawals are located for public review. The committee is tasked with reviewing these for constitutionality and potential issues before submission (due by July 13th epoch turnover). Chris Baird confirmed an early look at the template.	All committee members to review the governance actions in the provided GitHub link for constitutionality and inconsistencies.
Internal Retrospective Kick-off (Stop/Start/Continue)	The committee conducted an internal "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise to gather initial feedback for the retrospective. Participants added sticky notes to a Miro board, categorizing actions/processes that the Budget Committee, Intersect, or Cardano as a whole should stop, start, or continue.	Lloyd Duhon to synthesize the Miro board feedback and build a report. Committee members to continue adding thoughts to the Miro board asynchronously.
Inspiration for Retrospective	Lloyd Duhon populated the Miro board with historical documents for inspiration, including past presentations (Dubai, Rare Evo) and the original Comprehensive Annual Budget Process document (June 2024).
Communication Strategy Post-Retro	The committee discussed how to communicate the retrospective findings. Lloyd Duhon will use a Typeform license to build a survey tool for collecting community feedback, aiming to determine appropriate survey questions.	Lloyd Duhon to start building the Typeform survey tool for community feedback. Committee to hold a dedicated session to define the survey questions.
Defining Next Actions Post-Retro	The committee's immediate goal post-retro is to define actionable next steps, focusing on what can be achieved in the short term with the most impact. This includes defining priorities, objectives, deadlines, and a RACI matrix.	Lloyd Duhon to organize and lead exercises for defining next actions, prioritization, and RACI.
Treasury Withdrawal Status & Deadline	Jack Briggs confirmed that the final steps for treasury withdrawals are ongoing today and tomorrow (July 14th-15th). This includes script deployment, mainnet dashboard deployment, oversight committee tests, auditor sign-off, metadata finalization, and transaction submission. They aim for submission by Tuesday, July 15th (before July 13th epoch turnover, accounting for prior day's discussions).
Collaboration on Governing Document Review	Committee members agreed to review all four governing documents (Charter, Code of Conduct, Arbitration, Escalation & Grievance) individually for 15 minutes, then focus on the Charter for 30 minutes. The Budget Secretary will draft updated policies based on feedback.	Committee members to add comments and suggestions for changes to the charter and other governing documents in ClickUp. Lloyd Duhon to draft replacement policies for Code of Conduct, Arbitration, and Escalation & Grievance.
ADA Conversion and Volatility Risk	The discussion covered the complexities of ADA conversion to fiat for vendors and who bears the volatility risk. It was noted that while some projects prefer stablecoin payouts, larger entities often convert immediately at the point of sale. This remains an "uncomfortable conversation" for the ecosystem.	This topic will likely be a key area for the 2026 budget process discussion.
Travel Rule Implications	Chris Baird highlighted the emerging "Travel Rule" issue, where significant ADA movements to exchanges/custodians are being flagged, freezing transactions. Converting to stablecoins could partially alleviate this for institutional partners.	Committee members to be aware of Travel Rule implications as funds move through the ecosystem.
Committee's Role in Future Budgeting	The committee discussed questions about its future scope, whether it should be stipended, how to achieve treasury returns, and if Intersect should run the budget process at all (or if other entities should step up).	These questions will inform the larger retrospective report and future strategic discussions.