Cardano Foundation has responded to criticisms of its overt involvement in the Project Catalyst program, noting that it is acting in the network’s best interests. In a blog post, the non-profit organization explained its role within the Cardano Network.
According to the Foundation, it has been actively involved in Project Catalyst since 2021 through participation in previous editions, including F4, F7, F8, F9, and F12. Thus, its participation in F13 should not be controversial, even if it commits more ADA to voting.
The Foundation explained that it has highlighted several concerns with the Project Catalyst since it started participating in 2021, but not all of these concerns have been addressed. One of the major concerns it identified was that several high-quality proposals, particularly from new entrants, do not get enough ecosystem support.
To address this concern, the Foundation decided to allocate 180 million ADA to vote on proposals in Project Catalyst F13 to support these high-quality proposals.
It said:
“With our vote, we wanted to double down on the topics of long-term sustainability, decentralization and governance for Cardano. These principles are exemplified by the projects we chose to support.”
Project Catalyst is a decentralized public goods innovation fund on Cardano where the community can determine which solutions to prioritize based on the proposals from the participants. Proposals usually focus on challenges within the crypto community.
Meanwhile, the Foundation further noted that the level of its influence in the program might be overrated. This is because 4.8 billion ADAs registered to vote in Project Catalyst, which means the Foundation only has about 3.75% of the registered stake.
However, it acknowledged the low participation given that there are 35 billion ADA in circulation and observed that not even all the registered stakes will vote on every proposal. This low participation could end up giving its 3.75% voting power a much larger influence.
The roots of the controversy
Concerns about the Swiss-based Cardano Foundation started last week after a popular Cardano community member, BigPey, shared an anonymous whistleblower email about the foundation’s actions. In the email, the whistleblower alleged internal power struggles in an attempt to sabotage key ecosystem contributors, including the network founder Charles Hoskison and Input Output Global.
They further accused the Foundation of not participating in decentralized governance initiatives, including CIP-1694 and the drafting of the Cardano Constitution. Beyond this, there were concerns about the Foundation’s transparency and accountability.
While the Foundation has since debunked several of the claims, network founder Charles Hoskinson acknowledged some of the issues. In a post on X, he observed that the foundation’s decision-making process is not transparent and that it exists independently of the community. Board members are not elected or appointed by the community and no one has the power to question their decisions.
Cardano Foundation promises more transparency
Meanwhile, the Foundation’s official statement also made new commitments to the community. It has now pledged to be more transparent about its decision-making process and provide more information about how it will vote in the Project Catalyst programs and how much ADA it will allocate for voting.
It said:
“We commit to providing improved clarity and predictability regarding our voting in Project Catalyst, including how much ada we will vote with and our criteria.”
The organization further promised to incorporate the community’s feedback into its process and encouraged other stakeholders to do the same. However, it noted that the Foundation is not a membership-based organization. Thus, there is no plan to allow the community to elect board members.
On a positive note, Cardano’s internal drama did not affect the market sentiment, as the ADA token is up 2% in the last 24 hours. The token has maintained its value above $1 after seeing over 50% gains in the last 30 days.
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