• A unique member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, Intersect, opens the community call for membership and participation in Cardano's future development
• Early access for Founding Members to co-design and shape the evolution of Intersect
• Governance tooling initiatives grant program awarding up to 1.68 million Ada

12th July, 2023: A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, Intersect, opens the call for members to join and advance Cardano’s core technology, and develop a roadmap for the future of Cardano.

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 a vital part of the “age of Voltaire’’ (the Cardano governance program named after the French enlightenment thinker), and will be a home for the blockchain’s ongoing, future development and an aggregation point for community governance. The organization will focus on facilitating, through its members, the ongoing and future maintenance and development of Cardano.

Intersect is a key institution for the ecosystem which unites companies, developers, individuals, and other ecosystem participants to shape and drive the future development of Cardano. Intersect will serve as a steward of the underlying technology blueprints for the community beginning with the Cardano Node, core Cardano libraries and components required to operate the protocol and all of its accompanying documentation, knowledge, and contributors.

From today, the Cardano community can sign up to join as Founding Members—taking a proactive role in determining the direction and future of Intersect and the Cardano protocol itself. Founding Members’ feedback and involvement will be instrumental in shaping the features, resources, and initiatives Intersect develops throughout 2023 and beyond. That includescreating and participating in committees and working groups. In the near future, members will also be able to apply for grants to develop and refine tooling to support wider building on Cardano and, later in 2023 bid on future ecosystem projects.

Nigel Hemsley, one of the core architects helping define Intersect, said: “Cardano restores trust to global systems – scientifically creating a more secure, transparent, and sustainable foundation for individuals to transact and exchange, systems to govern, and enterprises to grow. Cardano is in the age of Voltaire, and Intersect will grow to be an integral institution to safeguard Cardano’s future.

“Since its inception, Cardano has grown into one of the world’s largest blockchain platforms, and Cardano has preserved and pursued decentralization every step of the way. The numbers speak for themselves. Across its huge and growing community, Cardano has over 3,200 stakepools, 50,000 people actively participating in its Catalyst innovation fund, and over 700 authors and countless more contributors on Github.”