DRep DAO Platform

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

DRep DAO Platform

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

94000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

12

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

Yes

Original Language

cs

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Cardano’s funding process is too complex for small teams. DReps must vote on all proposals, it is tiresome to vote for minor ones. No way to lower requested funds or let others offer cheaper delivery.

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No dependencies

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

MIT License

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal.

Governance

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously funded (whether by you or others).

The DRep DAO is similar to the Builder DAO. Unlike the Builder DAO, decision-making in the DRep DAO will be open to all DReps and will not limit the number of teams that can receive funding.

The DAO is a lightweight governance model designed to reduce the cost of running Intersect and reduce the cost of development in the ecosystem.

The DRep committee will be able to submit internal proposals that will coordinate the management of the organization, withdrawal requests from Treasury, etc.

Hopefully, DRep can gradually release funding through smart contracts as the team reaches milestones.

Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.

DReps, builders, and watchers can log in to the DRep DAO app through their Cardano wallet. Builders can submit funding proposals much more easily than through governance actions and without the need to provide collateral. DReps will approve proposals, debate them with proposers, and then vote.

After the debate, it will be possible to reduce the requested funding. Alternatively, other teams can apply to deliver the same work for less.

DReps will have the option to release funding gradually after milestones or KPIs are achieved.

Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.

A group of DReps representing at least 10% of the total voting stake will register for the Builder DAO, and a minimum of 10 teams will submit funding proposals.

Multiple voting rounds will be conducted to allocate funding. All key decisions and milestones will be recorded on-chain for transparency and verification.

Note: Funding depends on the approval of a governance action to withdraw ADA from the Treasury for the DRep DAO. The outcome of this vote is uncertain and cannot be guaranteed. It’s possible that the initial vote may use placeholder (stub) proposals to initiate the process.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

In 2025, teams had to wait until August/September to receive funding due to a complex, multi-step voting process involving GovTool, Ekklesia, and on-chain approval. Although around 1,000 DReps were registered, only 20–25% actively voted. As a result, just 40 teams received funding, despite many more builders contributing to the ecosystem.

This highlights the need for a more efficient and lightweight governance model to support timely and inclusive funding.

🔓 Open Access to DRep DAO

The DRep DAO will be open to all registered DReps. No approval is needed to join—any DRep can opt in via their Cardano wallet and vote using their stake. The DAO’s total voting power will be the sum of all participating DReps, which may be equal to or less than the total on-chain governance voting power.

To prevent dominance by large DReps, a saturation mechanism may be introduced. DReps could be categorized by stake to small/medium/large. Designing an appropriate mechanism is part of the proposal.

💼 Funding Access for Teams

Teams can register via wallet and submit funding proposals with minimal bureaucracy and lower collateral than on-chain governance (which currently requires 100K ADA). The process will be:

• Submission
• Committee review
• Public debate
• Offering a lower price by other team
• Voting
• Result announcement

All communication between DReps and teams will be public and transparent, preventing private lobbying and encouraging open dialogue.

🎯 Goals of the DRep DAO

• Enable small-scale funding (e.g., 50K–100K ADA per team annually)
• Support up to 200 projects (if 10M ADA is secured from the Treasury)
• Reduce bureaucracy and empower proven builders
• Create fast funding cycles (a few weeks)
• Stay open to all builders, educators, marketers, and innovators

A key advantage of the DReps DAO is its flexibility—it can evolve to meet the changing needs of DReps. While the initial goal is to allocate around 10 million ADA per year to support small projects, the same structure could easily be adapted to fund marketing efforts, provide liquidity, or support other initiatives.

Unlike on-chain governance, modifying the DAO’s rules and implementing changes is much simpler and faster, making it a practical tool for responsive decision-making and experimentation.

🏛 Governance & Structure

A 3/5/7-member committee will oversee operations and may hold veto power. DReps must provide rationale for each funding vote. Key decisions will be recorded on-chain for transparency.

If successful, the DAO could take over parts of Intersect’s agenda, reducing its operational costs and acting as a bridge between founding entities, builders, and DReps.

Major ecosystem decisions will still require full governance approval to ensure legitimacy.

Alongside funding proposals submitted by teams (submitters), committee members will also be able to submit proposals related to internal DAO operations. These may include actions such as initiating an on-chain governance proposal to withdraw ADA from the Treasury for the DAO’s use. This must be first approved by the DAO members.

💰 Cost Reduction & Competition

The DAO will allow cost debates before voting. Competing teams can propose to deliver the same scope at lower cost, encouraging efficiency and reducing inflated budgets. It would be a success if in the future IOG submitted their budget request through the DAO.

🛠 Platform Design

The platform will be a Cardano-based app where users log in via wallet and choose a role (DRep, team, observer). It will include:

• On-chain voting
• Immutable proposal records
• (Optionally) Smart contracts for milestone-based fund release
• Legal and operational safeguards (possibly in collaboration with Intersect)

We aim to create—or enhance an existing—smart contract that enables DAO members to release funds in stages. Each release will require majority approval from participating DReps to ensure accountability.

Fund distribution is a desirable feature, but not essential at the start. Initially, the DRep DAO may rely on Intersect to handle the distribution of ADA to funded teams. However, there is also the possibility of developing a smart contract that would allow the platform to manage fund distribution independently in the future. With regard to budget, the implementation of a smart contract depends on the complexity of building the platform.

📦 Project Phases

1. Concept Development – Collaborate with DReps to finalize the model.
2. Low Level Design - Defining roles, features, cycles, rules, etc.
3. Platform Delivery – Build the application to support DAO operations (60-70% of the functionality).
4. DAO Launch – Invite DReps and teams, submit proposals. Fixing bugs, adding new features or finishing them (80-90% of the functionality).
5. Submitting internal proposal regarding the submission of on-chain action to obtain ADA from Treasury (95-100 of the functionality).

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

DReps seeking deeper involvement in governance will gain access to a dedicated platform where they can shape internal processes and set their own agenda.

Developers, marketers, educators, and other contributors will be able to access small-scale funding more quickly and with less bureaucracy. This streamlined approach will foster innovation and accelerate ecosystem growth.

All funding discussions will take place in one centralized, transparent space—rather than being scattered across social media. DReps will have a clearer view of proposals, while teams will need to publicly justify their requests and compete on merit.

As the DRep DAO accumulates more voting power, it can gradually take on greater responsibilities. Over time, it aims to become a key governance entity within the Cardano ecosystem.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & Feasibility

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

I've supported Cardano since 2017 and have served as a Cardano Ambassador since 2020.

As a pioneer DRep leader, I’ve trained around 20 DReps and currently rank among the top 20. I'm actively engaged with many DReps and have a strong understanding of Cardano’s governance landscape.

I also maintain close connections with numerous teams across the ecosystem and have a clear sense of their needs and challenges.

With a background in programming, I’m well-equipped to assess project development costs, ongoing maintenance, and infrastructure requirements like server operations.

DReps interested in shaping the future of Cardano governance are welcome to collaborate on this initiative.

I will be managing the project for the entire 12 months and at the same time I can participate in the backend development if necessary (I will definitely do reviews and design tests). The development team will consist of one backend and dapps developer, one frontend developer, and a UX expert.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Detailed DRep DAO Concept

Milestone Outputs

• Finding several DReps who will participate in the concept.
• Roles, processes, structure, cycles, voting processes and other details will be described in the document.
• The document must explain the basic principles of how the DAO works, processes and application options, structure, election of the DAO committee, voting on funding, internal voting, rules for distributing funds, etc.

Acceptance Criteria

• The concept document will be publicly available. Based on the documents, anyone must understand how DRep DAO is supposed to work and what requirements are placed on building the application.
• Based on the concept document, it must be possible to develop a low-level design, which is the input for milestone 2.

Evidence of Completion

• Link to DRep DAO concept document.
• Based on the content of the concept document, it must be possible to define a low-level design, which is a necessary prerequisite for the next milestone.
• Milestone report detailing the progress and results.

Delivery Month

3

Cost

22000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Low-level design of DAO

Milestone Outputs

• Coordinator and the development team prepares a low-level design including flow charts and diagrams.
• Low level desing will describe the database tables.
• Low level design will consider the use of existing technologies.

Acceptance Criteria

• Link to a low-level design document containing application requirements and a description of roles, processes, workflows, principles, etc. The development team must be able to implement the solution based on the requirements.
• The document will contain a description of the technologies and an estimate of operating costs.
• The document will contain the description of db tables and flows.

Evidence of Completion

• Link to a publicly available document containing the items described in the acceptance criteria.
• Based on the low-level design, a regular development team must be able to deliver the required application.
• Milestone report detailing the progress and results.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

7000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

DRep DAO application development

Milestone Outputs

• At this milestone, the development begins.
• At the end of the milestone, there will be a publicly available application.
• In test mode, users will be able to log in and submit governance actions. DReps can vote on governance actions—simulating real decision-making.

Acceptance Criteria

• DReps and ADA holders can access the DRep DAO application by logging in with their Cardano wallet.
• Users can create and submit funding proposals.
• All proposals are open for public discussion between DReps and submitters, ensuring transparency and collaboration.
• DReps then vote to approve or reject each proposal based on the dialogue and merit.
• The project includes a publicly accessible application where DReps and team representatives can log in using their Cardano wallet.

Evidence of Completion

• Link to the application.
• Possibility to log in to the application.
• Possibility to submit proposals.
• Possibility to comment on proposals.
• Possibility to vote.
• Milestone report detailing progress and results.

Delivery Month

3

Cost

25000

Progress

30 %

Milestone Title

Official launch of the DRep DAO application

Milestone Outputs

• Real DReps and team representatives (submitters) will register to the DAO platform.
• The total voting stake of participating DReps must be at least 4% of the on-chain governance active voting power (Abstain and No-confidence stake not counted, active stake is currently 5.58B ADA so DReps in DAO must reach roughly 220M ADA) or 7 DReps who have more than 1M voting stake.
• At least 8 submitters must be registered and ready to submit funding proposals.
• If necessary, the develoment theam fixes issues and adds a new feature.

Acceptance Criteria

• This milestone can only be considered successful if the DRep DAO application is in use by real members of the community.
• The total voting stake of participating DReps must be at least 8% of the on-chain governance voting power.
• At least 8 submitters must be registered and 8 proposals must be submitted.

Evidence of Completion

• The application will display the IDs of registered DReps.
• Total voting stake of registered DReps must be at least 8% of on-chain governance voting stake.
• 8 proposers must be registered.
• The application must show 8 proposals.

Delivery Month

3

Cost

25000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Final Acceptance Milestone (Internal vote on Treasury withdrawal)

Milestone Outputs

• As a proof that the platform is usable and there is a interest in using it, an internal vote must be held among DReps on the possibility of submitting a withdrawal governance action. It cannot be guaranteed that it will be possible to submit a governance action, for example due to NCL.
• The development team will finish the minor fixes or adding new features (if necessary).

Acceptance Criteria

• DReps or the DRep committee will submit a governance action regarding the submitting of the withdrawal governance action.
• DReps will vote on the proposal.
• Voting will be publicly accessible for everyone.
• Results will be visible.
• Close-out report published.
• Close-out video published.

Evidence of Completion

• The internal proposal regarding the submission of withdrawal governance action will be submitted (screenshot or the rewiever will check it online).
• Close-out report published.
• Close-out video published.

Delivery Month

1

Cost

15000

Progress

10 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

MILESTONE 1

• The project coordinator will receive a minimum of 14K ADA.
• Up to 8K ADA will be allocated as rewards for DReps who actively contribute to the project. Each participating DRep may earn between 500 and 1000 ADA, depending on their level of involvement and their number.
• Milestone 1 is dependent on the coordinator and DReps. The total cost is 22K ADA.

MILESTONE 2

• Together with the development team, he will begin to define the requirements for the application and create a low-level design.
• Milestone 2 is dependent on the coordinator and the development team. The total cost is 7K ADA. The team will get 4K ADA, the coordinator 3K ADA.

MILESTONE 3

• The development team can receive up to 23K ADA for completing the development work. The work might not be 100% ready. Fixes and changes might be done in milestone 4 and 5.
• Coordinator will receive 2K ADA.
• Milestone 3 is primarily dependent on the development team and coordinator. Total cost is 25K ADA.

MILESTONE 4

• In milestone 3, user onboarding will take place, minor and mojor bugs will be fixed, and platform changes will be made as appropriate.
• Coordinator will find DReps and teams who will join the DAO.
• Team will receive up to 23K ADA. Coordinator 2K ADA.
• Milestone 4 is dependent on the development team and coordinator. Total cost is 25K ADA.
• Team will receive up to 40K ADA for their work in milestones 3 and 4.

MILESTONE 5

• In this milestone, the application should be fully usable but still, minor fixes and feature finalization can take place.
• Milestone 5 is dependent on the coordinator and the team. The team gets 10K ADA and the coordinator 5K ADA. The total cost is 15K ADA.

Across all milestones, the distribution is as follows:

• DReps get up to 8K ADA (milestone 1).
• Coordinator gets 25-33K ADA (all milestones).
• The team gets 60K ADA (milestones 2 - 5).

The coordinator will cover all additional costs related to the project, including server hosting, software licenses, marketing, promotion, and any other operational expenses.

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

In the Cardano ecosystem, it's essential to support not only large teams requesting 1M ADA to maintain existing projects, but also smaller teams with modest funding needs. To achieve this, we need a lightweight governance model that empowers DReps and reduces barriers to entry.

Regarding the value for money, building the DRep DAO application costs roughly:

• 10x less than maintaining an existing governance tool
• Half the cost of maintaining a major library
• Building the DRep DAO platform is roughly 10x cheaper than the Cardano Calendar, while potentially having a significantly higher impact.

The impact of projects can grow with the amount of ADA obtained from the Cardano Treasury.

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes