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Future of Cardano: Key Insights from the Quebec City Workshop

Quebec City recently hosted a pivotal "Future of Cardano Workshop" led by Mike Hornan. It gathered a diverse group from six countries, four continents, and ten different blockchains. The workshop included one re-elected initial constitution committee member and two newly elected constitutional committee members. The session delved into various governance scenarios and protocol behaviors within the Cardano ecosystem. It utilized interactive "What If?" scenarios to challenge attendees' understanding of governance actions, committee transitions, protocol parameter changes, and treasury withdrawals.

Understanding Cardano's Governance Mechanics​

The workshop provided crucial clarifications on several aspects of Cardano's governance. Mike Hornan used a "What If?" scenario-based learning approach to engage attendees. These scenarios explored how the Cardano ledger would behave in potential future situations involving governance actions. Key discussions focused on the mechanics of committee member removal, voting thresholds, the impact of committee replacements on active governance actions, and the technical nuances of credential management. The workshop clarified several protocol behaviors, highlighted potential pitfalls in governance processes, and emphasized the importance of timely credential updates.

Intersect Product Committee's 2030 Vision​

Following the governance discussions, the Intersect Product Committee held a workshop to refine Cardano's long-term vision for 2030. Building upon the previously established 2025 vision and roadmap, the committee is gathering extensive input through in-person, virtual, and self-run workshops. These efforts also include business interviews with various Cardano ecosystem participants and external businesses.

A significant outcome of these discussions is the consensus to distill the current verbose draft vision document (originally around 39 pages) into a concise 1–1.5-page document. The focus is on creating an actionable and easily digestible vision. While various targets were proposed, the only one that gained general consensus as a good goal for 2030 was $200 million in annual L1 transaction fees.

Addressing Challenges and Fostering Growth​

The workshops highlighted several key challenges and opportunities for Cardano's future:

  • Enterprise Adoption Barriers: Legal, financial, and regulatory hurdles were identified as primary blockers for enterprise adoption . The need to engage with accountants, auditors, and legal advisors to address compliance concerns was emphasized. An example cited Norway's largest bank, which required 1,000 employees to undergo chain analyst training before integrating with crypto exchanges, highlighting the need to fix legal and financial onboarding barriers.

  • Cultural Intelligence and Local Partnerships: A strong consensus emerged on the necessity of integrating "cultural intelligence" as a foundational layer for product-market fit within the product roadmap process. This involves structured insight gathering around how target users find trust, empowerment, and connection, informing local use case design, messaging, and onboarding strategy. The importance of professional interpreters who understand the subject matter, and not just language, was also stressed.

  • Developer Onboarding and Education: The current state of fragmented developer documentation was identified as a significant issue. The need for centralized, community-led documentation with examples, images, videos, and clear onboarding paths was emphasized. Educational outreach, particularly targeting youth and schools through pilot programs and school clubs, was proposed as a strategy to engage younger generations and promote blockchain literacy.

  • SPO Incentives and Decentralized Infrastructure: The "icebreakers" program was discussed as a means to incentivize SPOs and further decentralize infrastructure. The long-term vision for this program is to enable peer-to-peer transactions and allow SPOs to determine their participation levels and earnings, ultimately contributing to a fully decentralized network. The concept extends to diversifying node operator roles beyond just block production, including running Midgard validators, Hydra nodes, oracles, or hosting services , fostering a more robust and interconnected Cardano ecosystem.

The workshop concluded with a strong encouragement for participants to utilize SanchoNet for further testing of governance scenarios. The overarching sentiment was to focus on a concise, high-level vision with measurable targets and supporting strategies, while also identifying and leveraging "low-hanging fruit" markets that are already embracing crypto.