October 13th, 2025 Budget Comm Minutes

Summary

The 2026 budget season kicked off with Lloyd Duhon announcing the approval to begin the budget process and the initial release of the 2026 budget process blog post. Jack Briggs and Kristijan Kowalsky discussed concerns regarding the board's suggestion for a six-month Net Change Limit (NCL), while Lloyd Duhon proposed an NCL strategy based on lagging data to simplify the process. The meeting concluded with the unanimous approval of the motion to release the budget process blog post, and plans for X Spaces and AMA sessions to gather community feedback.

Details

Notes Length: Standard

• 2026 Budget Season Kickoff Lloyd Duhon, Budget Committee member, welcomed everyone to the October 13, 2025 meeting, marking the kickoff of the 2026 budget season. They announced that board approval was granted on Friday to begin the 2026 budget process, including creating an info action to be submitted on-chain for DREP approval. The primary goal for this meeting was the initial release of the 2026 budget process blog post.

• Motion to Approve Blog Post Release Lloyd Duhon proposed a motion to approve the release of the Budget 2026 process blog post. Kriss Baird seconded the motion. Jack Briggs, Interim Executive Director, requested a caveat allowing for minor wording changes to the blog post before its release, ensuring the spirit of the document remains unchanged.

• Discussion on Net Change Limit (NCL) Jack Briggs brought up the topic of the net change limit, noting the board's suggestion for a six-month NCL. Lloyd Duhon confirmed the board's recommendation for a six-month NCL, but also raised concerns about voter fatigue if the community has to vote on it twice a year. Dynamic Strategies shared analysis on the NCL, highlighting the importance of considering how it might change over the next few years and comparing fees versus distribution from reserves.

• Community Engagement and Feedback Lloyd Duhon and Simo Simovic discussed plans for X Spaces and AMA sessions to gather community feedback on the budget process. Kriss Baird emphasized the need to consider different time zones, especially for the Japanese, Asian, and Vietnamese communities. Lloyd Duhon confirmed plans to schedule sessions across various time zones to ensure broad participation.

• Board's Six-Month NCL Suggestion Kristijan Kowalsky sought clarification on the board's proposal for a six-month NCL. Lloyd Duhon confirmed it was a suggestion made by one board member during discussions leading up to the vote. Kristijan Kowalsky stressed the importance of being serious about whatever is put forth to the DREPs to avoid surprises and additional work, advocating for avoiding further voter fatigue.

• Strategy for Net Change Limit Implementation Lloyd Duhon proposed an NCL strategy based on lagging data, using a full year's worth of previous data (January 1st to December 31st) to determine the NCL for the following year, effectively making it an accounting exercise rather than a forecasting one. This approach, they argued, would remove drama and emotion from the NCL determination. Jack Briggs supported the idea of dedicating an upcoming budget committee meeting to discuss Dynamic Strategies' research on the NCL and establish a clear committee position.

• Current Treasury Funds and Future Investments Jack Briggs noted that after the stable coin liquidity budget, approximately $20-25 million remains within the current net change limit for 2025, which may not be enough for larger investment ideas. Dynamic Strategies inquired about investing treasury funds to generate yields. Lloyd Duhon mentioned that SNICK's loan-based withdrawal is an example of such a model, suggesting that the committee should evaluate initiatives from the community rather than promoting specific investment strategies.

• Multi-Currency Treasury Discussion Dynamic Strategies also asked about managing treasury distributions in dollars and maintaining part of the treasury in dollars. Lloyd Duhon explained that while distributions in stablecoins are possible, as demonstrated by Chris Kowalsski's proposal for Modus Create, the budget must be denominated in ADA according to the constitution. Charles has mentioned the possibility of a multi-currency treasury on the roadmap for the future.

• Blog Post Infographics and Next Steps Simo Simovic inquired about the infographics for the blog post. Lloyd Duhon confirmed they would be finalized today and ready for the blog post release, noting a slight delay due to a graphics designer's illness. The meeting concluded with unanimous approval of the motion to release the budget process blog post, and plans were set to discuss the net change limit process and questionnaire format on Wednesday's meeting, along with scheduling X Spaces and AMA sessions for community feedback.