February 9th, 2026 Budget Comm Minutes
Budget Committee Weekly Meeting — February 9th, 2026
Date: February 9, 2026 Time: 07:58 EST
Attendees:
Abbie Yeates (Delivery Assurance), Colleen O'Beirne (Cardano Foundation observer), Dynamic Strategies (Demetri), Eric Helms (SCATDAO), Kriss Baird, Kristijan (Chris) Kowalsky, Lloyd Duhon (Secretary), Pedro Lucas, Rita Mistry, Stephen Wood (Cardano Foundation observer), Tevo Kask, QUASAR54 42
Quorum: Confirmed.
1. Opening and Agenda
Lloyd opened the meeting and confirmed quorum. The agenda included:
Announcement from Rita Mistry regarding her departure from the committee
Net Change Limit (NCL) status update
ADA/USD volatility discussion and educational blog post
Delivery assurance update on budget templates
Committee budget planning for 2026–2027 fiscal year
2. Rita Mistry Departure
2.1 Announcement
Rita Mistry announced her resignation from her position as voting member of the Cardano Budget Committee, effective immediately, as she is leaving the Cardano Foundation.
She expressed gratitude for her time on the committee and noted it has been a significant part of her career development.
Lloyd and Kristijan expressed appreciation for Rita's contributions, particularly her expertise in finance, her work on the budget template development, and her ability to bring calm and direction during heated discussions.
2.2 Continuity and Transition
Rita confirmed that handovers are not necessary as work has been distributed among multiple committee members (Chris, Simo, Nico, and Lloyd).
Lloyd welcomed observers from the Cardano Foundation, including Stephen Wood (CFO) and Colleen O'Beirne, and reinforced that the meetings remain open to community observers and wisdom-seekers.
Abbie Yeates from Delivery Assurance also confirmed her attendance in place of George.
3. Net Change Limit (NCL) — Status Update
3.1 Current Status
The original NCL proposal passed with approximately 48% approval and 320 million ADA in no votes.
The remaining 1.69 billion ADA abstained from voting, which is not uncommon in on-chain governance.
The NCL is now live and in effect.
3.2 Constitutional Committee Clarification
Lloyd clarified that the NCL is an information action and does not require approval from the Constitutional Committee—only their optional opinion.
Three Constitutional Committee seats chose not to vote, which does not constitute a failure.
3.3 Secondary NCL Proposal
A secondary NCL of 300 million ADA was posted by another actor, with approximately 1 billion ADA in approval.
This secondary proposal had minimal metadata and lacked detail but borrowed the definition language from the original NCL.
3.4 Upcoming Board Socialization
Kristijan raised the need to reach out to Adastat to correct governance portal stats, which have created unnecessary confusion.
Rita and Kristijan advocated for socializing the BPIA to top DReps (excluding IOG, Emergent, and CF, who already have board access) to refresh awareness since November and gather external feedback.
Lloyd noted that the BPIA will be published next week (after Intersect staff returns from Nairobi) and time exists this week to shop the draft around.
Committee agreed to proceed with external stakeholder outreach.
4. ADA/USD Volatility Discussion and Educational Content
4.1 Background and Problem Statement
Demetri (Dynamic Strategies) presented a draft blog post addressing the impact of ADA/USD price volatility on budget proposals.
Context: Cardano's treasury holds approximately 1 billion ADA. Organizations budget in dollars but receive disbursements in ADA. Between proposal submission and funding distribution, ADA price can fluctuate significantly.
When ADA price increases, organizations benefit; when it decreases, projects face financial strain and risk of incomplete delivery.
Many organizations have seen significant losses; vendors initially budgeted at 50 cents per ADA and are now experiencing approximately 50% loss (current ADA price ~26 cents).
4.2 Risk Management Options Discussed
Organizations can pursue several strategies:
Risk Framework: Establish organizational risk tolerance for ADA/USD volatility early.
Immediate Conversion: Convert received ADA to stablecoins upon receipt (trade-off: asking for more ADA to account for volatility).
Conservative Budgeting: Budget with a higher ADA buffer to protect against downside (trade-off: may request more from treasury than strictly necessary).
Perpetual Futures: Use derivative instruments available on centralized exchanges to lock in prices (trade-off: requires collateral and introduces delivery risk).
Options Market: Purchase options on correlated tokens (Bitcoin, Ethereum) as ADA options market is underdeveloped.
OTC Pricing: Large projects may access bespoke options through centralized exchange OTC desks (only feasible for projects with millions of ADA at stake).
4.3 Market Structure Solutions for Future
A mature ADA derivatives market with competitive option pricing would provide organizations with better tools.
An organization within the Cardano ecosystem could underwrite price risk and credit risk, acting as an intermediary.
Treasury or pentad entities could help develop the ADA options market.
4.4 Volatility Context
Implied volatility for ADA (if an option market existed) would be approximately 70% annually, meaning there is a 68% statistical probability of 50% price movement within a year.
The 50-cent buffer used in 2025 proposals represents a reasonable conservative estimate given historical volatility, even though current prices have fallen below that level.
4.5 Committee Next Steps
Demetri agreed to refine the blog post with feedback from the committee and return with a more developed version next week.
5. Delivery Assurance — Budget Template and ADA Price Impact
5.1 Template Status
Abbie Yeates confirmed that delivery assurance and legal teams have reviewed the budget templates and are satisfied with all required content.
The PDF was locked on Friday with no further changes expected unless usability testing by the development team requires critical modifications.
All learnings from the 2025 budget cycle have been incorporated into the 2026 templates.
5.2 Vendor Impact and Support
Kristijan raised concerns about the real-world impact on vendors and contractors experiencing significant financial strain due to ADA price decline.
Some vendors are scaling down operations, laying off staff, or reducing project scope.
The current price (26 cents) represents a 50% loss even for vendors who conservatively budgeted at 50 cents.
Abbie reported that vendors have reached out to Intersect for support and that the team is handling cases individually.
Intersect has published guidance on its knowledge base regarding vendor support stance and is preparing additional blog content.
5.3 2026 Contingency Planning
Abbie outlined ideas for the 2026 budget cycle to address price volatility risk:
Requiring vendors to include a 20% contingency pot in their proposals (standard project management practice).
Exploring additional options for supporting vendors.
Additional funding requests: Vendors have been informed they can raise separate treasury actions if additional funds are needed to complete projects, though none have pursued this option yet.
Fairness and consistency are key considerations—the committee must balance supporting struggling organizations while maintaining equity across all funded projects.
6. Committee Budget Planning for 2026–2027
6.1 Intersect Leadership Request
Intersect leadership has requested that the Budget Committee develop its own budget proposal for 2026–2027 (June 2026 to June 2027), with a cap of under 1 million ADA.
The budget must deliver value to the Cardano community, align with the road map, and be executed either by committee members or hired subject matter experts.
6.2 Committee Remit and Potential Focus Areas
The committee identified three core remit areas suitable for funding:
Quarterly Financial Reporting and Auditing: An existing responsibility with resource needs.
Education and Community Engagement:
Explainer articles (already in production through Intersect)
Video walkthroughs (up to 3/month, covered under Lloyd's contract)
X Spaces and recorded Q&A sessions (contracted and continuing)
Additional contingency for educational materials beyond current contracted deliverables
Process Monitoring and Measurement:
KPI tracking and financial dashboards for community visibility
Process improvement based on 2025 lessons learned
Volatility and risk management research (as demonstrated by Demetri's work)
6.3 Additional Considerations
Rita suggested allocating budget for unexpected tooling improvements that may arise during the 2026 budget cycle execution, given this is the first year running the new process.
Lloyd noted that all tooling produced will be open-sourced through Intersect repositories (Ecclesia tool by Mad Orchestra and Adam Dean, all smart contracts, and budget application).
Dashboards and KPI reporting could deliver significant value to the broader Cardano community, positioning the committee's work as a replicable model.
6.4 Timeline
Committee members are invited to submit budget ideas via email or next week's meeting.
A draft proposal is due by end of February for executive team approval.
Guardrails are more defined this year compared to 2025, enabling more focused and measurable planning.
7. Action Items
Reach out to Adastat and governance portal partners to correct NCL and dashboard confusion
Kristijan Kowalsky
Address unnecessary drama around governance stats
Socialize BPIA draft with top DReps (beyond board-connected entities)
Lloyd Duhon / Committee
Refresh awareness and gather external feedback before board approval
Refine ADA/USD volatility blog post with committee feedback
Dynamic Strategies (Demetri)
Return with final version next week
Assess 2026 vendor contingency planning and finalize guidance
Abbie Yeates / Delivery Assurance
Prepare advisory on 20% contingency pot requirement
Submit committee budget proposal ideas
Committee members
Due by end of February; can submit via email or next week's meeting
Compile draft committee budget for 2026–2027
Lloyd Duhon
Incorporate member ideas; target under 1 million ADA; align with core remits
Follow up on Adam Dean and Mad Orchestra development timeline
Simo Simovic
Continue tracking tooling progress (scheduled demo expected within ~1 week)
8. Adjournment
Lloyd thanked the committee for their time, attention, and contributions today. He acknowledged Rita's departure and her instrumental role in the committee's development. He confirmed that several committee members would continue into the steering committee meeting immediately following.
Next steps:
Committee members to begin planning budget proposals for the 2026–2027 funding cycle.
Continue monitoring BPIA progress and external stakeholder feedback.
Track tooling development by Ecclesia team.
Dynamic Strategies to refine volatility education content.
Committee reconvenes next Monday for continued weekly updates.
Meeting adjourned at 00:50:51.
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