Mar 17, 2025 Budget Comm Minutes

Attendees:

Name	Attendance	Role	Voting Seat (Y/N)
Andreas Pletscher	Yes	Observer, COO of Cardano Foundation. (Temporary Voting member while Rita Mistry was on sabbatical.)
Dave Dionisio		Observer
Jose Velazquez		Former Voting Member
Kriss Baird		Voting Member, IOG, Catalyst
Kristijan Kowalsky		Voting Member, Tweag
Lawrence Clark		Intersect Secretary
Lloyd Duhon		Budget Secretary
Mercy		Voting Member, WADA
Nicolas Cerny		Observer, Cardano Foundation Staff
Nikhil Joshi		Intersect Board Member, CFO Emurgo
Shunsuke Murasaki		Former Voting Member, Mentor, Emurgo
Simo Simovic		Intersect Staff

Recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17bEPIUDu4OCh_YgOrxG1kp1etteO44pm/view?usp=drive_link

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFyf8gEGsopREAGxPX7-5P29oc-nBztlahtFeJPKK-U/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.q4tt56xqmesv

Agenda 1.16.25

• Updates on Japan Meetings and Budget Tooling: Discussion on consolidating direct voting, potential new tools (GovTool, smart contracts), and the status of development for a budget assessment tool.

• Net Change Limit (NCL) Strategy: Review of the community-proposed NCL, concerns about its constitutionality, and the Budget Committee's plan for their own NCL proposal.

• Working Group Progress and Next Steps: Updates on the Financial Audit and Budget Task Force, including the need to schedule meetings and define clear action items for all groups.

Decisions/Actions

Topic	Discussion	Action Items
Roll Call & Quorum	Lloyd Duhon conducted roll call. Quorum was met with five voting members present. Observers were also noted.
Agenda Review	Jose Velazquez had last-minute personal issues and could not present his items. The agenda included updates from discussions in Japan, working group updates, and any other business.
Japan Meetings Update: Direct Voting & Budget Consolidation	Shunsuke Murasaki reported on discussions in Japan regarding effectively consolidating direct voting for budgeting and triggering withdrawals. Options explored included new tools or leveraging existing ones, and a web interface for DREP registration and sentiment checks. No firm conclusions were reached.
Japan Meetings Update: Administrator & Fund Disbursement	The majority of people would choose Intersect as administrator to determine fund disbursement after treasury withdrawal. The idea of adopting a new smart contract for pre-treasury withdrawal was discussed, as well as using a custodian with multisig for quicker implementation.
Tooling for Budget Assessment & Data Consolidation	Lloyd Duhon confirmed the need for a state-based budget assessment tool, originally planned for 2026 but now urgent. Clarity DAO, Tempo Vote, and a Tokyo group have proposals. GovTool is a potential consolidation point due to open-source API access. Discussions on a standardized data format are ongoing in the Governance Tooling Working Group.	Kriss Baird to join the Governance Tooling Working Group meeting on Wednesday to provide input on existing tooling.
Smart Contracts for Treasury Withdrawal	Pi Lanningham and the Zerberous team are working on smart contracts for both Pragma and the current budget process. This will run in parallel with the existing multi-sig system for fiat payments. Lawrence Clark expressed concerns about the new smart contract's readiness and suggested a workshop to review its functionality and operational implementation.	Smart Contracts Working Group to continue discussions on operational procedures, use cases, and ETA for the smart contract, inviting PI Ricky Rand from IOG.
DREP Feedback on Budget Process	Dave Dionisio shared feedback from Japanese DREPs who desired expert guidance on proposals, even with a tool for off-chain grading. He stressed the need for timely decisions on the budget process to avoid delays.
Status of Community-Proposed Net Change Limit (NCL)	A community member proposed a 300 million NCL, which is close to the Budget Committee's planned 350 million. Concerns were raised about the proposal's constitutionality and the mutability of its metadata URL.	Lawrence Clark to review the constitutionality of the community-proposed NCL. <br> Lawrence Clark to message Mark Gorman to realign the Budget Task Force meeting to include committee members.
Budget Committee's NCL Proposal	Lawrence Clark suggested proceeding with the Budget Committee's 350 million NCL if the community's proposal is deemed unconstitutional. Nikhil Joshi advocated for a higher NCL (e.g., 400 million) to provide flexibility, as the budgeted amount does not have to be fully spent.	Budget Committee to agree on a strategy regarding the NCL, potentially proceeding with their 350 million proposal.
Financial Audit for 2024	Jose Velazquez inquired about the 2024 financial audit for Intersect. Lawrence Clark confirmed the goal is to have the financial statements available by the end of March, pending review by the new accounting team.	Jose Velazquez to send a report on the Twitter thread (Monte Carlo simulations) to the internal chat.
Budget Committee Feedback in ClickUp	Jose Velazquez sought assistance in finding budget committee feedback in ClickUp. Lloyd Duhon confirmed it is available there and will provide the link. Each committee secretary is responsible for maintaining feedback on their forum posts.	Lloyd Duhon to provide Jose Velazquez with the ClickUp link to the budget committee feedback.
Impact of New Community-Proposed NCL on Committee Operations	Jose Velazquez questioned the impact of the new community-proposed NCL on the committee's operations. Lawrence Clark explained that the NCL can be changed at any time through DREP approval.
Budget Task Force Inclusion	Mercy and Jose Velazquez expressed a desire for the Budget Committee to be more involved in the Budget Task Force. Lawrence Clark will align with Mark Gorman to include committee members in the task force's daily sessions.
Timeline for Budget Process and Treasury Withdrawals	The timeline remains on track for final budget reconciliation at the end of April, with treasury withdrawals commencing in the first week of June. The DREP reconciliation workshop is scheduled for April 28th.
Audit Working Group Update	Jose Velazquez reported the Audit Working Group is still trying to schedule a meeting. The goal is to define audit terms of reference, identify vendors, and prepare appropriate wording for DREP approval via an info action.	Lloyd Duhon to offer assistance in scheduling the Audit Working Group meeting. <br> Jose Velazquez to share the terms of reference for the audit in the chat. <br> Audit Working Group to meet this week to define audit terms, identify vendors (including those already working in the ecosystem), and draft wording for DREP approval.