DD2

Apes will be running wild on this space! Set reminder if you are available #SuitUp nitter.gq/i/spaces/1MEmydaYaWQvM…

If you are a Cardano dRep, consider this: You do not need to be paid for the role to benefit from it. If you hold ADA, helping the ecosystem succeed gives you upside alongside everyone else. I oppose dRep compensation because it risks attracting people who see governance as an income opportunity. We need representatives focused on creating lasting value for ADA holders. I think @yutazzz understands this principle. Governance should align our interests. Quid pro quos, conflicts of interest, and incentives that reward political influence undermine that goal. I’m tagging several larger independent dReps because they have the influence to lead. Your time is appreciated, but political influence should not become something builders have to pay to access. Cardano cannot afford a system where securing individual compensation takes priority over growing the ecosystem. Whatever someone earns as a gatekeeper could be outweighed by losses on their ADA holdings if the broader ecosystem suffers. Either Cardano succeeds together, or it continues to weaken while individual organizations and politically favored projects protect their own budgets. Cardano is a blockchain ecosystem whose investors expect adoption, utility, and a credible opportunity for returns. If you hold substantial ADA, putting ADA holders first aligns with your own long-term interests. Putting your own income ahead of the ecosystem can undermine your larger investment. That applies to infrastructure providers and founding entities too. An organization can sustain its payroll by selling ADA while holders supporting that market lose money. Organizational sustainability does not demonstrate ecosystem success. Does that spending create enough adoption, demand, outside capital, and commercial activity to justify its cost? In my view, the results do not justify the current priorities. We need well-funded commercial builders creating useful products and attracting customers. The size of an institution’s payroll should reflect a clear need and demonstrated results. Large ADA holdings and liquid staking rewards provide spending power. They do not establish community support for every initiative those holdings fund. ADA holders deserve a strategy that gives capable commercial teams a realistic opportunity to grow. If expensive institutional structures consume resources while promising businesses struggle to access capital, the entire ecosystem bears the consequences. dReps, please use your influence to change these priorities. You have a responsibility to represent your delegates’ interests. As a former enterprise software consultant, I understand the value of quality infrastructure. I also understand that infrastructure needs customers. Technical delivery must connect to commercial adoption and measurable demand. Continuing to prioritize infrastructure spending while neglecting commercial growth is a recipe for failure. @Cardano_CF: You appear willing to commit substantial resources to your own staffing while taking a far more restrictive approach to funding independent commercial builders....slashing @Catalyst_onX and refusing to collaborate with builders outside of your narrow thesis around enterprise, compliance, and traceability. I believe your priorities are completely backwards. Please reduce overhead and direct more capital toward businesses capable of attracting users, investment, and demand for ADA. Where is the evidence that your enterprise infrastructure strategy can actually attract users and capital at the scale Cardano needs, within a commercially meaningful timeframe? I have not seen a convincing case. The public messaging I’ve seen from CF leadership emphasizes enterprise and public infrastructure while downplaying the financial applications of blockchain. I disagree with that direction. Enterprise applications can be valuable. But CF needs to explain how they translate into demand for ADA, attract investment, and create meaningful economic activity on Cardano. Endless PR announcements and integrations alone do not answer those questions. CF has had plenty of time and runway to execute their strategies, and they have not worked. It's time for fresh perspectives and new leadership....outside of the founding entities. The founding entities need to stop depriving new leaders of ecosystem resources. Cardano is not decentralized when founding entities use liquid staking reward system to dump on innocent cash investors to fund their bloat and inefficiency. Enough is enough. ADA holders are exposed to the commercial consequences of this strategy. Funding from existing ADA holdings and staking rewards should come with a clear explanation of costs, expected outcomes, and timelines. A dependable source of organizational funding does not justify an indefinite timeline for ecosystem growth. Excessive caution also has a cost when commercial teams and investment opportunities move elsewhere. Cardano is falling behind, and the founding entities bear responsibility. Stop blaming undercapitalized, independent commercial builders and the community for being upset about it. Please change course. Give commercial adoption, financial applications, and outside capital the priority and funding they need. If you refuse to collaborate with the talent, then give us the resources and get out of our way. You are failing ADA holders.e ADA holders should not have to accept indefinite spending with an unclear connection to the ecosystem’s success. R&D belongs in the budget. But so does a serious commercial growth strategy, with sufficient capital behind it. The 2026 spending was appalling. @IntersectMBO and @Cardano_CF can NOT be in charge of shaping funding. Period. These are paid employees or professional Cardano bureaucrats who aim to be paid whether ADA succeeds or fails. They can not be trusted with your capital. They are paying themselves with YOUR 🫵 money. They can keep funding payroll even while ADA holders lose money and independent builders run out of runway. That shields their operations from consequences that other participants face immediately. This is why they don't care if number go up. They get paid either way. They don't have to sell their genesis ADA. They have an endless supply of Cardano investor cash to spend. dReps have an opportunity to lead that change. Please direct funding toward adoption and hold major funding recipients accountable for results. As far as your anger towards indepdent commercial builders who fumbled the bag...please apply that same scrutiny to founding entities with bloated payrolls who continually dump their "free" liquid staking rewards on innocent cash investors with zero skin in the game. DReps. You need to stand up to this and put an end to it if you want Cardano to survive. If you quid pro quo with the FEs or try to profit off of Cardano's governance inefficience, then you will make far less money in the long run. The only thing worse than centralization, is centralization under the guise of decentralization. Independent Builders like are not the enemy. Good faith independent commercial builders are aligned with ADA holders, not the founding entities. Watch where your money goes. We are not the problem. We are the solution. The sooner you recognize this, the better. @IntersectMBO @jasonappleton @JaromirTesar @yutazzz @adamKDean