Welcome to Intersect’s Development Update #81. This week, Board election voting officially closed, a milestone moment as Intersect moves to a majority of elected Board members. With results due on September 30, the focus now shifts to committee elections, which will open for candidate registration on October 1.

We also share the latest updates on vendor milestone completions, GovTool development progress, and Civics updates, as well as highlights from India Codex 2025, preparations for TOKEN2049 Singapore, and new initiatives from the Open Source Committee.

Let’s dive into the details!

Voting for Intersect’s 2025 Board of Directors election officially closed today at 12:00 UTC, September 26. Over the past two weeks, members had the chance to hear from all 20 candidates through a series of X Spaces, read their applications, and cast their votes to help shape the future of Intersect.

This election marks a milestone in Cardano governance: for the first time, a majority of Intersect’s Board seats are held directly by elected members, expanding from two to four of the seven available seats.

We want to thank every member who participated in the process, whether by joining the Spaces, engaging in discussions, or casting a ballot. We also extend our gratitude to the candidates for their time, energy, and commitment to Cardano’s future.

What happens next?

Audit: An independent audit of the vote will be conducted between September 27 and 29 to ensure transparency and accuracy.

Results: The final election results will be published on September 30.

As we close out the Board elections, attention now shifts to the next stage of Intersect’s election season: the committee elections in October.

Committee Elections: Candidate Registration Opens October 1

With the close of the Board elections, attention now turns to the second half of Election Season 2025. Starting Tuesday, October 1, at noon UTC, members can put themselves forward as candidates in the committee elections, where an elected member will fill every single committee seat. 

Committees and supporting working groups collaborate to identify the most significant challenges and opportunities facing the Cardano ecosystem and network, working together to propose solutions for the broader ecosystem to consider. From providing technical guidance, scrutinizing budgets, strengthening governance practices, supporting open-source initiatives, shaping membership and community, through to supporting growth. 

Each committee can influence and impact Cardano’s development journey, ensuring decisions are informed, accountable, and community-driven.

The election timeline is as follows:

• Applications open: October 1 – October 14
• Voting open: October 16 – October 29
• Results announced: November 3

Suppose you’re passionate about Cardano’s mission to empower the powerless, bank the unbanked, and connect the unconnected, and can commit around 10 hours+ per month. In that case, we encourage you to stand as a candidate. The complete application form is available in advance, allowing members to review the questions and prepare. However, all submissions must be made through the Members Area once registration opens.

For more information on the committees, eligibility rules, and participation details, please refer to our comprehensive blog post.

Intersect’s Delivery Assurance teams are continuing to review vendor progress on projects funded through Treasury Withdrawal Governance Actions. All vendors under Intersect administration are using smart contracts, ensuring that milestones and payments are transparent and verifiable on-chain.

To make this process easier to follow, we’re developing a weekly milestone report that will consolidate project updates in one place. Once the format is finalized, we’ll share it with members and amplify across our social channels.

In the meantime, here’s a snapshot of milestones recently achieved:

• Go Maestro – Complete Web3 Developer Stack, Milestone 2 – Blockchain Indexer API
• zkFold SA – zk Rollup, Milestone 2 – Documentation
• Input Output Research – Work Package 2025, Milestone 1 – Foundational Research Mid-Year Report (Smart contract to be established)
• Input Output Research – Work Package 2025, Milestone 2 – Technology Validation Mid-Year Report (Smart contract to be established)
• Rainfire DAO – Cardano Builder DAO, Milestone 2 – DAO Launch & Members Onboarded
• Rainfire DAO – Cardano Builder DAO, Milestone 3 – Governance Temperature Checks (round 1d)
• AdaStat.net – Milestone 2 – August 2025 Maintenance
• AdaStat.net – Milestone 3 – September 2025 Maintenance
• PyCardano – Milestone 2 - Maintenance, Support & Impact Tracking (August)
• Eternl Maintenance – Milestone 2 – EM08/25

You can read about smart contracts as part of our administration from the beginning on our Knowledge Base.

Stay tuned for more detailed reporting through the milestone dashboard, financial dashboard, and our upcoming dedicated milestone updates.

Civics has moved the Constitutional Amendments workstream from planning to kickoff, with the forum now formalized as a working group. Members are being asked to indicate their availability to maximize global participation, and bilingual facilitation is being explored to broaden engagement.

For CIP-149 (Optional DRep Compensation), applicant intake is ready pending final adjustments. Applicants will need to link to their wallet, tool, SDK repository, or product page to ensure faster eligibility checks. The committee also discussed GDPR-compliant anonymized data collection from funded wallets and governance tools.

Civics visibility efforts continue with X Spaces scheduled for October 8, 15, 22, and 29, as well as member intro clips, updates on committee elections, and progress on the CIP-149 grant. Four Civic seats are up for election this cycle, a chance to stand and shape fair, transparent governance. Wallet and governance tool providers, please keep an eye out for grant details. Everyone can save the October Spaces dates and follow @IntersectCIVICS for updates.

The 3rd and largest edition of India Codex 2025, held in Hyderabad, drew over 430 attendees, including more than 150 developers, 30 product submissions, and 100 new members of Intersect. Participants came from over 20 universities and major firms, including KPMG and Deloitte, signaling a rising institutional interest.

Highlights included talks from Abhik Nag (Intersect) on governance, Udai Solanki on open-source funding, and Anuj Chaudhary (EMURGO) on onboarding to Cardano. Tracks covered AI, open source, governance, and enterprise adoption.

Winning projects ranged from NFT gift cards and IoT payments to AI dashboards, ProposalPal AI, and Scroll2Earn. The event also celebrated 8 years of Cardano with community gatherings, music, and on-chain showcases, reinforcing Cardano’s growing footprint in India and its decentralized future. 

Intersect is heading to TOKEN2049 Singapore 2025. We’ll be part of the Cardano Booth, showcasing the strength of the ecosystem with an incredible lineup of builders, partners, and community members. TOKEN2049 will bring together over 25,000 decision-makers from across Web3, and Cardano will be right at the center of it. You’ll find us at the Level 5 Expo Hall | Booths: Cardano – PB5-70, PB5-71, PB5-76, PB5-77.

What’s happening at the booth:

• A Snek claw machine with exclusive prizes
• Live demos & presentations from Cardano builders
• A space to connect with partners, investors & the global community

Catch Jack Briggs, Executive Director (interim), presentation at the Cardano Booth on 1st October, 14:30 – 14:50 (SGT). We’ll also be livestreaming the entire event on Intersect’s YouTube channel for our global community.

Side Events you won’t want to miss are listed here: Token 2049 Side Events. For all Cardano-related gatherings, please check the Cardano Side Events link.

Enterprise membership spotlight: STORM Partners

STORM Partners, headquartered in Switzerland, is a premier Web3 solutions provider helping organizations navigate the fast-moving blockchain industry. With a 360° service suite covering strategy, legal & compliance, growth marketing, finance, and operations, STORM equips projects with the tools to scale effectively and sustainably.

Their legal and compliance expertise ensures businesses structure token models and governance frameworks that meet global standards. At the same time, the growth and marketing team specializes in storytelling, campaign execution, and community building. Initiatives like Lightningbox provide a sandbox for rapid experimentation and prototyping, driving innovation at a fast pace.

Trusted by leading Web3 companies and ecosystem players, STORM stands out as both a risk-mitigator and a growth amplifier, helping enterprises strengthen their credibility, expand their reach, and achieve long-term success in the decentralized economy.

This week, the Open Source Committee has been hard at work advancing the Paid Open Source Model (POSM), with new programs and opportunities now live to strengthen sustainability across Cardano’s open-source ecosystem. Learn more here.

Maintainer Retainer

The Maintainer Retainer program is being rolled out to help Cardano open-source projects secure sustainable funding and reduce maintainer burnout. The program supports projects directly and also introduces the role of Community Maintainers, creating year-long funded positions for contributors who help maintain critical codebases.

 

As a Community Maintainer, you will receive structured support, work directly with core teams and contributors, and help ensure Cardano’s open-source projects remain resilient. This is an opportunity to take on a pivotal role in Cardano’s digital nation, fostering collaboration while reducing isolation in the development process.

You can watch the explainer video, apply as a project, or apply as a Community Maintainer.

Project Support Services

Alongside Maintainer Retainer, open-source teams can also access Project Support Services to help them scale responsibly. These services connect projects with trusted third-party suppliers who guide governance, business strategy, repository hygiene, legal matters, marketing, and long-term sustainability.

The aim is to provide projects with the extra support they need while remaining aligned with Cardano’s ecosystem standards. More details are available here, including a short explainer video and the interest form for teams ready to explore this support.

Intersect Incubation Program

For projects looking to take the next step, the Intersect Incubation Program offers a structured pathway with mentorship, peer review, and ecosystem visibility. The program guides open-source best practices, governance alignment, and sustainability planning, helping projects not only launch but also thrive long term.

A complete overview of the program is available here. You can also watch the explainer video and apply to begin the process.

The Open Source Cowboy podcast returns on October 2 with Episode 8, featuring Hart Montgomery, CTO at Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust (formerly Hyperledger). The conversation dives into the meaning of “decentralized trust” for builders, enterprises, and open-source communities.

Topics include digital identity as critical infrastructure in the AI era, zero-knowledge proofs for privacy-preserving verification, supply chain security tools such as SBOMs and OpenSSF Scorecards, licensing trade-offs, governance models (DAOs vs. Foundations), and tips for new contributors seeking welcoming communities.

If you’re interested in sustainability, security, and governance in open source, this one is for you. You can explore the YouTube playlist, watch the full episode, or preview the teaser video.

Open Source Committee meeting minutes

And finally… for those who want to follow along in detail, the Open Source Committee (OSC) meeting minutes are available on GitBook, with archives dating back to December 2023. Recordings are also published to YouTube, including OSC calls, Dev Ex sessions, and Hydra (now Layer 2) working group calls.

OSC calls are held every other Thursday from 6:00–7:00 a.m. PST, with the next scheduled for October 2nd.

The Open Source Committee and Open Source Office will continue to roll out updates in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on these channels for what’s next.

Following the successful budget approval, which passed with over 58% YES votes from 191 DReps, the GovTool Consortium has moved quickly to incorporate community feedback and advance development.

Recent updates include:

• Addressing the feedback raised by DReps in their voting rationales
• Adding more detail in the Treasury Action about distribution processes and a clear roadmap
• Improving performance for DRep and governance action searches
• Simplifying the governance action page for easier use

The related Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action is now live on-chain for DReps to review and vote on: View here. Approval of this action will unlock funds to:

• Continue active development of Cardano GovTool, the only fully open-source and community-owned governance tool
• Incentivize individual contributors
• Support additional open-source governance tools with dedicated funding

Questions or feedback? The GovTool Consortium can be reached on X via @cardano_govtool, through DMs, or in the weekly Governance Working Group sessions. Discussion is also open on the GovTool forum.

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.