The Cardano ecosystem is going through the biggest change since the Shelley hardfork and the introduction of decentralized block production by the community. I’m referring to governance of course. The fifth and final step in the roadmap presented by Input Output back in 2017. Since then a lot has changed, both in the crypto industry and for the entire world. We went through a pandemic, digitalization has accelerated and the geopolitical sphere continues to shift to a multipolar world.

Under these constant and tumultuous changes regarding how people interact with each other to make decisions, is that the Cardano ecosystem is trying to build a decentralized social system for making decisions that currently affect millions of users and will probably have ramifications that affect billions of people in the future.

The cryptoverse has also changed significantly since the early days of “wild west crypto” as I described in my previous article The Taming of the Crypto Wild West: How Regulation is Fencing in Digital Freedom. Where we previously had open plains to explore and build now we are faced with barbed wire and train tracks to limit and control us. The cypherpunk ethos that gave birth to this revolutionary technology has been eroding over time to give room to institutions and governments. These new players are not guided by the same hopes and dreams, I would say they are guided by the complete opposites, but they are the ones in control now.

This is an important context to understand how Cardano changed its own way of doing things. In the beginning Cardano prided itself for taking a completely different approach for development than the rest of the industry. Ethereum took the Silicon Valley approach of “move fast and break things” which worked well to bootstrap the ecosystem and grew to be the king of decentralized finance, but it’s now paying the price. 

On the other hand, Cardano chose the meticulous approach of “move slow and build things”. Five years of scientific, rigorous and peer-reviewed development later we have one of the most provably secure blockchains which hasn’t been hacked, yet. Although this approach produced very valuable open source code and academic papers that are being used by other blockchain projects, the reality is in terms of business development Cardano has been left behind. 

It’s important to recognize that Cardano has been left out of the mainstream crypto industry, either due to architectural differences (EUTXO vs EVM) or personality issues (Charles Hoskinson vs Vitalik Buterin). I believe these might be some of the reasons for the change in Cardano’s development philosophy. After all, crypto billionaire founders want to be famous and cherished by the industry and media alike. Social pressure from fellow crypto billionaires might have played some role in the change of philosophy.

The Budget Reconciliation

At the moment of writing this article, the delegated representatives (dreps) are voting on the 2025 Cardano Budget Reconciliation which closes on May 5th. What does budget reconciliation mean? It’s a multi-phase process designed to align community priorities with treasury funding. It involves proposal evaluation, community feedback, and formal approval mechanisms to ensure transparent and effective allocation of resources.

Intersect consolidates funding proposals from various committees, including Technical Steering, Open Source, Product, Civics, Growth & Marketing, and Community, into a comprehensive draft budget. This draft serves as the foundation for community consultation and refinement.

A crucial governance action, the Net Change Limit (NCL) sets a cap on the maximum amount of ADA that can be withdrawn from the treasury within a defined period. There have been two separate proposals for setting up the NCL. However, neither of them have passed the necessary threshold for approval. Which has forced the creation of a third info action, setting the withdrawal limit at 350 million ADA. Until the NCL is set and approved, no withdrawals can be made from the treasury.

After reconciliation, the finalized budget undergoes an on-chain vote. Additionally, each treasury withdrawal requires a separate on-chain vote with a 67% DRep approval threshold. This two-step process reinforces accountability and ensures that funds are allocated according to community consensus.

This means that if everything else goes smoothly, then the first possible treasury withdrawal will occur in June. Meaning the 2025 budget would have taken half-a-year to put together and be approved. So where is this “fast-tracking governance” then? From this perspective it doesn’t look like governance was rushed, rather it has been moving rather slowly. But I would argue both are true. 

In project management the most important phase of a project is the planning phase. While execution brings the plan to life and monitoring ensures things stay on track, a poor plan often leads to scope creep, missed deadlines, and budget overruns. 

Perhaps, if professionals from humanitarian sciences like political science, sociology and philosophy had been consulted on how to build a reliable and resilient governance system from the get-go. Instead of relying solely on computer scientists, we could have avoided the current pitfalls.

Vision & Roadmap

However, the past is the past and we can’t change it. We can only move forward, so where is Cardano headed now? The 2025 Vision & Roadmap provides a comprehensive balance between the vision of the project and how to materialize it. With an emphasis on scalability and interoperability, Cardano is positioned to become the DeFi-layer for Bitcoin. 

Layer 2 expansion is a major focus, with enhancements to protocols like Hydra and the introduction of new technologies such as Midgard rollups and Actively Validated Services (AVS). These tools are designed to handle higher transaction volumes and enable specialized partner chains, unlocking use cases in governance, decentralized finance, and beyond. Additionally, Peras Finality is being developed to improve transaction settlement times by introducing a new voting mechanism among stake pool operators.

Cardano’s development experience is set to improve through multi-language libraries, enhanced APIs, and decentralized data services. These upgrades aim to simplify blockchain integration and reduce reliance on centralized infrastructure. The roadmap also introduces frameworks for programmable assets, including support for soul-bound tokens, stablecoins governed by custodians, and new methods for signaling intent in decentralized exchanges. These innovations are expected to broaden the functionality of the network and open the door to novel applications.

At least that’s the plan, what will determine the success or failure of this vision will be the ability of the ecosystem to overcome the hurdles of governance and for the new developer studios (other than IOG) to rise to the occasion. 

Conclusion

As Cardano continues the transition into the Voltaire era, the ecosystem faces a fundamental test: can a slow-and-steady platform pivot into a fast-moving, adaptive system of self-governance without losing its soul? The governance framework is not just a milestone; it’s a crucible. It represents the merging of formal, peer-reviewed structure with dynamic, community-led experimentation. It is both terrifying and exhilarating.

For Cardano, the challenge is not only to implement governance but to reimagine it for Web3. To create a living system of rules and incentives that adapts without collapsing into chaos. A governance system that is inclusive, yet efficient. Decentralized, yet not paralyzed.

In a world rapidly reorganizing around digital infrastructure, Cardano has a narrow but powerful opportunity. To prove that slow doesn’t have to mean stagnant and that fast doesn’t have to mean fragile.