☕DRep Double-Espresso Dispatch
#1 – May 2025 | Fast, strong governance and budget intel—brewed for dReps.
Welcome to the DRep Forum Newsletter
Subscribe for a distilled double-shot of Cardano governance and budget news—highlights from X Spaces, timely reminders of upcoming voting and nomination deadlines, and key insights we uncover. Staying informed has got simpler.
🔔 Reminders
May 30 – Deadline for the next DRep governance‐action vote → Review proposals
May 31 – Constitutional Committee (CC) nomination deadline → Submit your nomination
TL;DR
₳275M Ecosystem Budget Info Action now open for review until June 13th
Amaru Node Development Proposal (primarily implemented in Rust) aims to strengthen network security and censorship resistance
Stablecoin Liquidity Fund targets 4% annual treasury returns (Proposal discussion here; not yet linked on-chain due to metadata issue—resubmission likely.)
Community governance tools transitioning to open-source maintenance model
Registered DReps have grown x7 since April—now at 929 total
DRep Geographic Distribution
A snapshot of the top 100 DReps by delegated stake shows strong community presence in Japan and the USA, with notable representation across every continent.
Breakdown of DRep votes on three recent governance actions included below—key splits and trends at a glance.
Budget Actions: Amaru & Stablecoin Liquidity
🗓️ May 13th X Space hosted by @cryptstitution
🎧 → Listen | 📄 → Transcript
Why listen?
This discussion explores the strategic implications of node diversity and DeFi liquidity for Cardano’s resilience and growth—plus key trade-offs DReps must navigate in treasury governance.
Node Diversity – Amaru Proposal
A Rust-based node initiative to enhance security, decentralization, and infrastructure resilience, complementing the current Haskell node.
Proposal: Amaru Node Development 2025 (₳1.5M budget)
Affiliation: Submitted via PRAGMA, a member-based org focused on shared infrastructure
Goal: Current roadmap give a first binary release by June 25 (Relay) and the block production in Q3 25 beta release by Q1 2026
Security: Planned 3× audit cycle before mainnet integration
Stablecoin Liquidity – DeFi Treasury Proposal
A major treasury initiative to boost stablecoin liquidity, drive DeFi adoption, and generate ongoing revenue for Cardano.
Proposal: Cardano Treasury DeFi Liquidity Budget
Team: Managed by a multisig governance committee including:
@cryptofly777, @DarrenCamas, @ElderM, @giozzi, @TheAntinomist, @LidoNationApproach: Community-led, transparent, and KPI-driven
Target: 4% annualized return to the treasury in Year 1
Note: Metadata issue flagged on gov.tools—resubmission likely. (Confirmed by Matthew Capps during the Space; team is working with Ryan to resolve.)
What's New and What's Next: an Intersect Update w/ @Jennycitalinda & @CardanoNoodz
🗓️ May 13th X Space with @Jennycitalinda & @CardanoNoodz
🎧 → Listen | 📄 → Transcript
Why Listen?
This space covers major governance developments, including the ₳275M Ecosystem Budget, Constitutional Committee elections, and the future of governance tooling—with a strong focus on transparency, oversight, and Intersect’s evolving role.
₳275M Cardano Ecosystem Budget
Overview: The budget proposal—submitted and administered by Intersect—allocates ₳275M across 39 community-approved proposals, each aligned with Cardano’s strategic priorities.
Process: Proposals vetted with ₳3.8B ADA in stake participation
Mechanisms: Built-in milestone-based fund distribution and oversight
Transparency & Delivery Assurance
Tools: Public dashboards by xerberus.io to track milestones and fund usage
Oversight: Includes regular audits and an independent committee to ensure accountability and trust in treasury management
Demo: → Watch the walkthrough
Governance Tooling Strategy
Shift: Governance tools like GovTools are moving to community-led maintenance
Goal: Open-source APIs and infrastructure to increase ecosystem contribution and resilience
Intersect Strategic Neutrality
Intersect is shifting toward a more impartial role, stepping back from direct governance positions (e.g., Constitutional Committee seats) to better support and facilitate community-led processes.
Intersect committee election results
The Cardano community answered the call in the 2025 Q1 committee elections, with 522 members, 27% of eligible voters, casting a total of 11839 ballots among 119 candidates competing for 36 seats across eight committees.
X Posts: Decoding Governance Mechanics
🔄 Budget Mechanics Demystified
Why it matters: Approval of the budget proposal is just step one. Actual fund disbursement will require separate governance actions with higher thresholds.
📊 Voting Data Analysis
Key insights: The data reveals funding distribution by category, with Core Development (47.2%), Marketing & Innovation (30.7%), and Research (5.2%) receiving the largest allocations.
🔍 How Info Actions Work
Takeaway: Info actions serve as preliminary approvals for consideration, not final funding commitments.
ℹ️ Voting Mechanics
@invalid_eutxo shares critical voting insights:
"The way governance is set up, the 'no vote' is useless. You can achieve the same by just not voting. Only a yes or an abstain vote makes a difference."
By the numbers: According to Dave, withdrawal actions represent 67% of "active voting power" in the current governance landscape.
Project Announcements
Check out the snapshot below for an updated overview of the current number of projects building on Cardano and when you can expect to see them launched:
Flow DeFi shared a preview of their open-source lending protocol — with a public testnet launching in the coming weeks. → view the announcement
FluidTokens launched Babbel Fees on mainnet — users can now pay transaction fees in CNTs, wBTC, and stablecoins → view the announcement
Useful Links
AdaStat – GovTool – Tempo – SyncAI Network – 1694-tools – DRep Watch – GovernanceSpace Analytics
Thanks for reading. Subscribe to stay sharp, and share it with other DReps who need their governance intel strong and fast.
Thanks for this! Very useful.Keep it up!