2026-06-17
On with Jason
- An impromptu interview with the DRep Crow about why Cardano governance is failing and the plan to fix it with a bespoke governance space.
- Three problems dominate: governance fatigue driving DReps to quit, no coherent strategy behind 600 million ADA of asks, and the loss of funding organizations like Catalyst.
- Governance has become performative art broadcast to X, so the fix is a surgical theater style channel for ADA holders under a code of conduct, with teeth from a political party.
- Much of the interview rebuts old allegations, since the compensation of about 36 million in Bitcoin built a 6 billion ecosystem and the ADA voucher was a settled 11 year old Japan sale.
- Concrete mechanisms include conviction voting for stale delegation, the pentad as an interim executive, and a launch timeline of a closed beta within weeks.
- The frame is clear: define growth, ratify it in the constitution, elect an executive function, and hold it accountable, with all power flowing from ADA holder consent.
25 entries
Four videos on the governance Discord spawned a straw man conversation from people like Adam Dean and the CF's Nicholas, attacking a power grab that is not being proposed.
Three problems plague governance: fatigue driving DReps like Pete and Cash to quit, no coherent strategy behind 600 million ADA of asks, and lost funding organizations.
Without Catalyst style funding organizations, everyone bum rushes the treasury as a piggy bank, and projects like Tap Tools and JPEG Store went out of business.
Governance has become performative art broadcast to Twitter, which favors narcissists and entertainers and causes a death of expertise.
The constitutional convention with 50 countries and 1800 people had deliberate gate conditions, but there is no parallel for reaching strategy, growth, or a budget.
Teeth come from becoming a DRep who votes no on funding from anyone who will not participate, which is democratic consent from those who delegate to him.
Chatham House rules need anonymity, so tools like Semaphore and MACI can be ported to Cardano and Midnight for verified but unattributable conversations.
AI can keep the process honest by checking constitutionality and confidence in a strategy on public record, cutting the cognitive load of participation.
DReps are not qualified for most questions they face, so delegated authority to domain experts, like congressional committees, is needed.
If he wanted a power grab, he would not have burned the Genesis keys, designed CIP 1694 this way, or declined to vote with his own ADA.
The downturn actually helps, since scarcity forces leaner, more efficient governance that would never have emerged at 3 dollar ADA.
Crow argues Charles is the scapegoat and target for market frustrations driven by bots, paid narratives, and gathering institutional interests.
Paid opposition, one person 11 years in filing FOIA requests and transcribing 400 hours to rehash the ADA voucher, does not appear without encouragement.
The ADA voucher was a Japan sale with no US participation, and the roughly 36 million in Bitcoin of compensation built a 6 billion dollar ecosystem.
99.7 percent of voucher buyers received their ADA at 100x what they paid, and the remaining 0.3 percent are entitled to a refund until 2028.
The contractor analogy: you do not renegotiate a contract because the land you were paid with later struck oil, since the value at the time is what matters.
DReps should be paid through elected executive roles with an impeachment process, not blanket pay, since a diligent DRep and an AI voting script cannot earn the same.
Crow's adalobby.com is a boardroom where proposal leaders pay for DRep access and paragraph by paragraph feedback before submitting on chain.
Conviction voting with a proof of liveness could solve stale delegation to inactive DReps, revoking status if they fail to prove liveness.
The pentad already serves as an implicit interim executive with special negotiating powers, and its remit could expand until new structures fork in.
The plan starts with kickoff meetings and a prototype Discord, having met Alpha Growth on KPIs, aiming for a closed beta within two to four weeks.
The party's goal is to hit the growth metrics, registering a DRep for teeth, since at 20 to 30 percent delegation funding without joining becomes unlikely.
The legislative branch had to come first to gather consent, since unlike Genesis keys a voting system requires public, on chain endorsement, not force.
Validation will come from delegation: under 1 percent means no support and someone else's turn, while 30 to 40 percent is a strong mandate to negotiate from.
Like a dysfunctional Congress that punishes people instead of solving problems, Cardano must return to first principles: for it to live, it has to grow.