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Intersect Connect: Board & CC Elections 2026, and more
Recorded: Aug. 25, 2026 Duration: 1:06:22Space Recording
Full Transcription
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Oh. Hello, good afternoon. I I'm always worried about turning that music off.
I want a nice gentle fade out on that music, but it just I can't do anything
except stop it abruptly. So apologies for the the hard landing on that. Good afternoon,
welcome to the intersect connect space. I'm just going to bring
a couple of people up as speakers, and and then we'll be able to get going. Give me one second.
All right. Hopefully, Nico Lorenzo, you've received, and Jose, you've received some speaker invites.
If you are able to come up, Jose, I don't know if you can, but it'd be great.
I did send you a speaker invite. But otherwise, meanwhile, I I can see Nico has has managed to join,
so that's great. So so hi, Nico. Hey, how are you doing, Larissa? Yeah, I'm good.
Always better to hear you and and speak to you in these spaces. I enjoy very much.
These spaces when when you're here as a guest, so very much looking forward to picking your brains
a bit later on. We've also got Lorenzo here from Intersect, and so Lorenzo,
you're up as a speaker as well. So thanks for coming along, and I understand
you're going to be speaking today a bit more about the upcoming board elections. Yes, absolutely.
Hello, everyone. Good. I was worried then you were going to say no. Who me? No. No, that's great.
Okay. Fantastic. I'm just going to bring a couple more people up, and then we can crack on with the.
I mean, it's a it's a loose agenda, but but nonetheless, a bit of an agenda. Okay, give me a second.
All right, I've sent a couple more speaker invites up. So if you're able to come up,
do accept those. Um, if if you're not receiving those and you want to come up and talk,
then then if you send us a thing, either myself or Nico can can bring you up. Fantastic. All right,
so let's get on with the day. So, for those who don't know me, I'm Larissa,
or also known as Lally Mcleay. You'll see, weirdly, Lally Mcleay is in the space as well.
I don't know how she did that. So I'm duplicating today, but just there as a as a as a just
in case I need to switch switch personalities at any stage, it it can happen. So so so I'm in them
both at both. So I'm Larissa, and I've already introduced Lorenzo and Nico, who are here today.
We want to start a regular space on a on a Tuesday from Intersect, really to cover kind of you know
what's going on in the week, hot topics, you know, mostly related to things that that are going on
in well, obviously things that going on in Cardano, but around governance and with our committees
and things that Intersect are particularly connected with, or things that the community
may want to hear more about than you know. Obviously, we do make a a point of
Of publishing everything that happens, but obviously that's not always the most digestible format.
So, so we want to really try and have these more regular spaces where we can just, you know,
talk through the things that are that are coming up and and try and, you know,
reach reach people in in all the ways possible. So, with that in mind, today we thought. Two things,
or two main, two topics that that we'd like to cover today. One is around some
of the governance actions that are currently on chain and live and closing soon. And two, I mean,
there there are more than two, obviously, but two that spring that that we think need a bit
of attention and focus are ones that have a requirement for participation from both DREPs
and stake pool operators, which isn't always the case. So we'll talk a bit more about that,
why that's the case, and and more about those. And the other thing that we thought would be
worth touching in on today was looking ahead into the upcoming Intersect board elections,
and and giving a bit of an overview on that around who can stand, who can vote,
and some of the recent changes that that we've made around that member verification to to make
that a bit simpler. And and that's what we're going to ask Lorenzo to talk about on that. So.
With that in mind, Lorenzo, can I ask? Are you able to give a bit of an overview
on the board elections? You know, how many seats are going to be available,
the dates for applications, and how just how the general process? A bit of an overview
of that process. Absolutely, yeah. Let me start perhaps with a little bit of context
about the board elections or the the board composition itself. So the board is composed of
seven members, and the purpose is to maintain the board majority elected.
So it means that that the The seats that are on the board, the majority is now four out of seven.
They are directly elected from the members. The other three are also paid members who have seats
in relation to their membership. The elected seats have a two-year term,
which matches also the committee. The committee members elected the the committee term. Sorry,
it's my my confused. You're live interpreting interpreting yourself, aren't you? Yeah,
I'm interpreting myself, which I'm making not a lot of sense. So the the um the board election is
an early um is an early um elections that uh since until last year it it used to run alongside
the committee elections. Likely this year we with the adjustments of the committee. Terms from
one to two years. Now we have just the board elections in October, and then next April
we're going to have the committee elections and so on. So that's one big change for this year,
which is going to simplify the process for members to decide who is the right member
to be elected on the board. So they have more time and space for for that side. Key improvements
and changes from the last board elections include the eligibility criteria for candidates.
Until last year, we only had eligibility criteria for voters, so to make sure that people
who had context were able to participate in voting. This year again, following the, we do
gradual improvements every year on every voting. There is also eligibility criteria for candidates,
as Larissa was mentioning. In particular, they are being a member for at least 180 days
before application starts, being in good standing, which again simply means being a paid member,
so they they are they are a member when they apply. But also again in relation to knowing
what's happening in InterSet and having context for candidates, will be required for them to
either have been committee members in the past, so they have served in another role,
or to have been a board member in the past. Again, they serve in another role, so they have context.
On the voter side, there isn't changes from last year, so it still requires to have been a member
for at least 180 days and to have completed the verification process, and this is true
for both voters and candidates. Main changes in the verification process from last year
and also from the recent bylaws voting is the adjustment of the criteria for verification.
Verification can happen either by KYC, but also we are partnering with Soius,
one of our enterprise members, and they provide access to deeds. Verification simply entails having
a liveliness check. Verification of the ID and a mobile number verification.
We removed from the previous following feedback. We removed now the proof of address that created
too many issues and it doesn't actually provide that much value. So that still provides that level
of assurance that members are verified without having to add that extra burden.
So I think that's positive. Outside of that, key dates, as you were mentioning, Larissa,
the application starts next Monday, thirty-first, and it will close on September eleventh,
and then after that, so passing the weekend, voting will start from the from from
September fourteenth until September twenty-fifth. And results are expected to be public
after the audit on September 28th. The election run in September because the board term runs until
the end of October. So this allows the new elected members to have at least a month of time
of overlap with existing board members to get onboarded and get more familiar with what's the latest
in terms of topics in the board. I guess that's the highest level context. Yes. Yeah,
I'm I'm going to interrupt you there because you you know because otherwise it's a it's a block
of words Lorenzo style, and just to say that all information no I mean there is a lot
of information I mean it's it's what we do right there is always a lot of information
and it's one of the things that is some it can be sometimes difficult to make sure that we give all
of that information to the right people at the right time in the right place in the right way etc.
And and I just wanted to say that everything that you have just said is in that is in the document
that is shared up on the jumbotron. You can click on that, and it will open a blog which contains
not only what you said, but links. If you want to go deeper, if you want to find out more,
if you want to verify everything that Lorenzo just said, and you know, and check it out,
you can go as deep as you want to go with any of this stuff. You know, it's all there,
and and sort of backed up with. Various bylaws, or if you've got any questions you want to find out,
it's all there. And but also, I want to say, if you do have questions,
you can always get in in contact with us through the support email or anything like that,
and we are very very happy to answer questions. Now we're just introducing this
the the board election now, and as Lorenzo mentioned with the dates, the candidate applications open
on August the thirty first, which is Monday. And those and are open for a couple of weeks until
September the eleventh. So the applications aren't open yet. However, I think I'm right in saying
you can actually go and look and see the the the application form. Is that right, Lorenzo? Yeah,
100% on the knowledge base. On the link that it's here, I think you're saying you can find
the application form, and also you can find the translation of that application form.
So the idea is that in preparation of application opening, if anyone is interested in applying,
you can get familiar with the questions and prepare your answers. Application form will still be in
English, but we are providing still translation in Spanish, French, Sinhala, Tamil, Tamil,
and Japanese, so that people understand better their ask. Yeah, and I think that's
a really nice upgrade that's been made with this year's elections is to have you know everything
available in translated format. There, I mean, obviously, yeah, you can always use translation
and AI and Google Translate and everything, but I think when it's done more carefully
and more thoughtfully, knowing that that so you know your potential audience,
I I think that's a really nice touch to have had that this year. From a personal take,
I thought I thought that was nice. And yeah, and the other significant change
that that you talked about there, that let's just kind of go back to, is this
the the verification changes, and and that was really brought about, I believe,
from member feedback. So members of it of Intersect who have needed to to do this verification
over the last. A few election cycles, or or whatever, you know, where there have been things that
people haven't been particularly in agreement with, or it it's I don't know caused barriers
outweighing the I don't know for whatever reasons, you know, we have kind of listened to that
and worked through a solution that we feel is still you know a very strong,
robust verification system, but not so onerous that that it makes it too difficult to do it.
So so those changes have been made following that feedback. Am I right? Yeah, and again for context,
also the the the the process, the verification process, we had it since the second board election,
so since early actually since the the second committee, second committee election
for the bylaws vote, in which is the latest vote that happened, we advanced a little bit more
the the the criteria for that, and rightfully as Larissa was mentioning.
Because the ballots voting was one of the most important votes we did,
maybe they were a little bit too strict. So we found the right balance between verifying
what's needed, but without making it too complex. Also, we brought back this the option for did. So
if someone doesn't want to disclose their their identity but still get verified, yeah,
we're partnering with Socius, and they're providing this this option. You will find both of them
when you go through the verification process. Okay, and so one one more thing
before we kind of move on about this, because we are gonna, and just to be clear,
we're gonna be talking about you know throughout the whole of the board election cycle,
we you know we will be having these regular spaces and opportunities to to talk to
potential candidates and and ask questions directly to those people and find out more. But for now,
this is really just an intro introduction and to get people thinking about what
they might need to consider. And and the other thing, when you're talking about
the verification process, that is just to be really clear. That is not just for people
who are thinking that they may apply. That is for intersex intersector members
who may be wanting to vote. So if you're thinking, oh, you know, it's not for me to be
a board member for whatever reason, but I do want to have my voice heard.
I do want to make sure I can vote and and and vote for the person that that I want to represent me
on the board. Then that verification process is relevant for them as well. Yeah, hundred percent.
And actually, once you you do it once, uh, it it will last for any other vote,
unless of course the criteria change, like it happened in the Bielos voting.
But if you get verified, even now ahead of the election starting, you can just you will be
able to simply vote in the next committee elections or in any other vote that will happen in
the future. Okay, so if somebody has verified in a in a previous round,
do they still need to verify again now? If you If you got if you verified during the bylaws voting,
no, you will not be required to verify again. If you verified during the media elections,
you might be asked to complete the missing step. So, for example, the mobile verification.
But that's all. Yeah, that should be that should be the case. All right, brilliant. Thank you,
Lorenzo. I mean, as I say, we are obviously going to open this up a lot,
lot more as as we get fully stuck into the the board elections. But also, you know,
it's important to be talking about it now before before it's on top of us. Okay,
talking of on top of us, there are some governance actions that are that we are right in the middle
of right now. In fact, I'd say further than in the middle of because these processes are are long,
but we're now nearing the end, and they are now on top of us with with just a few days to go.
And I think that's really something that we wanted to discuss and talk about today.
And I'm very lucky to have lots of members of our the Intersect Civics Committee with us today,
who who I'm really interested to hear views and thoughts around a couple of the governance actions
that we have. So Nico, Keneric, Thomas, Jose, I would love to just hear a little bit from you,
and maybe a brief introduction of who you are and what you do in the Civics Committee. Nico,
do you want to go first? I'll go left to right on my screen. Sure, let's do it. Of course.
Thank you, first of all, for having us. It's amazing to be here today,
and also I really appreciate Intersect hosting this space to also highlight what's going on
in Cardano governance and, of course, the board election. Very educational.
I hope we'll see a lot of applications and great board members, some fresh blood.
I think it's definitely something that I'm looking forward to. But yeah,
really quickly about myself. I'm Nicholas. I'm the Civics Chair, also part of the Budget Committee.
I'm the governance lead at the Cardano Foundation. So I spend way too much time
on Cardano governance. Well, it's my job, so that's fine, I guess. But um, yeah,
that that's that's about me. Um, and now I hand over to Ken Eric to introduce himself. Hello,
everybody. Yeah, my name is Ken Eric. I'm also part of the civics committee. Find governance very,
very interesting. It's very and very interesting times to be part of the Catalan ecosystem.
I'm also part of ThinkWorld, the Catalan Constitution Consortium from here in Norway,
because that's where I live. And yeah, I spend a lot of time building and educating about crypto,
and the governance is cool. Thank you, Ken Eric, and also thank you for.
I can hear you are still in your car, and just you know, bit of background here.
Ken Eric's mentioned earlier, he might not be able to make it today because he was
he'd still be driving, and I rejected his excuse. I made it only for you, Lali.
I made it only for you. I'm I'm living the adult life here, and currently only waiting for concert
with my daughter. So things have priority, but I've made it. Yeah, well,
that just shows the commitment. So you know, appreciate that. But we will try not to distract you
too much, as I can hear. I can hear you are driving. Okay, Thomas. Very briefly,
if you would like to introduce yourself and and your your role in the civics committee. Yeah, sure.
So I am the secretary of the civics committee, helping out when wherever I can to get the job done
and make sure that we are on track with what we're doing. Beautifully put. Thank you,
and thanks for coming in today. And hoping to, I'm sure we're likely to pick your brains. You are,
you know, one of the people with with a deep, deep knowledge of the constitution
and the constitutional committee. And so, you know, I'm sure there will be questions for you.
And also, Jose, Jose, always a pleasure to speak to you as well. As you know, I, you know,
I often get a bit carried away listening to you when you when you talk governance.
So please do introduce yourself and let us know who you are. And in in a nutshell, well, thank you,
Lally. You're too generous with your words. So briefly, I'm passionate about governance in
in Cardano. I've been part of the Civics Committee since before it was called the Civics Committee,
and we first started discussing governance in Cardano around the CIP 1694, and then, well,
of course, it became the Civics Committee, and I've been involved in, I think,
every aspect of governance. And I chaired the Civics Committee for a while, and as Thomas said,
and as Ken Eric also expressed, that it's just a passion and helping out to get things done
wherever we can. And balancing it with the rest of our lives, it's kind of a sense of purpose
that drives us here. So I want to put that in perspective. Because also,
I want to connect with with Lorenzo's intervention around all the requisites
and the things that you need to be part of the of the board and to be a candidate and stuff.
And I just want to put out there that what's really really important is to have Cardano at heart.
Right. If you have Cardano at heart, and you've been, you get yourself get carried away,
and and be involved in in wherever you see that you are fit and or you your contribution is valued
and valuable. So hopefully we'll get to see a lot of those because we we see a lot of those people
in the ecosystem. And if you feel that you're one of them, well please step forward
and keep contributing and and believing in yourself, and we'll be very happy to have
so people as yourselves contributing in key positions. So yeah. Thank you. Yes, yeah, that's yes,
good to know. And and and as I said, you know, we will be very much coming back
to the board elections and and you know appealing to the right kind of people that we want.
You know, essentially to have that that role. You know, we're very lucky to have the the opportunity
to have community members voting, community members into that position. So you know,
it's something that that we can all be part of, and we do all have that one thing in common,
and that is Cardano. So yeah. Thank you, Jose. Okay, so what? So the reason for for having a kind
of a civics related space today was because you know we do have at the moment this situation
where we have a couple of governance actions that are live on chain, and they which expire on
September the first, and those are the update constitutional committee 2026,
which the type of action is a as a it's a new committee action. And also,
there's another one on there, which is called reduce minpool cost to 75 ADA,
increase Plutus memory limits, which is a parameter change or a parameter update action. Now,
both of those actions require both DREP and SPO voting. The minpool cost also requires
constitutional committee. And requires fifty-one percent of SPO active voting stake
to have voted yes for that to pass, and sixty-seven percent of of DRAP voting stake. So,
so I have questions. You know, at the moment, we if you were to look up those actions,
the the participation looks relatively. Low, I think it's safe to say.
It you know it's certainly not a a shoo-in. You don't look at it and think, oh yeah,
this is definitely going to get passed. So I wanted to ask you for particularly what your take is on
that, and what makes these actions critical, not important. Interesting, not interesting. Why should
why should people vote? And just pull those questions out about. Well,
I think particularly the the constitutional committee, seeing as we that's that's the kind
of civics remit. So Niko, do you want to jump in and and and kick off on that subject? Yeah,
absolutely. Right, I can start with the updated committee governance action.
Give a little bit of context about first of all what's being proposed. So as you mentioned,
it is a new committee governance action type, and what it's proposing is to Change four
of the existing seven constitutional committee credentials because it's important to say that on
the first of September, so in seven days, the current four
of the current constitutional committee credentials expire. What does that mean? So
if those credentials expire, no governance action that requires a constitutional committee vote
can pass. That means no treasury withdrawal, no parameter changes, no hard fork governance actions,
no update constitution governance action. Any governance action that requires the CC approval
cannot be voted in, cannot be enacted on chain. The only thing that can happen, right,
is that we vote in a new constitutional committee, or even, even though it doesn't make any sense,
do a motion of no confidence governance action. That is possible. So all the governance actions
that do not require CC are still possible. Cardano governance works. It's just
that specific governance actions cannot work. And why is that a problem? Well,
there are things that are going on at the moment, and those actions would then just not be possible.
So out of the four. Governance actions that are currently live, as we are now talking about two
of them. There is also other two treasury withdrawals,
and those would just simply not be possible anymore because we would not have. So,
if until a week we do not reach the threshold and the update committee governance action
is approved, Cardano governance would basically move into a de facto state of no confidence.
And in order for that not to happen, we require DREPs and stakepool operators to approve
the update constitutional committee governance actions and. What's being proposed is to add four.
Well, it's not completely four new members of the constitutional committee. It's two new members
and two with a new term length, a new term. And what it, what who those members are is
it's basically extending the current term of Cardinal Curia and from Phil UPLC Phil Desaro.
Those two are already existing CC members, but they would expire on the first of September.
So those two, their term would be extended, and then another two. Members are being added.
That is Marek Mahut from Blockfrost and Leandros from Brothertship Pool. So, my hopes, right,
looking back now at Cardano governance and and and seeing how these votes usually go,
I think the last 48 hours are the most critical. I'm still optimistic that we will reach
the required thresholds. And just to quickly summarize, what are those thresholds?
For the stake pool operators, that's 51 percent. So you need greater than, greater
or equal to 51 percent of SPO stake voting yes. And on the DREP side, it's 67 percent approval.
And right now, yeah, as you said, it doesn't look that good, especially on the SPO side.
We're currently only standing at 13 percent, 13.13, and from the DREP side,
we're standing at that's already. A lot better at 42% approval, but as always, right?
I understand that people like to vote late, and that is something that I have seen for a lot
of treasury withdrawals as well. So I'm, I'm still optimistic that this can pass.
But I think one thing that everyone can do here in this space is to encourage
their stake pool operators that they delegate with or that they stake with,
or if they are a stake pool operator, is to yeah maybe nudge them, ask them, hey,
do you plan to vote on a On these two governance actions that are currently live,
because while the SPOs' main responsibility is, of course, operating and running the network,
they also have a role to play when it comes to Cardano governance. And participation is necessary
because, as you all know, if you do not participate actively and you're not delegated to
the auto-abstain voting option, not voting behaves like a no vote. So yeah,
that's that's it about the update committee governance actions. But we have another one
that's also live. But maybe someone else can take. We too, but we, you know, we'll yeah,
we'll we'll come back to that one because I want to just to really focus on on this one because,
you know, there's a few questions that I that I have about it when I'm looking at. I mean,
as you said, it's quite it's it's not unusual for that kind of late voting pattern. You know,
this is it's not our first rodeo when it comes to update constitutional committee. Actions.
We had the snap election last year when the committee did fall under the minimum committee size.
When you know when one member resigned, and we so we were in a situation then where where you know
where there was an urgency, and even with that, the voting patterns is quite late.
So we have we've seen this before, and we know that it can. It's not actually all that easy for SPOs
to just to make that vote. It's not you know for for D reps the. The process is relatively simple
in that they've already there's already been a vote to select those members.
The D reps have already signaled that those are the four members that they want to represent them,
and that's why those are the ones that are that are on chain. And really,
all they need to do is just pass that vote on onto on chain, and it's quite a simple process.
You know, it's it's a few clicks. But for SPOs, it's a little bit more complex than that, right?
And do you think that that has an effect on the participation? Yeah, absolutely, right.
The tooling is just not there to make it really seamless for SPOs to vote. I mean,
there are CAs that aim to make that easier, and I know Ken Eric is really passionate about that.
And I mean, in the Civics Committee, we endorsed, for example, implementing the Colliders Key
solutions on the ledger side. And I mean, TLDR for those that that are not aware of what that is,
it's basically enabling stake pool operators to generate keys, Colliders keys in that case,
to make it easier for them to participate in Cardano governance. So really, basic.
Because at the moment, what SPOs need to do is they need to get out the critical cold keys
that they do not touch. That you should not touch often to cast their votes, right?
So things things like that. So I understand why SPOs, for example, do not participate in
info action voting because the the risk and the reward does just not balance each other. But yeah,
this is. So this is this is, I think, also a reason why we see not not a lot
of participation initially. I think SPs will show up like they always do, but it's just the tooling,
the tooling, the governance tooling side is really, yeah. Let's say there is an opportunity
to improve the tooling. Let's call it. Yes. Yes. Well said. And and I think also
worth mentioning again. You know, as we mentioned, there are currently these two actions
that are expiring at the same time, and it is possible for stake pool operators to to do
a multiple vote. Don't know if that's the right terminology there. Multi vote,
where they vote together on those on both of those things. Yeah. Correct. I mean, really quickly,
right? How they do it is they can build and include two votes in the transaction that they craft
that they need to build with Cardano CLI, and you can include. Multiple votes in one transaction,
so that's possible. Yeah, so it's a good. So if you're, you know, if you're voting on one,
then then you can vote on the other at the same time, and reduces the need to to to do that twice
at the moment. Which I think is just worth mentioning. You know, if you're doing one, have a look
and see if you can do the other at the same time. Okay, the next question I'm going to put to Jose,
and I just want to think about, you know, a world where the where this vote doesn't pass.
What does that actually mean in terms of, you know, we keep saying, oh, governance will stall.
What does that mean? Well, I think Nicole made a very good case on that. Well, basically,
the governance will be halted for most types of governance actions. So whatever govern, I mean.
Every governance action that requires intervention of the constitutional committee will not be
able to achieve to pass just because the constitutional committee will not be functional, really,
because the the keys of the existing members will expire. So, the the what happens is
that we don't we won't have the minimum members number of members in the in the committee
for them to be able to achieve a quorum. So Basically, they can't deem constitutional
any any governance action. So basically, info actions info actions will still be good.
I think that's pretty much it. But any other governance action will require the CC.
So we will be having trouble there. So what happens effectively is that we will have to
eventually submit again a new action with a new Whether the same or if the community
eventually seems that that's the path, we would have to have new elections
and then come up with a new list of of members. But this this governance action that's there is
a reflection of a transparent and legitimate election process that was run
and coordinated by Intersect and was open for all the community to vote.
And those were people who were who have the backing of the community. So It wouldn't make sense
to have to go through the whole process again and just halt governance for
for an undetermined period of time because you don't really know how fast can you get it
back online. Yes. Yeah. No. They're they're good points, and that you know,
and they're certainly always in discussion. You know, whenever we run these things,
you do have to have that kind of thought in the back of your mind. Well,
what happens if this doesn't pass? Is it a case of just going again and hoping that people go? Oh,
whoops! We we drop that drop the ball on that one, and we need to make sure it passes.
But I think it's really worth pointing out that even if that happens, that still has
a knock-on effect with delays. It means nothing can go through for a certain amount of time.
And and one thing that I think is, you know, people are starting to to really kind of wake up
and and realize is the the knock-on effect with delays. That's going to delay things
like the the plans for the Diester hard fork and things like that. Just it's just even for for sorry
in English, even for some of the current. Standing governance actions that may be an issue
because if they haven't been confirmed ratified by now, then even though they are in the process
already, they won't get to the point in which there will be a CC to vote for
for their constitutionality. So yeah, that's also an issue. Should we even mention Ikey Guy
at this point? He wants to take that. That's probably the that's probably most affected one. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah, and you know that that moment of realization that that could potentially happen again.
I think, honestly, that's that's almost too too hard to bear
if if that potentially was was knocked off again. So so yeah, we hope that will not be the case.
Okay. So that question about well, if it expires and hasn't passed, then then what happens next?
It's not just about well, you know, this is that this is the direct impact. There'll be delays.
Things won't be able to pass until a new constitutional committee is is is in place.
It's also about well, how how does that look? Who Who does that? Is that something
that's rerun exactly the same with the same people that were voted in again?
Is there a decision to be made about making making changes to that? And and I I don't know
the answer to that, but I think I'd you know I'd love to hear if anyone's got any kind
of strong thoughts or opinions about what what any alternatives could look like.
Then you know we we we want to hear them. Yeah, I'd love to hear everyone's perspectives,
and and but I tend to. Take very seriously the results of this exercise. So whether it's ratified
or not, it will have to be respected, right? So if it's ratified, we're golden. If it's not,
my line of thinking is not, oh, well, it's a matter of timing. Oh, maybe we dropped the ball.
I would take it as the community did not approve this. So I, it would be my inclination to say
we will need a new exercise. You know, we'll have to go through the whole new election process again
because clearly the community did not support the exercise. And that's going to be both expensive
in time and in resources. We'll end up with a new group of people there,
and we'll have to run it by the community's approval again. But that might be up for discussion.
Maybe an info action will be necessary. Maybe some other mechanism to gauge community sentiment here
on what's really behind. The possibility of it not passing. I'm also optimistic, and I hope we will,
you know, SPO and DIBS will show up the last minute and and pass it. But if it doesn't,
that's kind of the the scenario I think we will be facing. Yeah, it's a really good point. I mean,
you know, that that is all we've got, isn't it? As as a community to To vote, and and you know,
just to be really clear, we're not here to instruct or tell anybody how to vote. You know,
you can vote yes, you can vote no, you can abstain. The important thing is to vote
and and to participate, because then whatever the result, that's a that's a clear result.
It's a clear signal, and then um and then decisions can be made based on knowing
that people have participated and um and and made their feelings clear about um about
about their vote or intention, as opposed to Only five people voting, and then we don't really know
if that truly represents how people feel, or if they just couldn't vote. Ken Eric, jump in. Yeah,
yeah. I just want to chime in on like two things. So, first off, you know, anyone who holds Ada,
you know, they have because we talk a lot about SPOs, we talk a lot about DREPs,
but You as an Ada owner, you can actually, you know, go into Savitas Explorer, AdaStat,
or Tempo dot vote, and let's say if you see your DRep or SPO, let's say, is not at his let's say
best behavior in regards to governance and participating, you have the option to actually influence
the outcome by redelegating to another stakepool, redelegating your voting power to another DRep.
That is one point, and the second one is that so. If we are, let's say,
if it's going to happen that those two governance actions fail, you know,
many people will look at it and oh, governance is failing and blah blah blah
and be very negative about it. But if you look into traditional governance,
take for example clarity act, which is I mentioned a long time ago, see that a governance action
might be tried several times before, let's say, everybody agrees and participate. So yeah,
that was just my 50 low days on top of my head. Thanks for your 50, lovely.
So it's a really good point, and actually, I'm even loath to use
the word "fail" when something doesn't pass. I think even using
the word "fail" is is not necessarily a good phrase to use. It just means it's not ready yet.
It hasn't passed yet. It's not it's not been accepted or passed the the required threshold
to make it so. Doesn't mean it's failed. Nico. Yeah, I mean, I really agree with this point of view,
and I mean, one thing that is very important to look at is what are the Active no votes compared to
the passive no votes, right? And what is pas passive? I mean, what is the what are
the active no vote compared to just the non participation, right? And of course,
it is difficult to attribute whether non participation was done con was done not just consciously
but was done with purpose or not, right? So this is it's always difficult to sort of Analyze
the behavior of non-action. Was that done deliberately, or was it done just because I forgot,
or there was something going on that just made me not not able to participate? Right.
So I think this is the difficult decision that we need to consider, and in my opinion, right.
There is a reason for to argue both sides, right? And it's a bit unfortunate because, on one hand,
I'd love to just be as confident and say that non-participation is just people
that forgot to participate. But I don't think it's that easy because the easiest way
to just avoid sort of backlash is since all the votes are public, right?
And you can be easily identified whether you vote yes, no, abstain. It is always the easy.
How do you say it? It's You you can just claim that you forgot or that something happened
and you just missed the vote where in reality you just did not want to cast an active no vote.
So this is this is really difficult. Yeah, just that kind of avoidance of voting it can appear to be
an accident or you know a subconscious thing, but actually it's you know when we're
motivated to do something we can usually manage to. Overcome difficulties. You know, we're saying,
oh, you know, it might be because it's quite hard, or we've got to get out
of these this particular set of instructions or tools or whatever. But it is amazing
when people are motivated to do it that actually they they can usually manage that
or be be quick to do it. So this so sometimes the non-participation and avoidance is, yeah,
is it active or passive? It's a great question. I mean, one thing that
that I would definitely do is. Also, spend now as much effort as possible of getting the reps
and SPOs that have not voted yet to participate. Right, this is one thing that anyone,
and I think anyone can do, and it's also a great way to to help and push Cardano governance.
Because at the end of the day, it's our responsibility, and this state of de facto no confidence,
where all governance actions that require the CCs approval cannot be enacted,
is it's not a desirable state. Right, I mean. Cardano works and blocks are being produced,
but just governance in in its full form doesn't work that well anymore.
So I think until the first of September, we should encourage as many SPOs to participate
and also DREPs to participate, because one thing is very clear: if if if you just
if you have this responsibility of actively participating in Cardano governance, you should do it.
And if you're an ADA holder that is delegating to a DREP or to a stake pool
that does not participate in governance, then I highly recommend you reconsider your delegation.
Because it's just not the way things work on Cardano. You have specific responsibilities that
you need to fulfill. And one thing that I also want to add for stake pool operators
that are listening, right? And I know it's it's you you do a lot already,
and voting is now on top of everything that you already do. But there is a way
how you can also abstain on the parameter change governance actions
and the constitutional update governance actions. And basically, any governance actions
besides the hard fork initiation, and that is if you are delegating your rewards address,
your rewards account to the auto abstain or to the no confidence, d-reps,
the predefined voting options, you can do that, and then your stake is not counted towards. No,
if you do not participate, but then it's counted towards either auto abstain, so not participating,
or no confidence, which would be a no on everything besides the no confidence covenant section.
And that's, I think, also very important to mention. And 10 billion ADA that is already delegated to
stake pools is is delegated to the auto abstain. So a lot of lot of stake pool operators,
almost 50 percent of the stake that is currently staked on Cardano. Is already delegating to
auto abstain, but yeah, this is just something that a lot of people probably maybe have forgotten
or they didn't do it. So yeah, I just wanted to highlight that as well. Yeah,
it's a really good point, and and actually, there's we've seen a lot of we've seen great new tools
and sites spring up recently. You know, with DRep Talk, and there are actually there's lots of ways
to check how your DRep is voting. So do yeah, do you want to encourage people to to check in
on their DRep, make sure they're still going? And and and SPOs. If you're in a pool that is
is not active now, you know, move your stake. It's your stake. It's your voice, even
if via somebody else. And we do have this wonderful system of liquid staking and voting
and and everything. But but that does mean you can move it at any time.
And you know that does that doesn't happen as much as it. You know, always surprises me
that people are still left in pools and D reps that have been inactive for a long long time
and how much. Sits in inactive, inactive places. So yeah, do, do check
or nudge people if you see them still there. Thomas, you got your hand up. Do you want to jump in?
Yeah, just wanted to touch on some things that has been brought up a couple of times.
That participation is obviously the key here. We we need participation for this governance action
to pass, but What participation also does, regardless of if it passes or not,
is give us if you sorry if you if you participate and include a rationale that that gives us
and everyone else the ability to read your mind basically and read read read the reasoning why you
why you chose to vote the way you did and knowing how knowing why you vote the way you did gives us
an idea of what needs to be what needs to be improved. What what are you currently not happy with
if it doesn't pass, and and and also what what do you like do you do do you agree with this?
We can get the pros and the cons, and with low participation, we're kind of stuck in in
between a rock and a hard place. Yes, we need or somebody needs to do something to get governance
back up and running, and not not leave not leave us stuck in limbo, but.
How do you do that when you don't have the when you don't have the necessary feedback to say
what went wrong? It could be as easy as yes, it's summer, people are on holidays.
It might be that easy, but without knowing, we we don't know where to adjust,
and we're we're stuck in a guessing game, really. Yeah, and and as you say,
that doesn't just relate to to issues. You can also vote and use your rationale to point out reasons
for a positive vote and why you are and explain to people why it's a necessary action.
And help educate people, but also as a as a reader of those rationales, bear in mind, you know,
this is a slight word of caution. Anyone can put anything on their rationales.
So what's the old saying? Verify, don't trust. You know, if you read a rationale, yes,
I'm sure mostly it's excellent information, but bear in mind, it's up to you to verify
and and check that that information is accurate. All right, we're in final final couple of minutes,
so I just want to go round and ask you all if you have a kind of a one one takeaway message,
and also have a takeaway message for Shaggy. I'm not going to bring you up,
so you know I I know the question you want to ask, and we're not going to discuss it.
So I just wanted to have that said out loud and publicly. Love you, Shaggy,
but it's not happening today. Okay, good. All right, Nico, Ken Eric Thomas, and Jose, Jose.
I'd love to just hear a final thought from you for today. Nico, do you want to go first? Yeah,
absolutely. Apologies, I forgot to unmute. Yeah, so one thing that I always need to say
and that I always encourage people to do is to vote. Go out there. Check your SPOs,
check your DREPs. If you're delegating to one, make it a I don't know monthly thing. Just check in,
see if they participate, see if they are active. They are representing you.
They are representing your stake that you're delegating to them. Whether it's one ADA
or one thousand or a million, doesn't matter. You, you are the ones who give them the power, right?
And if you are a DREP yourself. Just vote, right? And yeah, I want. Would be great to have
a rationale, but even if you can't put a rationale on there, just participating is already
important enough. And of course, thank you for participating in Cardano governance.
It's a lot of work. I hope we're through the budget season 2026 at least. I mean,
there are still two that are live right now, but at least there's not 20 anymore. So yeah,
we we got through that one, and from now on, I hope it's only going to get better. Thank you.
Thank you. Well said. Can Eric? Yeah, first off, Nico, don't jinx this. Don't jinx this.
There's something that's trending, so don't do that. Anyway, my my final words is first off,
thank you for bringing me up here, Levy, and secondly, is that if you are a Ada owner, all the SPOs
and the reps that you see are hopeless. You can actually also put forward a 500 Ada deposit
and represent yourself and your bags and your voting power. Because you know this this ledger
is yours, and you you decide on every governance actions that's out there.
So thank you for participation in governance. Thank you. Yeah, that's a really good point. Yeah,
if you don't if you don't like what you see, a get out there and do it yourself. B, I don't know,
I don't know what the B is. Find someone that you do align with and make sure
they're representing you. Jose, apologies for calling you Josie. Got Josie on my brain. Jose,
no worries. Part part of the downside of having such brilliant members in the civic committees
that they usually say everything that you want to say before you do. So I think that what Nico
and Canary and Thomas said are exactly what I would have said. You know, take ownership.
This is this is everyone's. Project Cardano belongs to everyone, and it won't be successful
if we all take ownership. Whether it's by voting, by delegating to the right DRep or SPO,
and you know, yeah, that's what will bring take take Cardano to a better place.
If everyone's involved, and in everyone can do it in their own way. Whether it's encouraging
your DRep or SPO to vote, delegating to another one, voting yourself. If you're a DRep or SPO, vote.
And hopefully include rationales in your votes, so that if whether you are in agreement
or not with the governing sections, you know the community knows how to react to eventual changes
that you're suggesting. Yes, thank you. Yes, well, well said. And finally,
if if there's anything left that hasn't been said by our other civics members, Thomas,
you can have the last word. Fast forward. I know how. Makes it a little bit deeper than that. Um.
Yeah. I mean, everything's. Uh. Everything has been done so far. Uh. So everything
that has been done so far has seemingly been. Uh. Well received. Uh. The job is done. It's. It's.
Uh. It's up to the D reps and SPOs now. So I'll just. Say what others have been saying. Go and vote.
Yeah. Just need this this this small last push is what we need, and then it's
another year until next time. Yes, and then everyone can have a break, right? Yeah,
I'm sure that's what we said about budget season. Anyway, um, you think just to close it down. Um,
and my last point is, yes, um, the you know to to get out there, vote, support where you can if you
if you have already voted and um. Then you know that's not the end of it.
You can also support people by encouraging them to vote. Make sure you're following
the intersect X account and Rep and Cardano Foundation and and repost the messages
around the governance action and committee and help educate and support help people learn
and and all of those little bits all help. So thank you in advance, and we'll see you
again next week, same time next week, and. We don't know where the card.
I know over coffee will be back on a Tuesday, but if it is, we'll be just after. And if it's not,
we might just sneak in a little bit early. Who knows? But please keep your notifications on,
and and we will be here next week. Thank you all. Thank you. Thanks. Bye. Bye everybody.
