June 9th, 2025 Budget Comm Minutes

Attendees:

Name	Role
Kriss Baird	Voting Member, IOG, Catalyst
Kristijan Kowalsky	Voting Member, Tweag
Rita Mistry	Former Voting Member, Cardano Foundation.
Shunsuke Murasaki	Former Voting Member, Mentor, Emurgo
Dave Dionisio	Observer
Lloyd Duhon	Budget Secretary
Nicolas Cerny	Observer, Cardano Foundation Staff
Marc Gorman	Program Manager Budget Task Force
Kriss Baird	Voting Member, IOG, Catalyst
Gerard Moroney	Board Member, IOG Staff, Budget Task Force

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n6t8GQNuTNCj2kBQOyKa7pJnP3hXq9fZcC5iF8Y7bgc/edit?tab=t.hmmm0btn2eb2

Agenda 1.16.25

• Finalizing Treasury Withdrawal Strategy: Discussion revolved around the implications of the poll favoring 39 individual withdrawals, Intersect's operational plan to support vendors, and the bundling of certain proposals for practical execution.

• Governance Action Outcomes and DREP Engagement: Updates on the passing of the Intersect budget, the failure of other NCL proposals, and continued analysis of DREP voting behavior and the need for targeted outreach.

• Lessons Learned and Future Budget Process Planning: Addressing operational challenges encountered during the 2025 budget cycle, initiating retrospective planning for 2026, and exploring constitutional implications of different withdrawal methods.

Decisions/Actions

Topic	Discussion	Action Items
Chair Election Update	The chair election faced technical issues with the voting application, showing no votes registered despite some members confirming their votes. Lloyd Duhon will investigate with Lorenzo to retrieve results.	Lloyd Duhon to follow up with Lorenzo regarding the chair election voting results and share updates.
Governance Action Status	The Amaru budget passed with 80% approval. Other Net Change Limit (NCL) proposals (including Jose V's individual action) failed with low approval rates. The Intersect budget is on track for approval at 54%, with key votes supporting its constitutionality.
Treasury Withdrawal Strategy Poll Results	The Ecclesia poll on treasury withdrawal strategy is showing a strong trend (65% delegated ADA) towards 39 individual withdrawals, closing tomorrow at midnight. This outcome poses operational risks for Intersect due to the high volume of transactions.
Operational Challenges of Multiple Withdrawals	Jack Briggs highlighted significant risks and difficulties with 39 individual withdrawals, particularly concerning transaction data building, wallet verification, and the need for auditable separate accounts. Intersect recommends fewer withdrawals for operational efficiency.	Intersect to prioritize vendors for withdrawal processing based on the poll's outcome.
Vendor Support for Withdrawals	Intersect will offer baseline support (templated metadata) for all vendors. They will also provide two paths for proposals: direct submission with Intersect's transaction building/signing support (Path A), or full Intersect support for vendors lacking technical confidence or deposit funds (Path B).	Intersect to communicate the two-path support model to vendors by end of day.
Proposal Bundling for Practicality	To manage the high volume, Intersect will bundle certain proposals (e.g., Intersect's own, Open Source Committee, Product Committee) for practical reasons, reducing the actual number of individual governance actions to potentially around 30.	Intersect to determine and communicate the priority order for initial withdrawals (first cohort of ~10 proposals).
Urgency of Intersect's Proposal	Gerard Moroney stressed the imperative for Intersect's budget proposal to go first, as other entities like IOG depend on Intersect as an administrator. He also expressed concern that low DREP activity on the poll may lead to many less visible proposals not getting funded.
Vendor Stance on Withdrawal Strategy	Gerard Moroney urged vendors to publicly express disagreement with the 39-withdrawal approach if they believe it's detrimental to the ecosystem. However, Jack Briggs noted that some vendors (like CF and Discover Cardano) have publicly supported 39 individual proposals, indicating a lack of unanimous vendor opposition.
DREP Engagement and Influence	Discussions highlighted the challenge of DREP fatigue and the concentration of voting power among a few large DREPs. Chris Baird suggested that 13 rounds of Catalyst voting legitimize on-chain processes. Jack Briggs acknowledged the need for Intersect to heavily promote all 39 proposals to ensure awareness for less visible projects.	Jack Briggs to share the DREP dashboard (tracking voting behavior and sentiment) with the committee.
Risk of Multiple Live Proposals	Chris Baird raised the potential for simultaneous live proposals (e.g., two support brackets vs. individual withdrawals) to cause double-spend risk or NCL breaches. Mark Gorman stated this needs constitutional clarification, as returning funds may not reset the NCL value.
Long-Term Process and Retrospective	Mercy advocated for quickly moving to the 2026 budget process to learn from 2025's challenges and avoid further reputational damage. Jack Briggs confirmed internal retrospective planning is underway, with Chris Baird and Rita Mistry actively involved.	Intersect leadership (Jack Briggs) to define strategies for a more efficient and less coordination-heavy budget process for 2026.
Communication Strategy for Withdrawal	Ryan's input detailed the need for standard templates, public GitHub repos for technical validation, and digital signatures to verify Intersect's submission of each withdrawal. This is crucial to prevent impersonation and ensure accountability.	Lloyd Duhon to write a summary paper capturing diverse views from this meeting to be shared with the committee.