Cardano Foundation Roadmap: Governance Update

Last year we announced the next evolution of the Cardano Foundation roadmap, featuring six major focal points, among them governance. We are now at the first milestone in our governance roadmap.

Following our successful delegation to Developer & Builder DReps, we have delegated an additional 220 million ada to 11 delegated representatives (DReps) (circa 20 million ada each,) focused on the pillars of Adoption and Operations.

This brings our total delegation to community DReps to 360 million ada, a testament to our belief in distributing voting power to strengthen the resilience and diversity of thought in the Cardano ecosystem.

Alongside these community delegations, we will also update our self-delegation approach to guarantee that all Foundation assets actively participate in governance.

Rather than leaving a portion of our funds on auto-abstain as initially planned, we will self-delegate the remaining balance (approximately 171 million ada). While this exceeds our initial estimate, it ensures no ada remains passive and still results in a net reduction of our overall voting power by approximately 43 million ada, with the clear majority of our holdings now empowering community DReps.

A philosophy of trust and independence

This delegation is not a blind bet, rather it’s a show of trust in a proven history of sound decision-making. As always, it’s also a show of good faith: These new delegations come without any expectation regarding voting outcomes.

We will not direct these DReps on how to vote, nor will we provide a voting manual. Our only expectations are that they:

• exercise their own independent judgment;
• continue to participate actively in governance;
• act ethically and in the best interest of the Cardano network.

We fully expect and accept that there will be differing opinions between these DReps and the Foundation. We welcome this as a sign of a healthy, decentralized governance system.

Why a focus on adoption and operations

To build a resilient governance system, we need more than just technical expertise- We need business acumen and operational stability.

Adoption DReps represent the voices driving utility, onboarding users, and building real-world use cases. They understand what is needed by both the community and enterprise.

Simultaneously, Operations DReps represent the SPOs, toolmakers, and infrastructure providers who keep the network running. They understand the practical realities of maintaining the protocol.

These delegations are effective immediately.

The Cardano Foundation team and I encourage the community to follow and interact with these DReps. Engage with their rationales, add perspectives to the discussions, and participate in the governance actions shaping Cardano’s future.

See below the full list of DReps who will receive a Cardano Foundation delegation.

Selected DReps

The Foundation completed all eleven delegations in the same transaction: https://explorer.cardano.org/transaction/24c0290972eccd7c85c902795bf1c29e9d267d8ad9b943492ed3de90f2876dba

Adoption DReps

Ha-Nguyen (Cardano Vietnamese Community)

• Community leader in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, driving education, translation, workshops, and community growth as a Cardano Ambassador and DRep.
• DRep ID: drep1y2z8gktqj27kwmmxesd0y484f7p4z9tjf5xu8m4sucstm3gvtywlp

Patrick Tobler (NMKR & Masumi)

• Founder of NMKR, an NFT and token minting platform, he is now building the Masumi Network, a Cardano protocol for the decentralized AI agent economy.
• DRep ID: drep1ygm9wxzrrdqpt0hek5kj7ys6tmsc8dycp7tkjwqxqrhjr6csq3s3t

Florian Volery (Liqwid)

• Co-founder of Liqwid Finance, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on Cardano, focusing on secure lending and borrowing to bridge traditional finance and blockchain maturity.
• DRep ID: drep1yguh6dsgx0g58v8pqmxgfrkq0x8vfv6tcp92uzzjrykwy8cjmelsy

Goofycrisp (Snek)

• Founder of Snek, representing community-driven culture, retail engagement, and the power of grassroots marketing.
• DRep ID: drep1ygxasnzmrevqra9vscpsy4xf4rqthzkp6rr6zzft2lc7nscahj9r9

James Meidinger (Mehen Finance / USDM)

• Business Development Lead for USDM at Moneta, building regulatory-compliant stablecoin infrastructure to connect traditional finance with Cardano DeFi.
• DRep ID: drep1ygnypzfv2v8fmfelthahvn0rqyh54sf6z2aa5m7f3fkjgqqt8l2qq

Phillerino (Flow Labs / Surf)

• Founder of Surf, a user-friendly Cardano DeFi protocol for lending and borrowing, enhancing accessibility and UX for newcomers with efficient features.
• DRep ID: drep1ytu64qt7send5dw7wcd0z5geh4ka6qstgvtgval097hed7qqnqh2n

Operations DReps

Martin Lang (ATADA / SPO Scripts)

• Creator of open-source tooling such as Calidus pool keys and SPO scripts which are currently powering hundreds of pools, promoting standardization, governance, and contributions to Cardano workgroups.
• DRep ID: drep1ytwmwvtd0a8lr45ssner2tjxzv5y8q03w3606yeald9mdmgmwecja

Adastat (Dmytro Stashenko)

• Co-founder of Adastat, a block explorer providing deep data transparency and analytics for the entire network.
• DRep ID: drep1yfe9en4hsgc3r6nhtmwjeljh06hgnvt9yzzkwqcftvdj34cdxdg7u

Hephaestus Stake Pool [HEPHY] (Ian Hartwell)

• Veteran operator of HEPHY pool, specializing in node performance, hardware optimization, Mithril development, and community infrastructure enhancements.
• DRep ID: drep1y2zu74gt8sxtrxcngqsmrnupkzrtmlqshmvmm5qtuhxx6xqt7yhaw

Pooltool (Mike Fullman)

• Co-creator of Pooltool, essential platform for SPO data aggregation and performance tracking, supporting ecosystem transparency since the ITN.
• DRep ID: drep1yfemdmjmxr59kecgqnzd8d0ankkue4rdnn35c8qfsuljt9cjree5m

Dave (DAVE Pool)

• Long-standing operator of DAVE pool, advocating SPO sustainability, network parameters, and educational content on governance and Cardano health.
• DRep ID: drep1ygsgfhcydhlfglamhzkjn97rz3edef8a4z99fwl2frcwnrcmgurt3