Cardano Summit 2026 and TOKEN2049 Singapore

Treasury Withdrawal Proposal

By: Cardano Foundation & EMURGO

This Proposal as a PDF:

https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQc5zt319nHtseyj4vVKkm4PFCHS7To3WCs6pH3SGgrxq

This proposal outlines a high-impact, effective, dual-event strategy to be executed in Singapore from October 5–8, 2026. This strategy is designed to maximize budget efficiency by co-locating two key events to maximize the reach of Cardano and its ecosystem:

1. The Cardano Summit 2026: A two-day dedicated event hosted by the Cardano Foundation, providing a showcase for Cardano's community innovation and technology, enterprise applications, institutional use cases, regulatory roundtables, and governance maturity. Interest in the Cardano Summit, from both media and enterprise, has steadily increased since its inception, reaching its highest level in 2025/2026.

2. Cardano Premier Title Sponsorship at TOKEN2049: The world's largest blockchain summit with over 25,000 attendees. The package includes a large-format exhibition booth in a premium traffic zone, a historic first-ever mainstage keynote— exclusive to title sponsors — on-site media interviews, and a dedicated ecosystem showcase from the top 20 projects on Cardano. This sponsorship will be fully managed by EMURGO.

The Cardano Foundation and EMURGO teams are requesting a total of 14,076,539 ada ($3,659,900 USD):

1. 9,615,385 ada (USD 2,500,000) for the 2026 Cardano Summit managed by the Cardano Foundation
   
2. 4,461,154 ada (USD 1,159,900) for a “Title” TOKEN2049 Sponsorship managed by EMURGO

Based on the current value of ada at 0.26 to the US Dollar (at the time of writing), this translates into 14,076,539 ada.

Please see the Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown below for further details on the budget and administration process. Key Performance Indicators are included in Section 7 below.

This proposal is being submitted outside of the Intersect budget process due to critical timing constraints, as payments made through this process are projected to be made in August or September at the earliest, which is unworkable for 2026 events. Waiting for this process would mean missing the crucial opportunity to build upon the Summit momentum generated in 2025.

The full concept and slide deck can be found here:

https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmaF8tt7prMb41TqSfN9GSJhM5PcWXVuD7uxYBDjecjaDX

Building on the successes of the Cardano Summit 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFmKTQIs7dM), the 2026 edition will see the flagship event move to Singapore. The previous year has shown that holding the Cardano Summit in close proximity to a large tech or blockchain event (as done for two regional events, India Blockchain Week in Bangalore and Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi) significantly extends reach and increases traffic.

Intentionally built as a premier business event, this will be a strategic intersection where ecosystem builders and enterprise decision-makers meet. By dedicating the first day to our ecosystem and the second to our partners, Cardano Summit 2026 will be the space where community members, enterprises, institutions and regulators can meaningfully meet, connect, build meaningful partnerships and decide what the future of blockchain looks like.

What began as a community and ecosystem gathering has evolved into a broader forum for discussing how decentralized technologies can support real-world economic, technical, and societal needs. Today, the Summit is positioned as a place for serious dialogue – where technical capability, institutional requirements, and public-interest considerations can meet in a constructive and wide-reaching way.

This is a blockchain event unlike any other around: pragmatic, professional and focused on continuing to position Cardano as one of the most impactful, enterprise-forward, and serious blockchain ecosystems in the world

For 2026 we are executing a strategic dual-event. By hosting the Cardano Summit alongside TOKEN2049 in Singapore, we maximize Treasury efficiency by capturing high-value traffic from the world’s largest crypto and blockchain gathering.

To maximize Cardano’s global impact and streamline resources, we are shifting our strategy from standalone regional meetups to strategic activations at major industry conferences like India Blockchain Week, Rare Evo, Africa Tech Summit, LaBitConf, and Blockchain Rio. This pivot allows us to break out of our ecosystem “echo chamber” by engaging broader audiences at high-traffic events, rather than managing the heavy logistical overhead of numerous small, isolated gatherings. Furthermore, unlike last year’s approach, these regional gatherings will now be integrated into a unified marketing proposal to ensure a more cohesive global and professional brand presence worldwide. Current planning for the unified marketing proposal is underway, and we look forward to sharing details with the Community in the next few weeks.

This year, the decision was made to submit this proposal outside the standard Intersect budget process due to critical timing constraints. The current timeline projects the two treasury withdrawals originating from the Intersect budget process to be submitted in late June, with the first funds expected to be paid out in late August or early September 2026. This schedule is unworkable for organizing 2026 events. Waiting for this process would mean missing the crucial opportunity to build upon the Summit momentum generated in 2025.

Events at the scale of the Summit typically require 12 months+ of advance planning, and the TOKEN2049 sponsorship similarly requires advance planning and payments to secure sponsorship amongst tough competition of other blockchain companies. Given that both events are scheduled for October 2026, an August/September withdrawal is not feasible.

Nonetheless, in good faith and to demonstrate commitment to a successful 2026 Summit, Cardano Foundation secured the 2026 location with the revenue from the 2025 Summit and has already begun working on the event, using its own teams and resources. Immediately following the Cardano Africa Tech Summit in February 2026, CF initiated team alignment and started preparing the concept, agenda, website, and sponsor packages, as well as engaging the first speakers and moderators.

Mission and Vision

Mission: To position Cardano as the undisputed enterprise-grade blockchain solution by converging the global crypto ecosystem with Asia’s premier financial hub. We will leverage the global reach of the TOKEN2049 event to forge alliances between Web3 builders, institutional capital, and enterprise executives on a global scale and present at the event.

Vision: A high-impact, four-day operational showcase that bridges the gap between decentralized governance, institutional finance, and enterprise adoption.

• Day 1 (Cardano Summit 2026 - Ecosystem Day): Focused on governance, innovation, and the technical roadmap, demonstrating the vibrancy of the Cardano ecosystem to the world.
  
• Day 2 (Cardano Summit 2026 - Industry Day): Dedicated to enterprise and institutional adoption, solidifying Cardano's status as the operational backbone for the future of trust infrastructure.
  
• Day 3 (Token2049 — Unified Community Day): Cardano takes center stage at one of the world's largest crypto conferences. As Title Sponsor, we activate a flagship booth featuring a dedicated presentation stage where the top 20 Cardano builders showcase live product demos and project updates to a global audience of 20,000+ attendees, investors, and media.
  
• Day 4 (Token2049 — Builder Spotlight Day): The booth stage continues with a second rotation of six to eight leading Cardano builders presenting their products, alongside open networking sessions, live Q&A panels, and hands-on demos — maximizing visibility and driving real conversations with institutional players, developers, and partners across the broader Web3 ecosystem.

2026 Objectives:

• Driving blockchain adoption: By onboarding new projects, builders, use-cases and connecting the community, enterprises, and institutions with proven infrastructure, standards, and implementation experience

• Promoting education and innovation: Sharing knowledge, case studies, and new applications to promote Cardano as blockchain of choice.

• Advancing infrastructure: Discussing topics such as programming, open source development, and cross-chain interoperability.

• Engaging the global ecosystem: Bringing together the global Cardano community, including industry leaders, businesses, ecosystem projects, and blockchain enthusiasts for networking and connection opportunities.

• Fostering governance discussions: Facilitating conversations about decentralized decision-making and active community participation in the Cardano ecosystem

A Cardano Foundation-hosted two-day Summit, followed by a Cardano Premier Title Sponsorship at TOKEN2049 in Singapore (one of Asia’s most important financial and blockchain hubs), this year’s event has something for everyone.

1. ### Key Benefits

Among the key benefits for the Cardano Ecosystem with this proposal, we are looking to:

Capitalize on TOKEN2049: Leverage the presence of 25,000+ global crypto attendees in Singapore to maximize B2B networking and institutional exposure without bearing the cost of flying them in. Additionally, the cancellation of TOKEN2049’s other flagship event in Dubai this year is likely to increase demand for tickets in Singapore.

Focus on ROI and Reach: A focused, 4-day, high-yield gathering attached to one of the largest events for the industry to optimize treasury spend for the largest reach.

Institutional Liquidity & Partnership: Direct access to the Investment/Stablecoin audience gathered for TOKEN2049, addressing the need for deeper DeFi liquidity and stablecoin integration on Cardano.

Real-World Adoption: Showcasing Enterprise tech talks to Asian tech giants and financial hubs, moving beyond theory to actual implementation (e.g., finance, supply chain, AI, identity).

Governance & Community Cohesion: Dedicating Day 1 of the Cardano Summit to Governance and Battle of the Builders ensures the community retains ownership.

1. ### Why host the Summit in Singapore?

The decision to host the Cardano Summit 2026 in Singapore (October 5–6) is a calculated strategic move.

We will position Cardano at the epicenter of the world’s most active institutional and blockchain hub precisely when Cardano technical and commercial large integrations have reached a tipping point for mainstream finance. The move to Singapore is strongly motivated by several heavyweight integrations kicked off or finalized this year that require institutional-grade visibility for instance:

1. The Stablecoin (USDCx): The integration of Circle’s USDCx via zero-knowledge technology provides the secure, stable liquidity required by Asian banks and DeFi protocols.

2. LayerZero Interoperability: Cardano will be connected soon to over 150 blockchains, allowing for seamless cross-chain asset flows, which is critical for Singapore’s status as a global liquidity hub.

3. CME Group ADA Futures: The launch of regulated ADA futures on February 9, 2026, marks the entry of ADA into the institutional derivatives market alongside Bitcoin and Ether.

4. On-Chain Financial Audits: Successes like Grant Thornton's world-first on-chain attestation of the Cardano Foundation’s audited financials via the Reeve system demonstrates to regulators, in Singapore and beyond, that Cardano can meet stringent Real-World Asset (RWA) compliance needs.

Additionally, the Cardano Summit 2026 will, for the first time, bring the event to the engaged and diverse Cardano community in Southeast Asia. Through the “Ecosystem Day”, Cardano community members from across Asia will get the chance to engage in a day dedicated to governance, building, networking, and connecting projects.

1. ### Why TOKEN 2049?

TOKEN2049 is a premier event and one of Asia’s most important financial and blockchain events. Combining the 2026 Summit with presence at TOKEN2049 amplifies Cardano’s reach, leveraging TOKEN2049’s 25k+ audience and providing the opportunity to capitalize on this high-value audience and reach global exposure.

Leading blockchain companies (e.g., Solana Breakpoint, SuiFest Singapore, ETH Singapore) have launched flagship events to leverage the 25,000+ TOKEN2049 audience.

Strategic Role: TOKEN2049 extends the impact of Summit week, enabling continued engagement with the same high-value audience in-market. This extended, four-day presence allows for deeper interaction, enabling follow-ups, partnership discussions, and tangible next steps.

Title Sponsorship — What Cardano Gets

Booth & On-Site Presence Priority booth location selection with a 108 sqm booth — the second largest at the event — ensuring maximum foot traffic and prominence on the exhibition floor. The booth features a dedicated mini stage for Cardano builders to present and showcase their projects, a built-in podcast booth, and an exclusive videographer capturing all presentations and key moments, with a public folder provided to all presenters afterwards. Priority check-in is also included for a seamless arrival experience.

Stage & Media Exposure A 15-minute speaking slot on the main stage, a mention in the official event press release, and direct introductions to attending media — positioning Cardano at the forefront of the global conversation.

Exclusive Access Two invitations to the Speakers Reception and ten invitations to the AFTER 2049 networking event, opening doors to high-level relationship building with industry leaders and decision-makers.

Promotional Reach Cardano will be announced across Token2049's social channels including X, LinkedIn, and Instagram Stories. The brand will be featured on the searchable attendee list via the event app, on signage displayed across the venue, and within the Token2049 app and website for sustained exposure before, during, and after the event.

Lead Generation & Networking Full access to lead scanning tools to capture and follow up with prospective partners, collaborators, and investors throughout the event.

Tickets 25 event tickets to allocate freely across guests and team members, enabling a strong on-the-ground presence.

1. ### 2026 Objectives:

• Driving blockchain adoption (with emphasis on Cardano): By onboarding new projects, builders, use-cases and connecting the community, enterprises, and institutions with proven infrastructure, standards, and implementation experience

• Promoting education and innovation: Sharing knowledge, case studies, and new applications to promote Cardano as the blockchain of choice.

• Advancing infrastructure: Discussing topics such as programming, open source development, and cross-chain interoperability.

• Engaging the global ecosystem: Bringing together the global Cardano community, particularly those in Southeast Asia, including industry leaders, businesses, ecosystem projects, and blockchain enthusiasts for networking and connection opportunities.

• Fostering governance discussions: Facilitating conversations about decentralized decision-making and active community participation in the Cardano ecosystem.

1. ### Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown

We are requesting a total of USD 3,659,900:

• USD 2,500,000 for a successful 2026 Summit with a global reach (managed by the Cardano Foundation).
  
• USD 1,159,900 for a “Title” TOKEN2049 Sponsorship (managed by EMURGO).

COST BREAKDOWN: CARDANO SUMMIT 2026 by Cardano Foundation

Estimated CF internal costs (not included within the withdrawal request): USD 250,000

COST BREAKDOWN: TOKEN2049 by EMURGO

Costs shown above are estimates. Final figures may vary; both EMURGO and the Cardano Foundation will need to operate within the limitations of the withdrawal amount, subject to the contingencies and risk mitigation strategy outlined below.

Link to the entire concept proposal:

https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmaF8tt7prMb41TqSfN9GSJhM5PcWXVuD7uxYBDjecjaDX

1. Event Program and KPIs

   1. #### Summit Program and Agenda

The 2026 Summit Program is structured as follows:

Day 1 - ECOSYSTEM DAY - 05 October 2026

Focus: Deep dives for the core community, builders, and DReps.

• Governance: DRep workshops, Committee meetings
  
• Workshops and Masterclasses for deep discussions
  
• Hackathon, Battle of the Builders: Final pitches for the 2026 edition
  
• Opening Reception

Day 2 - THE FLAGSHIP EVENT - 06 October 2026

Focus: Blockchain meets enterprise and finance

• Registration & Networking Breakfast
  
• Builders’ and Tech Talks
  
• Infrastructure, AI & Trust (Enterprise Adoption)
  
• Investment, Stablecoin & Exchanges (Finance/Crypto)
  
• Expo & Start-Up Street
  
• 1:1 Meetings
  
• Summit Awards & Dinner

2026 Summit Agenda

The Summit’s agenda focuses on a central premise: that blockchain is increasingly forming the infrastructure layer for trusted digital economies and will focus on:

• Enterprise & Institutional adoption of blockchain infrastructure
  
• Digital Identity and Trust infrastructure
  
• RWAs, Tokenized financial markets and programmable liquidity
  
• The convergence of AI, Web 3 and verifiable digital systems
  
• Regulatory and governance frameworks shaping the next phase of adoption

The final agenda and Summit program may vary based on final speaker availability, developments in 2026 and further planning progress.

We aim to develop multiple tracks:

1. Track 1 explores how blockchain is reshaping financial market infrastructure. The goal is to highlight how blockchain is enabling more efficient, transparent, and programmable financial systems.
   
2. Track 2: As digital systems expand, the ability to verify identity and data integrity is becoming increasingly important. This track reflects Cardano’s thought leadership on Digital Trust Infrastructure, positioning trust and verification as core components of future digital ecosystems.
   
3. Track 3 focuses on real-world enterprise deployment of blockchain technologies. Sessions should prioritize live implementations and case studies, showcasing how blockchain is already delivering ecosystem value across industries.
   

4. Track 4: AI is rapidly transforming digital systems, but it also introduces new challenges around trust and verification. This track explores how AI and blockchain together may shape the next generation of digital infrastructure.

   1. #### 2026 TOKEN2049 Program

Day 3 (Token2049 — Unified Community Day): Cardano takes center stage at one of the world's largest crypto conferences. As Title Sponsor, we activate a flagship booth featuring a dedicated presentation stage where six of the top 20 Cardano builders showcase live product demos and project updates to a global audience of 20,000+ attendees, investors, and media.

Day 4 (Token2049 — Builder Spotlight Day): The booth stage continues with a second rotation of six leading Cardano builders presenting their products, alongside open networking sessions, live Q&A panels, and hands-on demos — maximizing visibility and driving real conversations with institutional players, developers, and partners across the broader Web3 ecosystem.

1. ### Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

For the Summit 2026 these are the KPIs we are targeting:

1. ### Revenue

Revenue Target: The 2026 Summit aims to generate USD 450,000 in revenue through ticket sales and sponsorships. This is an increase of approximately 50% from the Summit 2025 revenue, which was USD 313,000. Revenue from the 2025 Summit is being used to lower costs of the 2026 Summit edition.

Reinvestment: The team has worked to maximize efficiency and is committed to increasing generated revenue annually.

100% of the revenue generated from the 2026 Summit will be ring-fenced for:

• Securing down payments for the 2027 Summit venue.
  
• Offsetting initial operating costs for the 2027 planning cycle.

1. #### Accountability

Cardano Foundation and EMURGO will ensure direct administration of their respective portions of the budget, assisted with an on-chain smart contract based on the treasury management contract developed by Sundae Labs (https://github.com/SundaeSwap-finance/treasury-contracts), with oversight from: DQuadrant, Intersect, NMKR, Sundae Labs.

These contracts provide a simple but robust way to manage funds withdrawn from the treasury. They ensure that the funds cannot be delegated, and cannot be used in governance voting. They also guarantee that any residual ada held at the contracts eventually returns to the Cardano treasury.

After withdrawal, the withdrawn ada will be immediately split across two independent projects to reflect the two endeavours (or “vendors” as per contract naming convention) under this proposal. It is critical to note that these funds are strictly isolated: the Cardano Foundation does not control or access EMURGO's vendor contract, and likewise, EMURGO does not control or access the Cardano Foundation's vendor contract. Both are subject to their own pre-configured payment schedules of two milestones each:

• Cardano Summit 2026 (Cardano Foundation)
  
• Sponsorship Token2049 (EMURGO)

An illustration of the full accountability cycle and contract setup can be found in Fig.1.

#### Smart Contract Administration

There are two contract types: treasury.ak, which holds the initial pooled funds withdrawn from the Cardano treasury, and vendor.ak, which securely locks funds intended for a specific vendor and a specific project, subject to periodic vesting.

Because the contracts are deployed entirely separately for each vendor, two in this case, the cryptographic permissions are mutually exclusive. The below Fig 1. demonstrates the flow of funds should this withdrawal be approved.

The treasury contract, and both vendor contracts are not delegated to any stake pool or DRep, as per the constitutional requirement for withdrawn, and unspent assets to be neutral.

The treasury contract receives the ada from a Treasury Withdrawal. Across these two contracts, 13 separate actions are permitted. These actions are split between general actions anyone can initiate and specific operations protected by configurable permissions.

Actions anyone can initiate include:

• Initializing the treasury contract by withdrawing funds from the reward account to the treasury script.
  
• Delegating the treasury and vendor script addresses to the auto-abstain DRep, as required by Article II, Section 7 of the Constitution.
  
• Unregistering the stake credential and reclaiming the 2 ADA deposit after the expiration date.
  
• Sweeping funds at the treasury script back to the Cardano treasury after the expiration date.

Fig.1

• Sweeping back funds locked with a malformed datum from the vendor script back to the treasury script (e.g., if someone sends funds directly to the vendor script without a datum).
  
• Sweeping funds locked at the vendor script back to the treasury script after the expiration date.

Treasury Operations (Subject to Oversight Committee Permissions):

• Fund: Creating a project for a vendor with a set of delivery milestones. This is the main operation and expected to be executed twice - once for Cardano Foundation, once for EMURGO.
  
• Sweep Early: Sweeping funds held at the treasury contract back to the Cardano treasury early, before the expiration date.
  
• Disburse: Disbursing funds to an arbitrary address and datum. Highly sensitive operation, thus the most protected one, with 3 out of 4 Oversight Committee members needing to authorize.
  
• Reorganize: Reorganizing funds held at the treasury contract, such as splitting and merging UTxOs.

Vendor Operations (Subject to Oversight Committee Permissions): A vendor contract, funded by the treasury contract, ensures the payment conditions set in the “fund” operation are enforced. Vendor contracts have the following operations:

• Withdraw: When all payment conditions for a milestone are met, the vendor can withdraw their milestone payment.
  
• Pause: Pausing a specific milestone for a vendor, preventing it from being claimed in case of a dispute of delivered work. (Must be executed by the Oversight Committee)
  
• Resume: Resuming a paused milestone, after the dispute has been resolved. (Must be executed by the Oversight Committee)
  
• Modify: Modifying a project to restructure the milestones or pay funds back to the treasury script. (Must be executed by the Oversight Committee and the vendor)

Contract Parameters & Transparency: To ensure operational security, the contracts are strictly parameterized by a registry token (a one-shot NFT to identify script hashes), a treasury expiration timestamp, and a vendor maximum payout date to ensure contracts cannot be extended indefinitely. Finally Sundae Labs and Xerberus have designed a metadata standard to ensure that each transaction is fully justified, transparent, and easily indexable on-chain by interested parties and tool builders.

Each vendor (CF and EMURGO) will exercise permissions under its respective vendor contract and each has existing finance and payment processes designed to ensure approval and release of funds, which must happen before an on-chain authorization.

A dashboard, available at https://treasurywithdrawals.cardanofoundation.org/ and linked under references, will be publicly visible and will also include additional updates and information on this proposal. This will also allow the Community to track the progress of the withdrawal.

#### Smart Contract Audit

The used contracts are robust and heavily battle-tested, having been run extensively in preview, Sanchonet, and mainnet environments. The Sundae Labs Treasury Contract smart contracts underwent rigorous audits by two independent, well-respected Cardano audit firms, TxPipe and MLabs, and those reports can be found in the audits/ directory of the project repository:

https://github.com/SundaeSwap-finance/treasury-contracts/tree/main/audits

#### Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Sundae Labs and Intersect for developing, sponsoring and testing the Treasury Contract smart contracts, and providing the Treasury Contracts SDK. Our thanks also go to MLabs, TxPipe and Amaru, who audited the contracts.

Further, we would like to express our sincerest thanks to DQuadrant, Intersect, NMKR and Sundae Labs for agreeing to become this withdrawal’s Oversight Committee.

#### Milestones

Disbursements by each treasury contract owner will be made according to the following milestones, which will be publicly viewable by the Cardano community on the Cardano Foundation’s withdrawal dashboard: https://treasurywithdrawals.cardanofoundation.org/ . The proposers will upload reporting information to this dashboard for Community visibility.

Cardano Summit

• Milestone 1: 7,692,308 ada, USD 2,000,000
  

Milestone 1 is a kickoff milestone to enable the Cardano Foundation to organise the Summit, engage vendors and make necessary deposits, it will be available for withdrawal upon approval of this governance action by DReps and funding of the treasury contract.

• Milestone 2: 1,923,077 ada, USD 500,000
  

Milestone 2 is the final payment milestone payable after delivery of the event. Upon reaching this Milestone, the Cardano Foundation will upload proof of delivery of the event and an updated report on organisation and budget. This will be publicly viewable by DReps.

TOKEN2049

• Milestone 1: 3,568,923 ada, USD 927,920
  

Milestone 1 is a kickoff milestone to enable EMURGO to organise the sponsorship and attendance of TOKEN2049, engage vendors and make necessary direct deposits to Token2049 and Third Party Booth Builder, it will be available for withdrawal upon approval of this governance action by DReps and funding of the treasury contract.

• Milestone 2: 892,231 ada, USD 231,980
  

Milestone 2 is the final payment milestone payable after delivery of the event. Upon reaching this Milestone, EMURGO will upload proof of delivery of the event and an updated report on organisation and budget. This will be publicly viewable by DReps.

Each proposer absorbs risk in this scenario as it remains responsible for deposits and prepayments due to vendors before each respective event, without having the full withdrawal funds available.

CF and EMURGO believe that by using the above smart contract framework, combined with the other multiple layers of accountability contained within this proposal (audits and community oversight) that the Cardano community will receive comprehensive visibility over this withdrawal. It is fully in the interests of both the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO to deliver according to this proposal, as both have already substantially invested in realizing these events, and intend to continue doing so for the future, as long-term members of the Cardano community.

#### Audits

The withdrawal contains a provision for the cost of an audit, included within “Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown” above.

The Cardano Foundation is subject to annual audits by its auditor Grant Thornton. Additionally, the Cardano Foundation provides comprehensive annual reporting of its activities and financials, visible to the Community at any time. The latest report for 2025 (https://cardanofoundation.org/activity-financial-insights-report-2025.pdf) can be found here and is included in the References below.

In a groundbreaking step this year, the Cardano Foundation and its auditor signed off on Cardano Foundation’s annual financial statements for 2025 on-chain, through the Reeve platform, providing an additional layer of accountability.

Subject to final engagement terms, both CF and EMURGO are engaging Grant Thornton to provide additional assurance that this withdrawal was paid to the correct recipients (CF and EMURGO’s wallets) as set out herein.

1. #### Risks and Risk Mitigation

Ada price volatility: We have conservatively used the current ada price for this proposal.

Should exchange rate fluctuations have an adverse impact on the budget for this proposal, we will adjust the scope of the proposal accordingly, while mitigating overall impact insofar as possible, or deduct the impact from revenue generated. Conversely, should the ada price appreciate between proposal submission and event execution, without being offset by necessary event expenses, the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO will return the profit from such a price appreciation to the Cardano Treasury within 6 months after the events. Final reporting will be provided to the Community via the dashboard.

Geopolitical conflict: This proposal may be negatively impacted if current conflicts escalate. This may impact travel to Singapore, costs and/or the event/s’ schedule/dates.

If the events are cancelled for reasons beyond the proposers’ control, the cost of preparing for the event will be deducted from the budget and the balance will be returned to the Treasury. Alternatively, if it proves more cost effective for the Treasury to postpone the events, the proposers may choose to do so, extending the period of delivery under this proposal, and shall keep the Community updated on the reasoning behind this decision.

Disclaimer & Dependencies

• Execution Timeline and Approval: The successful execution of events depends on timely approval from DReps. A lead time of six months is required for event execution following proposal approval. A reduced planning timeline may result in a reduced scale of the event and changes to the event agenda, planning speakers, or similar aspects of organizing the events.

• Active Engagement & Participation: Non-negotiable active engagement from the community and ecosystem is essential, encompassing both speaking roles and general attendance.

• Highlighting Technological Advancements for institutional and enterprise adoption: Demos and presentations must be designed to effectively showcase the latest and most significant advancements in Cardano technology.

1. #### Constitutional self-assessment

In an effort to ensure the governance action fulfills all requirements laid out in the Cardano Constitution, the proposers have prepared the following self-assessment. We believe we have fulfilled the requirements of the Cardano Constitution based on the points listed below.

Article I.1 - Guiding Tenets:

• This proposal aligns with the guiding tenets of the Cardano Constitution, specifically by fostering ecosystem growth, ensuring transparency through public milestone reporting, and utilizing decentralized infrastructure for fund administration. It does not violate any of the 10 core tenets.

Article II.3.1 - Smart Contracts Use:

• This section encourages use of smart contracts where beneficial. This proposal is leveraging the open source and audited smart contracts developed by SundaeLabs and Intersect to administer the requested funding amount, thereby directly adhering to the wish of the Constitution to use smart contracts where beneficial.

Article II.6.1 - Governance Action Metadata Format:

• This section contains formatting requirements for governance actions, requiring they be in a standardized, legible format, and containing an immutable document with additional context for the proposal. The metadata of this proposal adheres to the required standardized and legible formatting outlined in CIP-0108 and the metadata file itself is hosted in an immutable fashion on IPFS. The hash of the metadata file hosted on IPFS is referenced in the metadata anchor hash field of the governance action and the link to the CID is referenced in the metadata anchor URL field of the governance action metadata. As the uploaded file is immutable and permanent on IPFS, the metadata cannot be altered post-submission, ensuring cryptographic integrity.

Article II.6.2 - Governance Action Metadata Structure:

• The governance action metadata adheres to the required structure by including a title, abstract, justification, and relevant supporting materials. Specifically, the rationale clearly outlines the strategic value of expanding Cardano’s presence in Asian markets, with global reach, via the Summit and TOKEN2049.

Article II.7.1 - Treasury Withdrawals Terms:

As required by this section of the Constitution, this proposal includes:

• Purpose of the withdrawal: The purpose of this withdrawal is set out above and is the coordinated delivery of a flagship Cardano Summit in Singapore and the sponsorship of TOKEN2049 in Singapore to increase Cardano’s presence.
  
• Period of delivery of proposed activities which the withdrawal shall be used for: The Cardano Summit 2026 will take place from 5-6 October and TOKEN2049 will take place from 7-8 October
  
• Relevant costs and expenses of the proposed activities: a breakdown of the budgeted costs are specified in “Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown” within the rationale section of this proposal.
  
• Circumstances under which the withdrawal might be refunded to the Cardano Treasury: the funding requested is to host the Cardano Summit 2026 and also have a Cardano presence at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, all funding requested will be used to achieve these goals and it will be straightforward to verify that these events were delivered. Circumstances under which the withdrawal or a portion thereof might be refunded to the Cardano Treasury include: 1) The cancellation of TOKEN2049 or the Cardano Summit 2026 before vendor payments are due, with the balance after payments to be returned to the Treasury, 2) The events are executed successfully but total expenses fall under the requested amount, in which case unspent ada will be returned to the Treasury within 6 months of the events taking place, or 3) Due to ada price appreciation, there is a profit on withdrawn ada, which will be refunded to the Treasury within 6 months of the events taking place. This does not include revenue, which like in 2025, will be applied to secure 2027 events.

Article II.7.2 - Prior Treasury Funding:

• Both the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO received ada during 2025 treasury withdrawals under the “Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano” (“global events proposal”) (https://cexplorer.io/gov/action/8ad3d454f3496a35cb0d07b0fd32f687f66338b7d60e787fc0a22939e5d8833e%252325) for conducting various global events and sponsorships, and the “Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events” proposal ((https://cexplorer.io/gov/action/8ad3d454f3496a35cb0d07b0fd32f687f66338b7d60e787fc0a22939e5d8833e%252324). As highlighted above, both the 2025 flagship Summit and the EMURGO regional event were successful. The global events proposal is still ongoing as certain events take place in 2026 under this proposal but the Community can view successful milestone reporting through the Intersect dashboard.

Article II.7.3 - Net Change Limit Adherence:

This section requires that treasury withdrawals do not exceed a Net Change Limit for the relevant period.

• As of the date of writing this proposal, a Net Change Limit of 350 million ada starting from epoch 613 (13-02-2026) and ending in epoch 713 (03-07-2027) has been approved by the DReps and acknowledged by the constitutional committee members when approving the Amaru 2026 Budget Treasury Withdrawal. Of the 350 million ADA in the NCL, 10,142,000 ADA has already been withdrawn. An additional 50,000,000 ADA will be withdrawn upon the enactment of the Orion Fund at the beginning of epoch 624, leaving a NCL balance of 289,858,000 ADA. The 14,076,539 ADA requested in this proposal falls well within the remaining NCL balance.

Article II.7.4 - Periodic Independent Audits and Oversight Metrics:

This section requires that ada be allocated from the withdrawal (funding request) to cover periodic independent audits and implementation of oversight metrics. This proposal makes provisions for:

• Periodic independent audits under the section titled “Audits” above, together with the allocation under Proposal Specifics and Budget Breakdown.
  
• Creating a publicly available dashboard to track and monitor the smart contract instance used to administer the funding, and view updates to KPIs.

Article II.7.5 - Treasury Withdrawal Administrator

This section requires that proposals specify one or more administrators.

• This proposal designates an administrator in the section titled “Accountability” It also specifies an administration process using smart contracts and an Oversight Committee. This follows an established practice of self-administration of proposals using smart contracts, with maximum Community visibility.

Article II.7.6 - Administrator Custody

This section requires that, where an administrator holds funds, that funds are kept in separate, auditable accounts which are not delegated to an SPO and are set to a predefined auto-abstain voting option.

• This proposal withdraws funds to one treasury contract script address, which will then be used to instantiate and fund two vendor contracts (Cardano Foundation and EMURGO), each of which provides public oversight of all operations and can be audited by the Cardano Community.,
  
• These script addresses associated with the vendor contracts are not delegated to an SPO and are set to the auto-abstain voting option.

Appendix I.TREASURY-02a - Cardano Blockchain Guardrails

• In accordance with the guardrail TREASURY-02a, this withdrawal does not exceed the NCL at the moment of submission.

Appendix I.TREASURY-03a - Cardano Blockchain Guardrails

• In accordance with the guardrail TREASURY-03a, this proposal is denominated in ada.

1. ### Track record

The Cardano Foundation's proven delivery of four consecutive, globally impactful Cardano Summits establishes their invaluable institutional and enterprise knowledge and a track record of high-quality, large-scale event execution.

Since 2022 Cardano Foundation has been successfully organizing the yearly Cardano Summit for the Cardano Ecosystem: Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Portugal, Vietnam, the United States, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, South Korea.

More to read in this blog:

https://cardanofoundation.org/blog/cardano-summit-2025-journey-and-results

Headquartered in Singapore, EMURGO brings event expertise, contractual leverage and negotiation power with TOKEN2049, underpinned by a multi-year partnership spanning 2022 through 2025 — positioning them as a commercial driver of blockchain adoption and regional engagement across Asia.