July 21st, 2025 Budget Comm Minutes

Attendees:

Name	Role
Megan Hess	Voting Member
Kristijan Kowalsski	Voting Member, Tweag
Jack Briggs	Interim Executive Director, Intersect
Rita	Voting Member
Lloyd Duhon	Budget Secretary
Shunsuke Murasaki	Former Voting Member, Mentor, Emurgo
Mercy	Voting Member, WADA
Dimmitri	Voting Member
Kris Baird	Voting Member, IOG, Catalyst

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xWvIfQ-1O9DEiNWAC_iWr0K6_NFjGrFe6994grnQwA8/edit?tab=t.4jh33kmx24cy

Agenda 1.16.25

• Current Status of Treasury Withdrawals & DREP Engagement: Updates on the ongoing voting for 39 withdrawal actions, the challenges of reaching the 67% approval threshold (especially with non-votes counting as 'no'), and planned communication efforts to boost DREP participation.

• Operational Challenges and Vendor Relations: Discussion on specific issues like the Anastasia Labs/No Witness Lab transition, the complexities of ADA-to-fiat conversion and volatility risk, and the impact of the Travel Rule on large transactions, alongside Intersect's internal funding scenario planning.

• Retrospective Planning and Future Budget Process Design: Focus on developing survey questions for the upcoming retrospective (targeting Rare Evo launch), the strategic goal of simplifying the 2026 budget process, and the importance of communicating Intersect's value to the community.

Decisions/Actions

Topic	Discussion	Action Items
Attendance	Budget Committee Members: Dimmitri, Chris Baird, Mercy, Rita Mistry, Shunsuke Murasaki, Chris Kowalsski, Megan Hess. Observer: Jack Briggs. Secretary: Lloyd Duhon.
Treasury Withdrawal Voting Status	Jack Briggs provided an update on the 39 treasury withdrawal actions currently being voted on. Midgard is leading at 44% approval. The highest threshold is 67% (requiring 3.7 billion ADA), which remains a significant challenge, especially with non-votes counting as "no." There are 27 days left in the voting period.
Anastasia Labs / No Witness Lab Transition	Nico Cerny identified a material change in the Lucid Evolution proposal: Anastasia Labs has split, and repos have transitioned to "No Witness Lab." The original vendor was Anastasia Labs, constitutionally approved. Intersect will not sign a contract with No Witness Lab; Anastasia Labs would need to subcontract. Jack Briggs will discuss this with Phil from Anastasia Labs.	Jack Briggs to discuss the Anastasia Labs / No Witness Lab transition with Phil from Anastasia Labs for a public statement.
Amaru Proposal Monitoring	Lloyd Duhon noted that the Amaru proposal, after passing, successfully converted some ADA to stablecoin and locked half its funds, demonstrating good stewardship. This showcases a model for vendors.
Socialization & DREP Engagement	Intersect is planning a large X (Twitter) Space on Wednesday (July 23rd, 5 PM CET/3 PM UTC) to engage the 39 proposers and broader community. Jack Briggs highlighted the difficulty of getting participation for less "black and white" proposals.
Intersect Funding Scenario Planning	Intersect is scenario planning for situations where its own committee budgets (Product and Intersect budgets) may not receive 67% DREP funding, despite a commitment to administer all passing proposals for their contract length using residual CDH capital for 12-18 months.
Importance of Intersect Funding	Chris Kowalsski emphasized that Intersect needs to be funded to function as an administrative entity, especially given the extensive volunteer work by committees. Rita Mistry suggested Intersect publish a piece highlighting the hard work behind the scenes to increase perceived value.	Intersect (Jack Briggs) to publish a piece detailing the hard work and value Intersect brings, especially concerning the budget process.
Duration of Service & Proving Value	Jack Briggs feels Intersect needs at least 12 more months to prove its value in this new role, acknowledging the difficulty of changing minds and managing expectations.
Survey Questions for Retrospective (Membership First)	The ISC recommends surveying Intersect membership first, then tempering a broader Cardano community survey with those results. Lloyd Duhon presented initial quantitative and qualitative survey questions.	Lloyd Duhon to refine survey questions, particularly separating budget process questions from general Intersect feedback, and prepare them for a Mirror board exercise on Wednesday.
Survey Timing for Rare Evo	The goal is to launch and announce the membership survey at Rare Evo. While tight, a target launch of next Friday (July 25th) was set to get early feedback before Gov Day at Rare Evo.	Committee members to actively review and provide feedback on the proposed survey questions before Wednesday's meeting.
DREP Voting Awareness ("Auto No")	Jack Briggs highlighted the critical need to educate DREPs that a non-vote on a 67% threshold counts as "no," encouraging explicit voting (yes, no, or abstain) for greater participation. Dave Dionisio suggests campaigning for a "default yes" or "abstain" unless there's a strong reason for "no."	Intersect/Budget Committee to increase awareness about the "non-vote equals no" rule for DREPs.
DREP Participation as a Requirement	Megan Hess suggested exploring if DREP participation should be a requirement to maintain active DREP status, rather than just changing the automatic vote behavior.	This topic will likely be explored further in the retrospective.
ADA Price Volatility & Project Payouts	Discussion clarified that most projects receive ADA as requested, regardless of USD price fluctuations. There's a "gentleman's agreement" for projects to return ADA if its value skyrockets, but tracking this is difficult. Modus is an exception, specifically asking for fiat.	This remains an "uncomfortable conversation" for the ecosystem, highlighting the risk projects bear.
Travel Rule Implications	Chris Baird raised awareness that significant ADA transactions (e.g., from Catalyst) are triggering "Travel Rule" issues with exchanges, freezing funds. Converting to stablecoins could partially alleviate this problem.	Committee to consider the implications of the Travel Rule in future budget process designs.