Welcome to Intersect’s Development Update #97. This week, we provide detailed information on the coming intra-era upgrade for Cardano, a planned upgrade to the Catalyst system, what’s happening in Civics, and the developer experience survey.
In membership and community, there’s news on the Town Square and Town Hall, all about Consensus Hong Kong next week, a spotlight on Socius, and all about the current Governance Actions.
As we move through the first stages of the upgrade process, the challenges we encounter underscore a key point: verifying the quality of the changes is even more critical than sticking to a timeline.
IOE teams are working relentlessly to get to a point of cutting two releases of Cardano Node.
Pre-Release Cardano Node 10.6.2
Target release within next few days
Benchmarking issues being addressed
A Pre-Release node containing hard fork functionality
Aimed to get the hard fork features into the community’s hands ASAP
For SanchoNet testing.
Cardano Node 10.7.0
Target release within three weeks
Small updates to the ledger
Mainnet hard-fork-ready candidate release
Will be used to fork Preview, PreProd and then Mainnet
Formal benchmarking and performance tests ran.
The 10.6.2 release aims to get the ball rolling and engage stakeholders before a Hard Fork candidate node is prepared. 10.7.0 is marked as a candidate, as it will be capable of the hard fork, but dependent on successful testnet deployments and formal benchmarking.
Keep informed
Join the dedicated Upgrade Discord channel at #wg-hard-fork (on the Intersect Discord server). This channel is monitored by the working group, with updates being shared and questions answered. Alternatively, you can reach out to hard-fork@intersectmbo.org.
The hard fork working group currently meets every other week; see the shared Luma Calendar. As progress continues, the meeting cadence will increase.
The Cardano Upgrades GitBook contains important hard fork context, working group policies, readiness tracking, and working group meeting minutes.
IOG is providing the design and development services to deliver a comprehensive technical upgrade to the Project Catalyst platform. These services are designed to overhaul both the user experience and the underlying engine of the system. So far, they have completed three out of five milestones, which you can read more about on the dashboard.
The Civics Committee met this week to discuss current Cardano governance topics, including planning for the 2026–2027 budget, upcoming committee and Constitutional Committee elections, and the current set of live governance actions.
Highlights from the meeting:
The provision of feedback on Intersect’s draft budget guidance
A new Civics Budget Workstream is to be formed to consider governance budget needs
Work is continuing on how different types of constitutional amendments are reviewed and discussed in the Constitutional Amendments Process Working group (CAP WG)
Members reviewed active governance votes and participation levels.
For a full breakdown of the discussion and decisions, look out for the latest Civics Unpacked (#3) article, or full meeting minutes can be found on the Civics pages in the Intersect Knowledge base.
Follow @IntersectCIVICS on X to stay updated and in the loop on Civics work.
Developer Advocates
REMINDER: The State of Developer Experience Survey for 2026 is now live in five languages. If you are a developer, regardless of skill level, please be sure to respond. Stay tuned with the Developer Experience working group (Discord, devex.intersectmbo.org), where our Developer Advocates will review and address survey topics in Q2 2026.
Join us for an open forum for members and community participants to hear updates, ask questions, share feedback, and engage directly with the Intersect community in a transparent environment. We’re hosting two region-friendly sessions to make participation easier across time zones: an APAC-friendly session on February 17, 2026, at 10:00 AM UTC, and a US- and Europe–friendly session on February 17, 2026, at 2:30 PM UTC. Following each Town Square, we’ll continue the conversation through breakout rooms in the Intersect Virtual Hub, offering smaller group discussions for deeper engagement, networking, and topic-focused conversations.
Join us for the next MCC X Space on February 9 | 14:30 UTC — an open conversation on membership, community initiatives, and what MCC is working on - Set a reminder.
February Townhall Our next Town Hall will take place on February 26, 2026 — stay tuned for the YouTube livestream link.
Missed the January Townhall? No worries! You can catch the full recording and stay up to date with all the key updates, discussions, and announcements.
Intersect will be joining the wider Cardano community at the Cardano Booth (Booth 3700), where attendees can connect with the team, explore ongoing initiatives, and collect exclusive merch along with inclusive NFT badges available to visitors. To ensure global participation, activity from the booth will be livestreamed across both days of the event, enabling the broader community to follow interviews, conversations, and highlights in real time. Watch Day 1 here:https://youtube.com/live/W7Hrw6G0hNU?feature=share and Day 2 here:https://youtube.com/live/t_og4XyDD-c?feature=share.
Cardano stands united to begin 2026 with a shared purpose, building momentum through coordination and a unified presence at Consensus Hong Kong 2026. This takes shape through a dedicated Cardano Spotlight Panel - one of the first Tier-1 conference moments of the year - bringing together the ecosystem’s core pillars on a single stage: Charles Hoskinson, Fahmi Syed, Giorgio Zinetti, and Phillip Pon. Taking place on February 12, 2026, at 3:00 PM HKT, the discussion unites research, infrastructure, governance, privacy, and commercialization into one cohesive ecosystem narrative.
Socious is a talent marketplace that matches young people seeking employment with organizations, companies, and industries making a positive impact. Socious found that 95% of young people want to use their skills to create positive social and environmental impact, but only 10% do. Socious is on a mission to bridge the gap and make it easy to find a place in an impactful market.
Research indicates that one reason most impactful jobs are not accessible is that job seekers do not know where to look. Another obstacle young people face when searching for an impactful job is a lack of financial stability, which might cause them to accept jobs that compromise their values. The Socious talent marketplace allows young people not only to use their skill set to advance professionally but also to do so in an atmosphere that aligns with their ideologies and values.
Socious provides a new path for purpose-driven young people so that they don’t have to choose between financial stability and their desire to make a difference.
Here are the current standings for active Governance Actions and those expired during the last week, as of the time of writing.
DeltaDeFi: Hydra Trading Infrastructure Budget (₳1,500,000): This Budget Info Action expired on January 29 and asked the community to signal support for a ₳1,500,000, six-month budget to harden and scale DeltaDeFi into a production-grade, Hydra-based, low-latency order-book exchange focused on ada and Cardano native tokens.
Outcome: Not approved
Constitutional Committee
Cardano Curia: Not voted ⏳
Tingvard: Abstain ⚪
Eastern Cardano Council: Not voted ⏳
Ace Alliance: Constitutional ✅
Cardano Japan Council: Constitutional ✅
Phil_uplc: Not voted ⏳
KtorZ: Constitutional ✅
DReps
DReps: 11.9% Yes votes
Ratification thresholds:
Constitutional Committee: Approval from four of seven members
DReps: 50% approval
Net Change Limit (Epoch 613 to Epoch 713): This Net Change Limit info action expires on February 8, and proposes setting a maximum treasury withdrawal cap of 350 million ada for the period from the beginning of Epoch 613 (February 13, 2026) to the conclusion of Epoch 713 (July 3, 2027). Establishing this limit is constitutionally required before any treasury withdrawal actions can be submitted and serves as a guardrail to ensure fiscal discipline, transparency, and compliance with Article IV of the Cardano Constitution.
Current standings: (at the time of writing)
Constitutional Committee
Cardano Curia: Not voted ⏳
Tingvard: Constitutional ✅
Eastern Cardano Council: Not voted ⏳
Ace Alliance: Constitutional ✅
Cardano Japan Council: Constitutional ✅
Phil_uplc: Not voted ⏳
KtorZ: Constitutional ✅
DReps
DReps: 59% Yes votes
Ratification thresholds:
DReps: Greater than 50% of active voting stake
Name Protocol Version 11 Hard Fork – van Rossem: This info action expiring on February 13 proposes naming the Protocol Version 11 hard fork the “van Rossem Hard Fork” in memory of Max van Rossem, honoring his significant contributions to Cardano’s governance, constitutional development, and community building. The proposal continues Cardano’s tradition of naming hard forks after impactful contributors whose work helped shape the ecosystem. Current standings: (at the time of writing)
Constitutional Committee
Cardano Curia: Not voted ⏳
Tingvard: Constitutional ✅
Eastern Cardano Council: Not voted ⏳
Ace Alliance: Constitutional ✅
Cardano Japan Council: Constitutional ✅
Phil_uplc: Not voted ⏳
KtorZ: Not voted ⏳
DReps
DReps: 61% Yes votes
This is an info action and does not require specific approval thresholds.
Increase Transaction and Block Memory Units (Part 1 of 2): This parameter update governance action expires on February 13, and proposes increasing Plutus script memory unit limits per transaction and per block by 25%, enabling more work to be performed by Plutus scripts within a single block while maintaining network security, performance, and consistency with constitutional guardrails. The change is intended to reduce friction for DApp developers, improve scalability, and increase Plutus throughput with minimal risk. This action represents the first of two linked updates required under the current guardrails.
Current standings: (at the time of writing)
Constitutional Committee
Cardano Curia: Not voted ⏳
Tingvard: Constitutional ✅
Eastern Cardano Council: Not voted ⏳
Ace Alliance: Constitutional ✅
Cardano Japan Council: Not voted ⏳
Phil_uplc: Not voted ⏳
KtorZ: Constitutional ✅
DReps: 39% Yes votes
SPOs: 22% Yes votes
Ratification thresholds:
Constitutional Committee: Approval from five of seven members
DReps: 67% approval
SPOs: Majority approval by active block production stake
Cardano DeFi Liquidity Budget - Withdrawal 1 (₳500,000): This Treasury Withdrawal action expires on February 18, and requests 500,000 ada to establish the foundational legal and technical infrastructure for the broader Stablecoin DeFi Liquidity project. The funds are earmarked for three specific pillars:
The legal formation of a Cayman Islands Foundation Company to provide the DAO with a separate legal personality
The setup of an Amaru multisig contract by Sundae Labs for secure fund management.
A comprehensive security audit by Invariant0 LLC. This action is the first functional step following the community-approved Budget Info Action, ensuring that subsequent large-scale liquidity deployments are governed by a robust, constitutionally compliant framework.
Current standings: (at the time of writing)Constitutional Committee
Cardano Curia: Not voted ⏳
Tingvard: Unconstitutional ❌
Eastern Cardano Council: Not voted ⏳
Ace Alliance: Not voted ⏳
Cardano Japan Council: Not voted ⏳
Phil_uplc: Not voted ⏳
KtorZ: Not voted ⏳
DReps: 46% Yes votes
Ratification thresholds:
Constitutional Committee: Approval from five of seven members
DReps: 67% approval
We strongly encourage all members to engage with the governance process, whether that is being involved directly through a committee/working group, actively voting, letting your representatives know how you’d like to vote, or simply engaging in discussion! We thank each and every member for their constant drive!
That’s it for this week’s update. Thank you for reading! To learn more about Intersect’s work, explore our Knowledge Base, which provides detailed information on governance structures, committees, and funding. Additionally, visit the Intersect website for the latest news, updates, and roadmap information.
Join the conversation on Discord, and follow us on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn to engage with fellow members, working groups, and the broader community.
Your voice helps shape the future of Cardano governance.
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