카르다노 Critical Integrations Budget 거버넌스 액션은 카르다노 생태계에 핵심 인프라를 구축하기 위해 재무부에서 ₳7천만을 요청함.[1]

## 목표 및 범위

이 제안의 목표는 카르다노 생태계에 전략적 통합 기금을 수립하는 것임.[1]

지원 대상 인프라는 다음을 포함함:

- Tier-1 스테이블코인

- 기관용 디지털 자산 보관 및 지갑 인프라

- 온체인 분석 플랫폼

- 크로스체인 브릿지

- 가격 오라클

## 기대 효과

이 인프라는 Tier-1 스테이블코인 온보딩을 위한 기초 계층을 구축하며, 생태계 전반의 DeFi 거래량에서 기하급수적 성장을 잠금 해제할 수 있는 잠재력을 가짐.[1]

또한 Real World Assets(RWA) 및 DePin 같은 주요 영역에서 생태계 노력을 가속화하는 데 도움이 될 것으로 예상됨.[1]

이러한 가속화는 수수료 생성 측면에서 카르다노의 Layer 1으로서의 수익성 달성 경로를 지원하는 데 핵심 역할을 할 것으로 예상되며, 장기적 재정 지속 가능성을 보장함.[1]

## 거버넌스 구조

이 프로젝트는 Input | Output Global, 카르다노 재단, EMURGO, Midnight Foundation, Intersect 간의 긴밀한 협력을 통해 추진됨.[1]

5개 조직의 대표자들로 구성된 Steering Committee가 주요 전략적 결정을 담당함.[1]

## 자금 배분 방식

마일스톤 기반 자금 조달 구조를 따르며, 예산 인출은 서명된 계약서 및 합의된 업무 범위 제출 시에만 Intersect의 보관 및 관리에서 실행됨.[1]

Intersect의 Oversight Committee는 인출 요청을 검토하여 금액과 지정된 수령자가 체결된 계약과 일치하는지 확인함.[1]

## 배포 일정

일부 영역에서 작업이 이미 진행 중이므로, 이 제안은 조기 예산 배포를 고려하고 있음.[1]

배포 기간은 인출 성공, 계약 기간, 적시 수령에 따라 즉시부터 24개월까지 예상됨.[1]

---

**주석:**

- Tier-1: 시가총액과 거래량이 가장 큰 최상위 등급의 암호화폐 또는 기업

- RWA(Real World Assets): 현실 자산을 블록체인에 토큰화한 자산

- DePin(Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks): 분산형 물리 인프라 네트워크

- DeFi: 분산형 금융

- Layer 1: 블록체인의 기본 계층

# 카르다노 생태계 통합 예산 제안 분석

## 전략적 필요성

카르다노는 기술 및 거버넌스 기반이 견고하지만 대규모 경제 활동과 외부 유동성 통합에 필요한 핵심 인프라가 부족함.[1][7]

스테이블코인 인프라, 상호운용성 프레임워크, 기관급 가격 오라클 네트워크의 부재로 인해 외부 자본 유입, 안정적인 온체인 운영, 고급 DeFi 사용 사례 지원 능력이 제한됨.[1]

기관급 자산 보관 및 지갑 인프라, 온체인 분석 플랫폼도 필수적임.[7]

## 핵심 인프라 요소

**스테이블코인**

데이터 및 상호운용성이 확보되면 카르다노는 1차 스테이블코인 도입을 지원할 수 있음.

스테이블코인은 가격 안정성, 예측 가능한 유동성, 기관 및 소매 사용자 접근성을 제공함.

배포는 신뢰할 수 있는 오라클 데이터와 확립된 상호운용성 채널에 의존함.

**기관급 자산 보관 및 지갑 인프라**

사용자 접근성과 거래 흐름은 고품질 지갑 인프라에 의존함.

다중 자산 관리, 원활한 dApp 상호작용, 안전한 크로스체인 기능을 지원해야 함.

지갑은 사용자와 카르다노 금융 시스템 간 주요 인터페이스 역할을 수행함.

**온체인 분석 플랫폼**

성숙한 금융 생태계는 네트워크 활동, 위험 노출, 자산 흐름, 애플리케이션 성능에 대한 투명한 실시간 통찰력을 필요로 함.

개발자, 기관, 컴플라이언스 팀, 사용자가 유동성 상태를 평가하고 프로토콜 건강성을 모니터링할 수 있음.

**크로스체인 브릿지**

신뢰할 수 있는 데이터 계층이 확립되면 카르다노와 다른 생태계 간 유동성 및 사용자 이동을 가능하게 함.

외부 유동성 풀 및 새로운 사용자 기반에 대한 접근을 개방함.

**가격 오라클 인프라**

DeFi 및 RWA 운영에 필요한 외부 데이터를 제공함.

자산 가격 책정, 위험 관리, 스테이블코인 담보화를 포함함.

Charli3 및 Orcfax 같은 현지 제공자가 초기 커버리지를 제공하지만 글로벌 인정 기관급 가격 오라클 제공자가 부족함.[5]

주요 스테이블코인 발행자 및 금융 애플리케이션의 카르다노 배포를 제한함.

## 현재 격차 및 긴급성

카르다노는 시가총액 기준 상위 10대 블록체인이지만 2025년 11월 25일 기준 TVL(Total Value Locked)은 약 $191.86M 수준임.

비교 가능한 생태계가 수십억 달러의 DeFi 사용량을 유지하는 것과 비교하면 훨씬 낮은 수준임.

이 격차는 카르다노의 제한된 시장 도달 범위와 다른 네트워크가 표준 유틸리티로 취급하는 핵심 기본 요소의 부재를 강조함.

이러한 핵심 요소를 확장하지 않으면 카르다노는 dApp, 유동성, 기관 파트너, 1차 스테이블코인 같은 대규모 통합 유치에서 더욱 뒤처질 위험이 있음.

## 재정 지원 근거

**생태계 중요성**

카르다노 생태계는 모든 dApp이 의존하는 기초 공공 인프라를 필요로 함.

이러한 요소는 개별 팀이 구축하거나 라이선스할 수 없음.

생태계 규모에서 한 번 제공되어야 하는 공유 유틸리티임.

**중립성 및 공급업체 독립성**

재정 지원은 광범위한 카르다노 이해관계자 연합이 어떤 핵심 통합을 온보딩할지 결정하도록 보장함.

상업적 편향을 피하고 중립성을 보장하며 카르다노의 헌법 프레임워크 하에서 투명하게 통합을 관리할 수 있음.

**거버넌스 정렬 및 투명성**

예산을 Intersect 관리 하에 배치하면 모든 자금 흐름이 헌법 가드레일을 따름.

별도의 감사 가능한 주소, 자동 기권 위임, 마일스톤 검증, 독립 감사, 공개 보고를 포함함.

처음부터 끝까지 완전한 커뮤니티 감시를 보장하고 전체 통합 파이프라인에 걸쳐 분산형 거버넌스를 강화함.

## 타임라인 및 거버넌스 현황

이 예산 정보 조치 및 관련 재정 인출 거버넌스 조치는 2026년 1월 4일 현재 NCL 만료 전에 통과를 추구함.

야심찬 타임라인이지만 DRep 및 CC의 신속한 투표로 가능할 것으로 예상됨.

**주요 일정:**

- 2025년 11월 27일: 예산 정보 조치 제출

- 2025년 12월 4일 이전: 충분한 DRep 승인 및 부정적 신호 부재 시 관련 재정 인출을 병렬로 제출

- 2025년 12월 8일: CC 거버넌스 조치 업데이트 출시

- 2025년 12월 30일: 예산 정보 조치 만료

- 2026년 1월 4일: 새로운 CC 임명, CC 투표, DRep 승인, 충분한 DRep 투표 시 재정 인출 통과

## 운영 위원회 구성

운영 위원회는 이 이니셔티브의 고위 비즈니스 방향 및 통합 거버넌스를 제공함.

협상 전략, 통합 우선순위, 카르다노 생태계 필요와의 전반적 정렬을 감시함.

각 통합이 명확한 전략적 가치를 제공하고 전략적 결정이 투명하고 합리적이며 생태계 이익에 부합하도록 보장함.

**5명 위원회 구성:**

- Input | Output Global

- Cardano Foundation

- EMURGO

- Midnight Foundation

- Intersect (비투표 회원, 관리자 역할)

위원회 투표 회원은 인출 자금으로 보상받지 않으며 각자 비용을 부담함.

예산의 5% 이하가 법률, 보관 수수료, 관리 및 컴플라이언스 비용으로 할당됨.

---

**주석:**

- TVL: Total Value Locked, 블록체인에 잠긴 총 자산 가치

- DRep: Delegated Representative, 카르다노 거버넌스에서 투표 권한을 위임받은 대표

- CC: Constitutional Committee, 헌법 준수 여부를 검증하는 위원회

- NCL: No Confidence Lifetime, 신뢰 부족 투표 기간

- RWA: Real World Assets, 실제 자산을 블록체인에 토큰화한 자산

- dApp: Decentralized Application, 블록체인 기반 분산형 애플리케이션

카르다노 Critical Integrations Budget는 ₳70M의 자금을 활용하여 에코시스템의 핵심 통합을 추진하는 구조화된 자금 배분 계획임.[1][2]

## 자금 사용 범위

통합 및 관련 비용은 배포 개발, 라이선싱 수수료, 유지보수 비용, 인프라 구축을 포함함.[1]

법률 및 감사는 실사, 법률 검토, 보험, 규정 준수, 정기적 독립 감사를 담당함.[1]

비상금 준비금은 범위 조정이나 시장 변화에 대응하면서 전달 확실성과 재정 규율을 유지함.[1]

행정 수수료는 보관료, 스테이블코인 발행 수수료, 설정 및 실행 중 발생하는 기타 행정 비용을 포함함.[1]

## 자금 관리 체계

Intersect가 헌법 체계 하에서 관리자로 모든 재무를 운영함.[1]

5명의 독립 스마트 계약 감시 위원회(카르다노 재단, NMKR, Xerberus, SundaeLabs, Dquadrant)가 체크 앤 밸런스를 제공함.[1]

Steering Committee는 3/4 정족수로 통합 파트너와의 상업 조건 협상 및 예산 배분 승인을 담당함.[1]

## 지급 구조

마일스톤 기반 지급이 기본 원칙이며, 검증된 기술 및 운영 마일스톤 달성 후 자금을 지급함.[1]

초기 설정 비용을 위한 "마일스톤 제로" 선금이 가능하며, 에이다를 스테이블코인으로 전환하는 비용과 보관료를 포함함.[1]

지속적 지원이 필요한 통합은 프로그램 기간 중 추가 승인된 유지보수 지급을 받을 수 있음.[1]

## 감시 및 보고

Intersect와 Steering Committee는 6개월마다 재정 요약, 프로젝트 진행 상황, 감사 및 규정 준수 성명, 에코시스템 영향 평가를 포함한 보고서를 발행함.[1]

24개월 기간 종료 시 미사용 자금은 모두 카르다노 Treasury로 반환됨.[1]

## 목표 및 검증

Tier-1 스테이블코인, 기관 디지털 자산 보관 및 지갑 인프라, 온체인 분석 플랫폼, 크로스체인 브릿지, 가격 오라클이 메인넷에 배포되는 것을 목표로 함.[1]

모든 통합은 카르다노 메인넷에서 실시간으로 운영되는 것으로 검증됨.[1]

---

**주석:**

- **Steering Committee**: 통합 파트너와의 계약 조건을 협상하고 예산 배분을 승인하는 의사결정 기구
- **마일스톤**: 프로젝트 진행 중 달성해야 할 구체적 목표 지점
- **스테이블코인**: 특정 자산(주로 달러)에 가치가 고정된 암호화폐
- **오라클**: 블록체인 외부의 실시간 데이터를 블록체인에 제공하는 시스템
- **크로스체인 브릿지**: 서로 다른 블록체인 간 자산 이동을 가능하게 하는 기술

This Cardano Critical Integrations Budget Governance Action requests ₳70,000,000 from the Cardano Treasury to establish a strategic integration fund supporting the onboarding of critical infrastructure, including tier-one stablecoins, institutional digital asset custody and wallet infrastructures, on-chain analytics platforms, cross-chain bridges, and pricing oracles to the Cardano ecosystem.

This infrastructure establishes the foundational layer required to onboard tier-one stablecoins, with the potential to unlock exponential growth in DeFi transaction volume across the ecosystem. It will also help accelerate ecosystem efforts in other key areas such as Real World Assets (RWA) and DePin. This acceleration is expected to play a key role in supporting Cardano’s path to profitability as a layer one in terms of fee generation, ensuring long-term financial sustainability.

This project is being driven through close collaboration between Input | Output Global, the Cardano Foundation, and EMURGO, together with Midnight Foundation and Intersect, all of whom are actively engaged in negotiations with integration partners. Representatives from all five organizations form the Steering Committee, which is responsible for making key strategic decisions. The founding entities and Intersect also recognize the Midnight Foundation’s contributions to date.

Infrastructure providers and/or protocol collaborations are in a mature stage, and several partners have already provided detailed pricing and delivery timelines. However, for reasons of strategic and commercial confidentiality, together with partner companies’ compliance requirements, the specific infrastructures involved can only be disclosed outside of the Steering Committee after the integration is completed.

The project will follow a milestone-based funding structure, with budget drawdowns executed from Intersect’s custody and administration only upon submission of signed agreements and the agreed scope of work. The Oversight Committee at Intersect will review drawdown requests to confirm that the amounts and designated recipients align with the executed contracts. Since work is already underway in some of these areas, this proposal envisions an early early budget deployment, and we anticipate this budget being utilized immediately and up to 24-month deployment, depending on withdrawal success, contracting periods, and timely receipt.

### **Strategic Need**

Cardano has a strong technical and governance foundation, but lacks several critical integrations required for large-scale economic activity and external liquidity integration. The absence of key systems, including stablecoin infrastructures, interoperability frameworks, and institutional-grade pricing oracle networks limits the ecosystem’s capacity to attract external capital, facilitate stable on-chain operations, and support advanced DeFi use cases. Cardano also requires solid institutional digital asset custody and wallet infrastructures, as well as on-chain analytics platforms to ensure user access, ecosystem transparency, and multi-chain liquidity efficiency.

* **Stablecoins**
With data and interoperability in place, Cardano can support the introduction of a tier-one stablecoin, the ecosystem’s primary base currency. A stablecoin provides price stability, predictable liquidity, and access for both institutional and retail users. However, its deployment depends on reliable oracle data and established interoperability channels. As such, stablecoin integration is the final step in the infrastructure rollout sequence and the key enabler for large-scale DeFi adoption and sustained liquidity growth.

* **Institutional Digital Asset Custodies and Wallet Infrastructures**
User access and transaction flow depend on a high-quality wallet infrastructure that supports multi-asset management, seamless dApp interaction, and secure cross-chain functionality. Wallets serve as the primary interface between users and Cardano’s financial systems; therefore, scalable, reliable, and feature-rich wallet solutions are required to support onboarding, institutional usage, and mass-market adoption. Enhanced wallet capabilities also ensure that new infrastructure layers like bridges, analytics, and stablecoins remain accessible and usable for all users.

* **On-chain Analytics Platforms**
A mature financial ecosystem requires transparent, real-time insights into network activity, risk exposure, asset flows, and application performance. Advanced analytics platforms allow developers, institutions, compliance teams, and users to assess liquidity conditions, monitor protocol health, and make informed decisions. Without robust analytics, DeFi operations remain opaque, limiting institutional participation and hindering ecosystem-wide risk management.

* **Cross-Chain Bridges**
Once a reliable data layer is established, the next requirement is enabling liquidity and user movement between Cardano and other ecosystems. Bridge and interoperability infrastructures allow assets to transfer securely across blockchains, opening access to external liquidity pools and new user bases. Without these routes, Cardano remains isolated, constraining inflows of capital, developers, and institutional participants.

* **Pricing Oracle Infrastructures**
Oracles provide the external data required for DeFi & RWA operations, including asset pricing, risk management, and stablecoin collateralization. While current native providers such as Charli3 and Orcfax deliver early coverage, Cardano still lacks a globally recognized, institution-grade pricing oracle provider. This limitation restricts the ability of major stablecoin issuers and financial applications to deploy on Cardano, as their operations require data from trusted pricing oracle networks. Establishing a robust pricing oracle infrastructure is the foundational step in enabling higher-level financial systems.

### **Current Gap & Urgency**:

Despite being a top-10 blockchain by market cap, Cardano’s Total Value Locked (TVL) as of November 25th, 2025 remains around $191.860.000 (Source: Defillama.com), which is still far below comparable ecosystems that maintain several billion dollars in DeFi usage. This gap highlights Cardano’s limited market reach and the absence of the core primitives that other networks treat as standard utilities. Without scaling these key components, Cardano risks falling further behind in attracting dApps, liquidity, institutional partners, and large-scale integrations such as tier-one stablecoins.

Cardano’s growth requires robust pricing oracles and interoperability layers to connect on-chain applications to external networks and real-world data. These integrations are capital-intensive and time-sensitive, yet they underpin the viability of all future financial primitives.

This proposal is being brought forward now because discussions on these topics have progressed substantially, and are ready to move forward with various partners. With the current NCL set to expire on 4 January 2026, it is both timely and prudent to submit this proposal and its associated withdrawal under the present NCL, provided the community approves.

By establishing a transparent ecosystem integration budget through treasury funding, Cardano can secure these essential components rapidly and fairly.

### **Why Treasury Funding**

* **Ecosystem Criticality**
The Cardano ecosystem needs foundational public infrastructure that every dApp depends on. These components cannot be built or licensed by individual teams; they are shared utilities that must be delivered once, at ecosystem scale, to unlock liquidity, attract developers, and enable institutional use cases.

* **Neutrality & Vendor Independence**
Treasury funding ensures that a broad coalition of Cardano stakeholders will determine which critical integrations are onboarded. This avoids commercial bias, guarantees neutrality, and allows the integrations to be governed transparently under Cardano’s constitutional framework.

* **Governance Alignment & Transparency**
By placing the budget under Intersect administration, all fund flows follow constitutional guardrails: separate auditable addresses, auto-abstain delegation, milestone validation, independent audits, and public reporting. This ensures full community oversight from start to finish and reinforces decentralized governance across the entire integration pipeline.

### **Timeline & Current State of Governance**

This budget info action and its associated treasury withdrawal governance action will seek to pass prior to the expiry of the current NCL on 4 January 2026. While this is an ambitious timeline, it is believed to be possible with expedient voting from DReps and the CC, and justified on the underlying need for this proposal and motivation expressed above.

The withdrawal timeline is envisaged as follows:

* 27 November 2025: Submission of this budget info action.
* As early as the 4 December 2025: Provided there is sufficient DRep approval at this stage and signs are not overwhelmingly negative, the associated treasury withdrawal will be submitted in parallel to allow DReps to consider the withdrawal and begin voting. This will still be subject to the CC vote and passing of this budget info action.
* 8 December 2025: The update CC governance action will be launched (based on current timelines announced by Intersect)
* 30 December 2025: This budget info action expires
* 4 January 2026: Provided that the new CC is appointed; the CC have voted; DReps have approved the budget info action and DReps have cast sufficient votes for the treasury withdrawal - then the treasury withdrawal will pass on the final day of the current NCL.

The treasury withdrawal will not be deemed constitutional until the budget info action passes on 30 December 2025 (if DReps and CC approve), however, DReps will be able to vote on the actions and express their view from as early as 4 December 2025. CC members may also cast preliminary opinions on constitutionality during the period of voting on the budget info action, and finalise their opinions on the treasury withdrawal between 30 December 2025 and 4 January 2026.

It is fully acknowledged that there are multiple dependencies to the passing of the treasury withdrawal governance action, however it is technically feasible with sufficient community support, which we hope to receive.

### **Steering Committee**

The Steering Committee provides high-level business direction and integration governance of this initiative. The committee oversees negotiation strategy, prioritization of integrations, and overall alignment with Cardano’s ecosystem needs. Its purpose is to ensure that each integration delivers clear strategic value and that strategic decisions are made transparently, rationally, and in the best interest of the ecosystem.

The Steering Committee operates as a five-member group representing Input | Output Global, the Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, Midnight Foundation and Intersect. These members act independently to maintain neutrality. Together, they evaluate which integrations should be onboarded first, assess ecosystem impact, and guide the negotiation of commercial and contracting terms with integration partners. The Steering Committee voting members will not be compensated from withdrawn funds and will each cover their own expenses. An amount of no more than 5% of the budget will be allocated to legal, custodian fees, administration, and compliance costs of the Administrator and connected parties.

The Steering Committee comprises representatives from each of the following organizations:

* Input | Output Global
* Cardano Foundation
* EMURGO
* Midnight Foundation
* Intersect (as a non-voting member acting in the capacity of the Administrator)

The Cardano Critical Integrations Budget will use the requested ₳70,000,000 to cover:

**• Integration and other necessary associated costs**
Cover the integration work and all related expenses, including deployment development, licensing fees, maintenance costs, and any additional infrastructure required to support the integrations.

**• Legal and Audit**
Cover due diligence, legal, insurance, and compliance requirements, and periodic independent audits to satisfy the requirements of the Cardano Constitution.

**• Contingency Reserve**
Maintain a reserve to accommodate scope adjustments or market shifts, while preserving delivery certainty and financial discipline.

**• Admin Fees**
Cover custody fees, minting fees of stablecoins, and any other administrative costs that may arise during setup and execution of the Cardano Critical Integrations Budget

₳ 70,000,000 refers to the remaining funds available within the current NCL. A high-level budget breakdown is planned to be included in the subsequent Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action following this Budget Info Action. However, due to confidentiality obligations applied by most integration partners, the breakdown will be limited in granularity. If the allocated budget is not used at the end of the 24-month period, all remaining funds will be returned to the Cardano Treasury.

### **Administration of Funds**

All treasury funds will be administered by Intersect as an Administrator under Cardano’s constitutional framework. All treasury funds for this initiative will be administered by Intersect under Article IV of the Constitution. Intersect acts as the administrator for the entire budget. Contracting for integrations will be assigned on the principle of budget compatibility and “most likely to succeed”, i.e. to any entity that has the required skills and availability. This Budget Info Action is submitted by Intersect with support and the collaboration of the Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global, and EMURGO as co-proposers.

#### Steering Committee Authority

The Steering Committee will negotiate commercial terms with integration partners and will include a technical assessment of feasibility and implementation requirements.

Allocations from this budget will be approved by the Steering Committee. The quorum for any budget allocation to an integration will be 3/4 of all Steering Committee members. Once an integration is approved, Intersect will administer and execute the associated disbursements to the contracting entity, as defined for each integration.

The Steering Committee will publish progress reports upon achieving integration milestones

## **Role of Intersect and Contractual Counterparties**

Intersect will receive the funds and administer this budget. If this Budget Info Action and the subsequent Treasury Withdrawal are approved, funds will be received into the Treasury Reserve Smart Contract framework administered by Intersect with checks and balances from the independent smart contract Oversight Committee made up of five members; the Cardano Foundation, NMKR, Xerberus, SundaeLabs and Dquadrant. Funds from there will be disbursed transparently according to the contracting arrangements. Disbursements will be made directly from the smart contract framework or an institutional-grade custodian to vendors, as selected by the Steering Committee. It is currently not envisioned that the smart contract framework deployed earlier this year will be fully utilized, as this will likely result in disclosure of integration costs, which are typically confidential and protected by non-disclosure agreements. Intersect and the co-proposers will endeavor to negotiate integration contracts that allow for as much public disclosure as reasonably possible and the Steering Committee will disclose such information in their progress reports.

Co-proposers or other entities chosen by the Steering Committee from time to time may, if required, act as the contracting counterparty with an integration partner. When this occurs, Intersect and the Cardano Development Holdings will enter into a contract with the designated entity defining the scope, obligations, reporting requirements, and drawdown conditions. Under this arrangement, the designated entity receives disbursements from related smart contract/s or custodians as determined by the contract terms.

Intersect will only act as a contracting counterparty when it has completed its own due diligence and satisfied its Delivery Assurance standards. If Intersect declines to act as counterparty for a specific integration, another designated entity may do so, provided that a contract is established between that designated entity, Intersect and the for the purpose of receiving budget disbursements.

## **Payment Execution and Safeguards**

Disbursements will be executed through either smart contracts or institutional-grade custodians. These disbursements will follow the Statements of Work and the commercial terms approved by the Steering Committee.

## **Unused funds and program conclusion**

If at the end of the 24 months period the budget has not been fully utilized, all remaining funds will be returned to the Cardano Treasury. A final reconciliation and summary will be included in the oversight reporting by Intersect, in collaboration with the Steering Committee.

### **Cardano Addresses**

Treasury funds will be received and held by Intersect, acting as the Constitutional Administrator, in addresses or accounts designated exclusively for this proposal and auditable by the community.

To fulfil constitutional requirements, these addresses will be delegated to the Auto-Abstain DRep and will not be staked to any Stake Pool Operator (SPO), ensuring that the funds do not influence governance or generate staking rewards. It is currently not envisioned that smart contracts will be fully used by Intersect to disbursement funds, to protect the confidentiality of vendor pricing. However, they will be used where possible and Intersect will be able to ensure oversight and transparency through the independent audit and access to information.

Through this arrangement, Intersect maintains full custody transparency, enabling verifiable auditing and milestone tracking under Cardano’s constitutional governance framework, satisfying Articles IV(2), (4) & (5) in particular.

### **Goals & Metrics**

| Category | Target | Verification Source |
| ----- | ----- | ----- |
| Stablecoin | A tier-one stablecoin is targeted for deployment on Cardano mainnet as the integrations progress. | The integration is live on Cardano Mainnet. |
| Institutional digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure | The program aims to support the deployment of a tier-one stablecoin on Cardano mainnet as delivery progresses. | The integration is live on Cardano Mainnet. |
| On-chain analytics platform | Tier-one analytics platform targeted for mainnet. | The integration is live on Cardano Mainnet. |
| Cross-chain bridge | A tier-one cross-chain bridge is planned for mainnet deployment as integration work with selected partners is finalised. | The integration is live on Cardano Mainnet. |
| Pricing oracle | Tier-one pricing oracle targeted for mainnet. | The integration is live on Cardano Mainnet. |
| Transparency compliance | Completed milestones reported through the Intersect channel. | Intersect reports. |
| Audit completion | Annual independent audit conducted and published, following Intersect’s current financial reporting framework for Tier 3 full assurance. | Intersect reports. |

### **Acceptance Criteria and Milestone-Based Disbursement**

The acceptance criteria will vary between vendors, but will be made public once commercial terms and contracting has been agreed between the vendor, Intersect and the Steering Committee. It is expected a “milestone zero” payment will cover the essential setup costs of this initiative, which may include converting ada into a stablecoin, stablecoin minting fees, and custody fees. Converted assets will be held in a regulated custodian. Legal costs for onboarding integration partners are also included in this early operational budget.

In general, integration partners will receive funds only after verified delivery of agreed technical and operational milestones. That said, payment structures may vary deal to deal. Where a partner requires funds in advance to commence delivery, an upfront payment may be made at the point of contract signature. Any such upfront disbursement or “milestone zero” payment will be explicitly defined in the agreement and tied to a clear scope and deliverables.

Integrations requiring ongoing support may receive additional approved maintenance payments during the program period.

This disbursement structure ensures efficient execution, transparent financial management, and strict alignment with Cardano’s governance requirements.

### **Reporting**

Intersect and the Steering Committee will publish a bi-annual report covering:

1. **Financial Summary & Treasury Reconciliation** – total funds disbursed, remaining, and audited.
2. **Project Progress & Milestone Review** – integration status and outcomes.
3. **Audit & Compliance Statement** – summary of independent audit findings.
4. **Ecosystem Impact Assessment** – measurable effects on Cardano adoption and interoperability.
5. **Governance & Future Outlook** – proposed next steps or renewal recommendations.

## Constitutionality Checklist

### **Article III.5**

✔️ This proposal is prepared in a standardized and legible format and will include a URL and hash of all off-chain materials at submission. It provides a clear title, abstract, rationale, motivation, and supporting information in accordance with this article.

### **Article IV.1**

✔️This proposal fits the purpose of Article IV.1 as it supports the maintenance, operation, and future development of the Cardano ecosystem through critical integrations.

### **Article IV.2**

✔️This proposal specifies Intersect as the administrator and outlines transparent reporting, an oversight structure and explains where the processes are or are not administered via smart contracts (where it is not possible or beneficial). These elements meet the constitutional requirement for the use of administrators and on-chain tools where beneficial.

### **Article IV.4**

✔️This proposal allocates a budget for independent audits and includes clear oversight metrics & mechanisms such as contractual milestone-based verification, bi-yearly reporting, dispute resolution provisions (to be included in relevant legal contracts), and a defined Steering Committee. These elements satisfy the constitutional requirements for audits and oversight metrics.

## **Conclusion**

The Cardano Critical Integrations Budget is a decisive step toward addressing one of Cardano’s most pressing issues: the lack of mature oracle and interoperability integrations, alongside other core integrations required for large scale DeFi and attracting external liquidity. With these foundational integrations in place, and with tier-one stablecoin onboarding, Cardano can finally overcome the barriers that have historically prevented developers, institutions, and liquidity from other leading blockchains from entering Cardano.

This proposal unlocks the power of decentralized governance and transforms weakness into strength by allocating ₳70,000,000 in constitutionally governed, milestone-based funding. This funding supports the full rollout sequence of ecosystem critical integrations, including institutional digital asset custody and wallet infrastructures, tier one on-chain analytics platforms, cross-chain bridges, and globally recognized pricing oracles, all of which together provide the essential data, liquidity pathways, user access, and stablecoin rails on which every thriving DeFi network relies.

Transparently administered by Intersect under Cardano’s governance framework and guided by an experienced Steering Committee, The Cardano Critical Integrations Budget ensures verifiable outcomes and measurable ecosystem value through clear contracting, milestone verification, and independent audits. It is a catalyst that demonstrates how decentralized governance can responsibly allocate capital while accelerating the delivery of critical integrations that will ensure Cardano’s long-term competitiveness and sustainability.