It’s closing in on the end of the year, and what a year it’s been for Intersect. In less than six months since we launched, through our members, we’ve put forward our purpose, goals, and objectives and installed the foundations to propel us into 2024.

In this year-end wrap-up update, we’ll look at the Intersect roadmap and some of the primary happenings of 2023 and reaffirm the core principles that led to the formation of Intersect.

A look back at 2023

Intersect opens its doors

Following its launch, Intersect called for members to join and advance Cardano’s core technology and build out the initial committees and working groups.

A community-led blockchain needs to consider both the technology side and the way decisions are made by embedding robust processes that enable consensus via discourse and collaboration. Intersect is one of the core foundations of the age of Voltaire’ (the final era of Cardano’s roadmap, named after the French enlightenment thinker). Intersect primarily focuses on Cardano’s ongoing future development and is an aggregation point for community governance. The organization set off down the road of facilitating, through its members, the continuity and development of Cardano.

SanchoNet

With the community at the center of Cardano’s progress, SanchoNet brings ada holders and community building together through an array of governance actions and new capabilities designed to optimize Cardano for community on-chain governance. It’s a dedicated testing environment that introduces the technical features described in CIP-1694. The community is encouraged to take on specific roles, such as test ada holder, stake pool operator (SPO), and delegate representative (DRep), to test and improve on-chain governance mechanisms.

SanchoNet is the gateway to an efficient community governance framework. It’s a safe and secure testing environment that exemplifies the basis of decentralized governance by championing community building and democratic consensus. The community is strongly encouraged to participate in SanchoNet and contribute to Cardano’s developmental trajectory.

Learn more about getting involved at http://sancho.network

SanchoNet GovTool

The SanchoNet GovTool allows ada holders to experience some of the governance features described in CIP-1694 and to test governance features in SanchoNet in a guided and straightforward experience. GovTool beta was released in November and has seen around 250 unique visits and around 150 wallets connected at the time of writing.

The SanchoNet GovTool is open for beta testing now, and it's accessible from sanchogov.tools

Lace SanchoNet

In other related and recent news, Lace Sanchonet launched, and it is now possible to use a testnet version of Lace wallet to connect to the SanchoNet GovTool and participate in Cardano governance features from CIP1694 in a controlled testnet environment.

Committees and working groups

In 2023, Intersect introduced its first committees and working groups. At the time of writing, there are five active committees: Civics, Membership and Community, Technical, Parameter, and Open Source. These committees also work with many working groups that help to inform decisions. More committees and working groups are planned and expected as the community presents their ideas and works on Cardano’s future budget. Committees are an effective way, from a structural perspective, to ensure that the view of ada holders can be expressed and actioned - empowering the Cardano community to steer all aspects of the blockchain's development and future. We’ve produced an interim committee report from the currently established committees, where they each introduce themselves and provide more information about what they’ve been working on and future plans.

Download the report

Core Cardano repos

The core repositories have now been passed from Input Output Global (IOG) to Intersect, marking a significant milestone in Cardano's evolution. As the future stewards of Cardano’s ongoing open-source development, this migration provides a new independent home for the core codebases and enables Intersect to support those members who maintain the repositories.

Intersect’s Open Source Committee and the Open Source Program Office will oversee and manage all the Cardano repositories as part of the open source strategy.

There can be no understating the importance of this move. It is more than a giant leap into the new realm of decentralized governance. With each step, Cardano continues to deliver on its original design, implementation and roadmap. Learn more here.

Intersect grants

In the autumn, we announced funding opportunities to ideate and develop community tooling to support Cardano’s governance. These grants are a key component of enabling Voltaire to develop the tools to increase participation and access to Cardano’s on-chain governance, ultimately intending to drive better outcomes on-chain.

We received multiple proposals from members to build a Proposal Discussion Forum, a DRep Campaign Platform, and a portal for the Constitutional Committee, thank you to all those who applied. Two further categories are now open, specifically focussed on education and a more general open category for creative ideas to drive participation and inclusion. All members are encouraged to apply!

The grant categories

• DRep campaign platform - now closed
• Constitutional Committee portal - now closed
• Education: Cardano governance - now open
• Open category - Cardano governance - now open
• Inclusion and accessibility - Cardano governance - upcoming in 2024

For more information about grants, see here: https://www.intersectmbo.org/grants

Members and the community

This year was of preparation and growth, establishing infrastructure, initiating core communication channels, and enabling our community through our Discord or town halls, which occur every third Tuesday of the month and provide an essential touchpoint for our community to find out the latest and interact with other members. The fifth and final town hall occurred on Tuesday, December 12, and welcomed the second public meeting of the Membership and Community Committee. Many of you have also joined office hours and had 1:1 calls with the community team, sharing your feedback and thoughts on how Intersect can evolve. The feedback shared has been vital, and we’ll continue to listen and work together in 2024.

We're also excited to announce that Intersect has crossed 900 members, and our Discord community has raced past 365! Members contribute directly via committees, working groups, and general suggestions on how Intersect can evolve into 2024. Thank you to all members for getting Intersect to where it is today.

Our members page includes those organizations that have joined Intersect as Founding Members, with hundreds more individuals playing an equal role. To explore our members, check here.

Events

In 2023, Intersect attended some of the most significant Cardano events on the calendar: RareEvo, NFTxLV, and the Cardano Summit. These events aim to unite the Cardano ecosystem and build stronger working relationships, which is crucial to realizing the ultimate potential of the Cardano ecosystem. Connecting at face-to-face events strengthens bonds and sparks new relationships, making them vital for Intersect. Many members have presented at the Intersect booth and featured on swag! There is much more to come in 2024, and we’ll update our event roadmap in early 2024.

A look forward to - 2024

Ultimately, the future of Intersect is what its members want it to be. As a member, you will have the opportunity to define the role you play in shaping the ongoing evolution of Cardano and how it supports the development of the protocol.

Intersect is here to facilitate the continued development of Cardano towards its participatory governance and self-sustaining future. As a founding member of Intersect, you play a central role in enabling individuals and communities to work collaboratively to shape their destinies and actively start their journey with Intersect.

2023 was a busy year for Cardano, and 2024 will be even more eventful. Let’s look at the core happenings in the year ahead.

Constitution

In early 2024, the consultation period for the Constitution will begin to accelerate. Steered by the Cardano Civics Committee (CCC) at Intersect, the initial consultation period will last 12 months and include many workshops, allowing Cardano's global community to have their voice heard and their input recorded. Towards the end of the year, there will be a Constitutional Convention where delegates from the community workshops will meet and vote to move forward with a final version for ratification by ada holders on-chain. More details coming soon!

Chang hard fork

With the temperature check via the Cardano Ballot and Summon Platform earlier this month, the Chang upgrade as described in CIP-1694 will continue to move forward, with a fresh poll using community tooling taking place in Q1 2024. With continued community consent, next year the Chang hard fork will be initiated and will conclude the first phase of Cardano’s on-chain governance - marking a significant milestone for Cardano's journey. Implementing CIP-1694 advances minimum viable on-chain governance, bringing on-chain decision-making to Cardano. Post hard fork, on-chain governance will be a reality, and Cardano will enter a bootstrapping/interim phase where decisions to change and update the network are taken on-chain. Ada holders can also start registering DReps and garner delegations from fellow ada holders

Cardano product backlogs and a Cardano budget

Intersect is now the home for all the Cardano core repositories (26 currently). Product backlogs and their prioritization will be in the hands of Intersect members and facilitated by the Open Source Program Office (OSPO) and the Open Source Committee. Product working groups will be established by members and key stakeholders to align on the backlogs and maintenance of the repositories. Aligning to the repositories, Cardano’s continuity is now being orchestrated by Intersect, and later in 2024, a budget committee will be established to consider and recommend Cardano’s budget for 2025.

Continued members benefits

At Intersect, we strive to foster a thriving Cardano community through practical membership benefits, such as:

• Participating in industry and ecosystem-specific Committees and working groups - driving and building the future of Cardano together
• Exclusive access to grants and funding opportunities to develop Cardano further
• Educational content and ecosystem reports
• Opportunities to be promoted and represented at events, including networking opportunities
• And more!

If you'd like to become a member, please complete this form.

That's a wrap for this month's and year’s update. We wish you very happy holidays and look forward to seeing you again in the new year!