Cardano Governance
Shape the future of Cardano. Participate in governance and have your voice heard on the network's direction, applications, and growth.
Cardano's governance model
Cardano’s decentralized and community-driven governance ensures stakeholders make collective, transparent network decisions.
Cardano’s decentralized and community-driven governance ensures stakeholders make collective, transparent network decisions.
Empowering active participation with immutable, on-chain voting.
Cardano governance enables the community to influence blockchain development through treasury withdrawals, parameter changes, and other governance actions.
Governance actions require approval from at least two of the three governance roles: Delegated Representatives (DReps), Stake Pool Operators (SPOs), and the Constitutional Committee (CC), ensuring fairness and transparency.
Decentralized governance strengthens Cardano’s security and resilience by distributing decision-making power, reducing single points of failure, and ensuring network stability.
As a registered Delegated Representative (DRep), the Cardano Foundation participates in governance following the Ethos and Principles defined in ‘Our Cardano'.
The Cardano Foundation served on the Interim Constitutional Committee (ICC) from September 2024 to September 2025, ensuring governance actions aligned with the Cardano Constitution while maintaining neutrality and transparency.
Anyone can participate in discussions about Cardano’s constitution, it's budget, the role of delegated representatives, the Parameter Committee, and many other topics.
Understanding governance actions
Understanding governance actions
Cardano’s governance decisions involve seven action types, including Protocol Parameter Changes, Treasury Withdrawals, and Hard Fork Initiations. At least two of the three governance roles (DReps, SPOs, and CC) must approve an action. The Cardano Foundation is committed to voting on all governance actions and providing a detailed rationale. Below is an overview of our recent voting activity.
- DRep ID: drep1ydpfkyjxzeqvalf6fgvj7lznrk8kcmfnvy9hyl6gr6ez6wgsjaelx
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Governance deliberations: meeting notes
Governance deliberations: meeting notes
The Governance Advisory Team, consisting of subject-matter experts, regularly reviews governance actions and advises on decision-making. To maintain transparency, we publish meeting notes summarizing key discussions and decisions.
28/01/2026
The meeting centered on the implications of the newly enacted Cardano Constitution (effective 24 January 2026), which introduces stricter requirements for immutable metadata. Strategies were formulated to increase Stake Pool Operator (SPO) participation for the currently live Parameter Change governance action to increase the transaction and block memory units. Concerns were raised regarding the constitutional compliance of the DeFi Stablecoin Liquidity Budget withdrawal.
21/01/2026
The meeting highlighted major governance milestones, including the successful enactment of the new Cardano Constitution v2.4 and the approval of the Cardano 2030 Vision. Much of the debate centered on the Net Change Limit (NCL), where members expressed concern with current figures while acknowledging its necessity for critical projects funding. The team also discussed a protocol parameter change to increase transaction and block memory units to benefit smart contract complexity and Hydra.
14/01/2026
The team reviewed six active governance actions, prioritizing the Cardano 2030 and Constitution 2.4 proposals. The action to add Christina to the Constitutional Committee is expected to fail due to process-related opposition from other voters. A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to the DeltaDeFi budget proposal, which faces community unpopularity. Finally, while there is systemic concern with the Net Change Limit (NCL) as a budgeting tool, the team supports the current proposal to ensure funding continuity for critical projects.
07/01/2026
The meeting addressed the ratification process of a new constitution (v2.4), emphasizing that community approval through Delegated Representatives (DReps) remains the primary authority for governance transitions. Updates were provided on the execution of the Critical Integrations Budget (CIB) and the status of ongoing governance actions. Significant deliberation occurred regarding the 'Cardano 2030 Vision' info action, with concerns raised about its potential use as a sole justification for future budgets, leading to a proposal to formalize the vision as a constitutional amendment. The team also critiqued specific terminology and audit requirements in the latest constitutional draft (v2.4) and debated the sustainability of using the treasury to fund business products with established profit models, suggesting venture capital or loan-based alternatives for such initiatives.
17/12/2025
The primary discussion focused on the new governance action to add Christina Gianelloni, the runner up of the CC snap election, as the 8 Constitutional Committee (CC) member. The team agreed that the Treasury withdrawal for Critical Integrations Budget (CIB) must be prioritized due to the risk of a timing collision with vote for Christina's candidacy, which could halt the withdrawal's ratification. The consensus was to vote on the Treasury withdrawal immediately and observe the voting behaviour for Christina until the expiration data of the CIB withdrawal. Communication of this timing issue to co-partners and the wider community was deemed essential.
Our Cardano
Our Cardano outlines the Ethos and Principles that guide the Cardano Foundation’s participation in governance, ensuring transparency, accountability, and responsible stewardship in fostering a thriving, decentralized ecosystem.
How we make governance decisions
How we make governance decisions
The Cardano Foundation has established a Governance Advisory Team, consisting of subject-matter experts, to evaluate governance proposals based on constitutional alignment and governance merit. The process follows these steps:
01
Governance action intake
Governance Action details are recorded on the Foundation’s Jira Kanban board, and Advisory Team members are notified.
02
Initial assessment
The Advisory Team assesses clarity, potential impact, and criticality of the action and requests input from relevant subject-matter experts (SMEs).
03
Full review
The Advisory Team conducts an in-depth review, including a governance impact assessment (as a DRep).
04
Advisory team recommendation
The Advisory Team votes on the Governance Action.
05
Rationale drafting
A voting rationale is drafted, considering the Cardano Foundation strategy and Our Cardano.
06
Executive committee review
The Executive Committee reviews and finalizes the rationale.
07
On-chain vote submission
The vote is submitted on-chain, with metadata including the rationale behind the decision.
Our role in Cardano governance
Our role in Cardano governance