Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support

This Treasury Withdrawal funds Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support.

This Treasury Withdrawal is submitted by Intersect on behalf of the vendor. The content for the following sections; Abstract, Motivation and Rationale have been sourced from the approved proposal submitted by the Vendor as part of the Intersect budget process.

Intersect's Technical Steering Committee (TSC) requests $298,250 (1,193,000 ADA) to support activities for 12 months, spanning community engagement, protocol governance, and independent technical review.

Cardano's continued growth as a decentralised, mission-critical blockchain depends on robust technical governance infrastructure. The TSC exists to provide that infrastructure — ensuring the ecosystem's technical direction is guided by expertise, that community members and DReps have the information they need to make sound governance decisions, and that the processes governing protocol evolution are structured, transparent, and accountable.

WP 1 funds attendance of technical experts at major ecosystem events and commissioning of technical reports. WP 2 funds three specialist groups: the Parameter Committee, CIP editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. WP 3 funds establishment of a pilot independent technical review programme launching in 2027. Independent technical reviews under WP3 are subject to formal conflict-of-interest provisions, with recusals recorded and published, and reviewer selection conducted through an open process against documented criteria

Three areas of TSC-related activity are funded separately through the main Intersect budget and are not included here: technical workshops (delivered under TSC technical leadership), the Security Council, and the Bug Bounty Programme.

All expenditure will be fully accounted for and any unspent funds returned to the Cardano
treasury. The work described is not discretionary — it represents the foundational technical
governance capacity that Cardano needs to function effectively as a decentralised ecosystem.

Note: The execution of the work packages outlined in the proposal is contingent on the IntersectMBO budget proposal's approval.

Strategic Pillar Alignment

The work of the Technical Steering Committee is cross-cutting and aligns to all five strategy pillars. This reflects the TSCʼs role as foundational governance infrastructure rather than a single-focus initiative. The strongest alignments are with Pillars 1 and 3, where the connection to specific 2030 KPIs — particularly the 99.98% uptime target and the DRep participation rate — is most
direct. The proposal will be fundamental to ensuring that meaningful progress can be made in 2026/2027 for all KPIs.

Pillar 1: Infrastructure & Research Excellence

This is where the proposal has its strongest and most direct alignment. The Parameter Committeeʼs evidence-based advice on protocol settings (WP2) directly supports the scalability and security focus of this pillar, particularly through the commissioning of independent benchmarking studies. Critically, this evidence is gathered independently of node vendors and other implementation teams, ensuring that parameter recommendations are grounded in objective analysis rather than the interests of any particular supplier. The Hard Fork Working Group (WP2) ensures that protocol upgrades — which are the primary mechanism for delivering infrastructure improvements — are coordinated safely and effectively. The CIP editors (WP2) keep the
improvement pipeline flowing, ensuring that research and innovation can be translated into protocol changes in a structured way. While the Security Council itself is funded through the main Intersect budget, the TSC provides the technical oversight and governance framework within which the Security Council operates, and TSC members play active roles in security incident
response and vulnerability management. This technical leadership contribution supports the reliability KPI of 99.98% uptime that the 2030 strategy sets as a baseline target.

Pillar 2: Adoption & Utility

The commissioning of technical reports on topics such as throughput improvements, finality protocols, governance improvements, quantum resistance, economic utility, and partner chains (WP1) helps develop the broader understanding that ultimately supports adoption. Expert attendance at key community events (WP1) puts leading technical voices from across the
Cardano ecosystem — including but not limited to TSC members — in direct contact with developers and builders, surfacing the technical needs of those building applications that drive on-chain utility. While technical workshops are organised and funded through the main Intersect budget, they are delivered under the technical leadership of the TSC — meaning the TSCʼs
expertise directly shapes the content that builds developer capability. The TSCʼs technical oversight of the Security Council and Bug Bounty Programme — both funded separately through Intersect — also contributes to the enterprise-grade security posture that the 2030 strategy identifies as essential for attracting institutional users.

Pillar 3: Governance

The Technical Review work package (WP3) directly supports informed DRep decision-making, which is central to the 2030 strategyʼs goal of achieving over 70 % DRep participation in governance actions. Independent technical evaluations of core infrastructure proposals ensure DReps have access to clear, accurate information when voting. The Parameter Committeeʼs
transparent, evidence-based approach to protocol recommendations (WP2) helps resist governance capture by ensuring decisions are grounded in independent analysis rather than vested interests — with evidence gathered independently of node vendors and implementation teams so that no single supplier can unduly influence the direction of protocol parameters. The
proposalʼs commitment to returning unspent funds to the treasury also demonstrates the kind of fiscal discipline the 2030 strategy calls for under its Treasury Seasons framework.

Pillar 4: Community & Ecosystem Growth

Expert attendance at events like the Cardano Summit and Africa Summit (WP1) speaks directly to the global engagement dimension of this pillar, putting leading technical experts from across the Cardano ecosystem — including but not limited to TSC members — in conversation with community stakeholders across geographies. Technical reports commissioned under WP 1 contribute to the evidence base that supports informed community participation in ecosystem development. Technical workshops, while organised and funded through the main Intersect budget, are delivered under TSC technical leadership — meaning this proposal is the mechanism through which that leadership capacity is sustained and directed towards community capability-building.

Pillar 5: Ecosystem Sustainability & Resilience

The Technical Review work package (WP3) protects the integrity of treasury expenditure by ensuring that core infrastructure proposals are subject to independent expert scrutiny before DReps vote on them — directly supporting the financial stewardship dimension of this pillar. The commitment to full expenditure accounting and treasury return of unspent funds reinforces this alignment. The TSCʼs technical oversight role in relation to the Security Council and Bug Bounty
Programme — both separately funded through Intersect — also contributes to the long-term operational resilience of the network.

Intersect Budget Process

This proposal achieved the required 67% support threshold during the 2026 Intersect Budget Process Hydra Voting phase and has therefore been advanced for on-chain Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action submission in accordance with the approved Budget Process Framework.

Net Change Limit Compliance

The requested amount does not at time of submission, on its own or in aggregate, breach the applicable 350M Net Change Limit covering Epoch 613 to Epoch 713.

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

Audit & Oversight

Independent audits and assurance for this proposal will be provided by Appold.

This assurance function is intended to provide the Cardano community with additional confidence that Treasury funds are being used in line with the approved mandate, that reported milestones are supported by appropriate evidence, and that financial controls are operating effectively. Reviews may include deliverable verification, control testing, spend validation, and assessment of milestone evidence where appropriate.

Intersect will continue to operate milestone-based drawdowns, evidence-backed reporting, and transparent disclosures alongside this external assurance process. Where recommendations are identified through audit or assurance reviews, Intersect will seek to implement reasonable improvements to strengthen accountability, efficiency, and public trust.

Prior Treasury Funding Disclosure

The Technical Steering Committee has not received funding from the Cardano Treasury within the past 24 months.

As a committee operating under Intersect MBO, we disclose that Intersect and its committees have received funding from the Cardano Treasury within the past 24 months through previously approved Treasury Withdrawal governance actions.

The following governance actions are relevant to this disclosure:

Budget Summary

Intersect Budget Management Tooling

To administrate treasury funds on-chain, Intersect will utilize the treasury management smart contract framework developed by Sundae Labs. A new instance of these smart contracts has been deployed for 2026, mirroring the contracts from the 2025 budget cycle.

• The 2026 Treasury Reserve Smart Contract stake address: stake1784sdxt6jjennmstphgdu7l7c2scf5d02a6cve2dgn5s2kq5u3j9v
  
• The 2026 Treasury Reserve Smart Contract payment address: addr1x84sdxt6jjennmstphgdu7l7c2scf5d02a6cve2dgn5s2k8tq6vh499n88hqkrwsmealas4psng674m4sej5638fq4vqmxs59w
• The 2026 Project Specific Smart Contract payment address: addr1x9d6k9z6t6fvsetj2djmerargk475lef9gfvshy4rwh4h7jm4v295h5jepjhy5m9hj86x3dtafljj2sjepwf2xa0t0aq048cay

Specifics

Intersect will utilize a single Treasury Reserve Smart Contract (TRSC), with one Project-Specific Smart Contracts (PSSC). Intersect’s management consists of five ‘admin’ and three Intersect ‘leadership’ roles. An Oversight Committee consisting of six external, independent third-party entities will provide checks and balances on Intersect, and safeguard against errors and unilateral control. The administration of both TRSC and PSSC will be managed by Intersect, with external oversight on certain actions from the Oversight Committee.

The Oversight Committee consists of Sundae Labs, Cardano Foundation, Dquadrant, NMKR, Sundial and Eternl. Their role is to independently verify key administrative actions using on-chain logic, ensuring accuracy and consistency without exercising discretion over governance decisions.

For all details on Intersect’s configuration please see the Smart Contract Guide on the knowledgebase.

The high level permissions are as follows:

• TRSC Fund and PSSC Modify
  
  • Two of the five Intersect admins, two of the six trusted entities and one of the three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
    
• TRSC Disburse
  
  • Two of five Intersect admins, three of six trusted entities and two of three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
    
• TRSC Pause and Resume
  
  • Two of five Intersect admins, and one of three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
    
• TRSC Sweep
  
  • One of five Intersect admins, and one of three Intersect leadership sign-off must authorize
    
• TRSC Reorganize
  
  • Two of five Intersect admins and three of six trusted entities must authorize

Processes

Upon enactment of this governance action, funding for this project will be directed into the TRSC’s stake address. All instances of TRSC and PSSC can not be staked with a SPO and are delegated to the auto-abstain predefined DRep. From here funds will be withdrawn into a UTxO remaining at the TRSC payment address.

When the Legal contract is prepared and the vendor is ready, funding for this project will be transferred using the Fund action to the PSSC. All milestones will be outlined within the metadata.

A dashboard is available (treasury.sundae.fi) for the community to audit the TRSC or PSSC and track metrics related to this withdrawn ada as well as being immutably verifiable on chain.