Welcome to Intersect’s Development Update #69. This week, final preparations are underway for Cardano’s first treasury withdrawals, with Intersect completing the last steps to confirm the configuration of the smart contract framework including 5 independent third-party entities providing oversight,  publishing a swath of policies, smart contracts, and tools into production to support secure execution.

Preliminary results from the Constitutional Committee election are in, establishing a certified body to oversee governance actions. Meanwhile, the GovTool Consortium has resubmitted its revised proposal after broad community input, aiming to sustain Cardano’s open-source governance interface. Looking ahead, Intersect will join ecosystem leaders at Rare Dev & Governance Day in Las Vegas this August to help shape Cardano’s next chapter.

Treasury withdrawals are moving closer

The team at Intersect, along with lead smart contract developer Sundae Labs, and prospective vendors are working hard in preparation for the soon upcoming treasury withdrawal actions.

We appreciate the patience of the community while necessary prerequisites and relevant checks and balances are made. A groundbreaking smart contract framework has been developed, and our implementation seeks to build a level of transparency and rigor to manage the potential of 275 million ADA from the Cardano Treasury. This includes five third-party entities forming a new Oversight Committee (more on this next week!). Committing to these governance actions also commits Intersect to its role in administration; for this, numerous processes, policies, and tools, such as smart contracts, need to undergo their final operational steps and be deployed into production.

Laying steadfast foundations will not only enable this treasury funding, potential benefit, and Intersect’s administration, but it can also lay a foundation for future administrators, vendors, and potential investments and opportunities within the ecosystem for many years to come.

The team is still targeting epoch 569 for the 39 individual treasury withdrawal actions being submitted for voting.

Over the coming weeks, you can expect the following communications to supplement these on-chain governance actions:

• Smart contracts as part of Intersects administration – outlining how Intersect will use on-chain smart contracts and have oversight of its administration to mitigate mistakes and nefarious actions. You can read more on our recent successful mainnet testing.
• Introduction to supportive treasury tooling – new community tooling to make it easy to follow funds from the treasury to the vendors
• We will continue to provide specific guides and support for vendors – it is an unprecedented time for key ecosystem vendors as well. You can read more about our role as an Administrator here.

The voting period for Cardano’s 2025 Constitutional Committee (CC) election  concluded earlier this week, and preliminary results are in (pending final audits). 

Subject to the final audit confirming the results, we can provisionally share the seven members elected to serve from September 1 (in no particular order as we await audit and confirm voting weight):

• Cardano Atlantic Council
• Tingvard
• Eastern Cardano Council
• KTorZ
• Ace Alliance
• Cardano Japan Council
• Phil_uplc

Why it matters

The CC is a foundational part of Cardano's governance model. It plays a key role in certifying governance actions, upholding constitutional principles, and enabling responsible treasury spending. With the increasing use of on-chain voting mechanisms, these roles become more critical than ever. The elected individuals and consortia bring a unique perspective and expertise to the role of constitutional guardianship, representing a diverse and global commitment to Cardano’s foundational principles.

The Civics Committee is midway through a three-part workshop series focused on defining goals, measurable outcomes, and practical initiatives to guide its future work. During the latest session, members refined key objectives, such as making participation in Cardano governance more rewarding, inclusive, and engaging. They began developing ways to measure real progress toward these aims.

The Committee reflected on the importance of listening to the broader community and will be reaching out to gather feedback from you. This input will help shape the committee’s roadmap and ensure that priorities reflect the real needs of the ecosystem.

To support this, the Civics Committee has just launched its own X account: @IntersectCivics. Follow along and let them know what you think is the most critical thing that would improve governance in Cardano. Civics is looking forward to sharing more about who we are, what we’re working on, and how you can get involved.

Cardano community update: Clarification on Copper custody and recent delegation

Last week, a staking delegation issue was identified involving Copper, a custody provider within the Cardano ecosystem. If users left the delegation field blank during setup, Copper’s interface defaulted to delegate to a specific DRep (“Yuta”) without clearly informing users. This default behavior meant that some accounts appeared to support a delegate actively, even when no intentional choice had been made.

Once the issue was identified, Copper, with support from Intersect and Yuta, acted quickly to correct it. The platform has now changed its behavior so that blank delegation fields default to “abstain,” ensuring user intent is respected correctly.

Intersect conducted a full review of both on-chain and off-chain governance impacts. On-chain decisions remain unaffected. However, a small number of off-chain proposals in Ekklesia, particularly those just below the passing threshold, may have been influenced by the unintended delegations.

To address this, Intersect is offering support to any proposers who wish to resubmit affected proposals as formal on-chain governance actions. This includes covering the deposit cost of 100,000 ada and providing administrative support to ensure fair participation.

This incident underscores the importance of transparent interfaces and intentional delegation practices, particularly in decentralized governance systems. Intersect continues to monitor and support improvements across the ecosystem to safeguard trust and accountability as governance infrastructure evolves. Read more here

The Cardano GovTool Consortium has officially submitted a revised Cardano GovTool proposal as a governance info action following four weeks of intensive community consultation. This proposal, developed and led collaboratively by the key community builders of Byron Network, WeDeliver, Lido Nation, and DQuadrant, reflects broad feedback from working groups, open forums, and direct contributions from the community.

The revised proposal introduces a modular, tiered funding structure designed to maintain and further develop GovTool, Cardano’s primary open-source interface for low-barrier participation in on-chain governance. The revised proposal reduces total costs by nearly half, embeds significant community input, and lays the foundation for inclusive, community-driven development over the next 12 months.

GovTool’s continued operation through 2025 is currently secured with minimal maintenance funding, but this proposal aims to extend active development and broaden contribution pathways. Tiered funding levels range from essential infrastructure upkeep to incentivized contributions and full-stack development across all five governance pillars. A successful outcome of this Info Action would unlock a follow-up Treasury Withdrawal to implement Level 3 development supporting proposal creation, delegation, voting, outcomes tracking, and budget discussions. 

The Consortium's approach reinforces the open source ethos, ensuring GovTool remains a public good, immune to centralization and commercial capture, and equipped to scale with Cardano's evolving governance needs.

Open Source

The Open Source “Cowboys” podcast makes its return! Tune in to our new thought leadership series, starting with Silona Bonewald. 

In this episode, we explore her journey from pioneering Inner Source at PayPal alongside Danese Cooper to shaping the future of open collaboration through Hyperledger and now Web3.

We covered:

 1) The origins of Inner Source and the culture shifts behind it

 2) Lessons from scaling open source in corporate environments

 3) hyperledger's approach to trusted data and global inclusion

 4) How AI and blockchain might reshape governance itself

 5) Why Cardano's community-first model is a standout in the ecosystem

Silona brought perspective, depth, and vision — and this episode is full of insights for anyone passionate about building better, more sustainable open source communities.

Next week, our podcast with CHAOSS will be released on July 10, 2025, delving deeper into the data-driven impact and thought process behind POSM. Listen to the podcast on the application of your choice!

Intersect Team at Rare Dev & Governance Day!

The Intersect team is excited to attend Rare Dev & Governance Day, taking place on August 7 at Topgolf, Las Vegas. This one-of-a-kind event brings together developers, governance leaders, and ecosystem builders from across the Cardano space for a full day of lightning talks, workshops, showcases, and collaborative discussions, all culminating in an evening of networking and golf.

Rare Dev/Gov Day will be the place to be for all things Cardano

Things kick off on August 6 with an evening social, offering a relaxed opportunity to connect with your broader Web3 family before the main event.

On August 7, the day kicks off with high-impact sessions featuring blockchain leaders and innovators, including Jack Briggs, who will be contributing to the Cardano Governance Track and beyond.

We’ll be there to share updates, engage in critical governance discussions, and represent the Intersect community on the ground. Register here to secure your spot:  https://lu.ma/52rggq6i

In case you missed it Session 1 of Enterprise Forum

No worries, we’ve got you covered!

Catch up on all the essentials—from foundational Web3 concepts to real-world enterprise use cases, as Abhik Nag dives deep into the landscape. Whether you're new to blockchain or seeking to deepen your understanding, this session provides valuable insights and actionable takeaways. Watch the full Session 1 here: YouTube – Web3 in Focus Session 1

Enterprise membership spotlight:  NuNet

NuNet is building a decentralized, peer-to-peer marketplace for computing power, enabling enterprises to access flexible, secure, and cost-effective computing by tapping into idle devices worldwide. From personal computers to edge servers and IoT networks, NuNet transforms underutilized infrastructure into a global compute layer.

Designed with Web3 principles, its “API-of-APIs” architecture supports seamless integration of AI services, data streams, and distributed compute providers. For enterprises, this means powerful use cases, such as federated learning—training AI models across private data sources without compromising privacy and decentralized orchestration for Cardano stake pool operators. 

The platform utilizes the NuActor framework to ensure zero-trust communication, secured with decentralized identifiers (DIDs). Its native NTX token facilitates automated micropayments across the network. With real-world deployments and a strong focus on interoperability and sustainability, NuNet presents a compelling alternative to centralized cloud infrastructure for forward-looking enterprises.

We’re hiring: People & Culture Lead

Intersect is looking for a People & Culture Lead to help us build a thriving, values-driven team and strengthen our ability to serve Cardano’s community.

This role will focus on the upcoming transitioning of consultants through open recruitment, nurturing our culture, supporting career progression and professional development, and helping our staff do their best work. You’ll work closely with leadership to design people practices that align with Intersect’s mission and our servant-leadership ethos—empowering our members rather than directing them.

• HR experience with a passion for culture building
• Skilled in recruitment, career development, and team wellbeing
• Big advantage: understanding of Cardano and decentralized communities

Apply now and help shape the future of Intersect.

That’s it for this week’s update. Thank you for reading. To learn more about Intersect’s work, explore our Knowledge Base, which provides detailed information on governance structures, committees, and funding. Additionally, visit the Intersect website for the latest news, updates, and roadmap information.

Join the conversation on Discord, and follow us on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn to engage with fellow members, working groups, and the broader community.

Your voice helps shape the future of Cardano governance.