The research proposal was approved. Congratulations to the IO for approving a key proposal for them! The funding for the Gerolamo node was not approved. This is a shame, because on the first attempt, there was really little left to approve. It seems that DReps perceive the total funding for the infra as high, or they are exhausted. The remaining budget for this cycle is ₳110.28M (~31%). Treasury Withdrawals with a high chance of approval (EMURGO+Yoroi direct support) are: - Cardano Critical Integrations V2: ₳23M - IO: Hydra: ₳5.1M - Tweag Core Cardano Infrastructure: ₳18.26M If these three proposals are approved, the budget remaining for the proposals submitted in the Intersect process is ₳63.92M (18.2%). In addition, more proposals are submitted in the on-chain governance. More new ones may yet appear. When we subtract the budget for Orion Fund (₳50M, 14.2%), ₳190M was approved for infrastructure (IO, alternative nodes, research, and programming language) and events (TOKEN2049). Let's not forget that in the Intersect process, there are proposals with a high chance of approval. For example, the budget for Intersect: ₳25M + budget for committees. Assuming the Intersect budget is approved, about 25% of the NCL (including Orion Fund) may eventually flow into the community. The ratio between the budget for FEs/infra/research and the rest will be roughly 75% : 25%. The declining price of ADA may negatively impact delivery. Teams planned the budget mostly around the $0.25 per ADA exchange rate. In a bear market, even an extra budget for this case may not cover this. In the next cycle, NCL will very likely be lower, probably only ₳300M. Assuming Cardano doesn't return to the top 10 and the ADA price stays similar to today or drops further, the ratio between what FEs will demand and what can flow into the community may be different. I guess that the ratio may be 90% : 10%. To avoid this scenario, I see only one way. FEs need to dramatically reduce costs. This will be a challenge for the "execution function" if we implement this institute. In dollar terms, we had a budget of about $87.5M this cycle (ADA = $0.25). The ratio is $65.6M : $21.9M. Next cycle, it may only be $45M (ADA = $0.15). That's almost half the budget. If the community were to get 25% of the 300M NCL next cycle, the budget for FEs/infra/research will be only $33.7M. That's only half the budget for this year. No one can predict the future. Crypto is volatile. DReps can approve a higher or lower NCL. Cardano's long-term sustainability and success are directly dependent on the price of ADA in the next 3-5 years. Treasury could be depleted in a few years if Cardano's downward trend in market cap continues. The more, if we are forced to increase NCL in the next cycle. The community needs to know what budget in dollar terms FEs will need in the coming years and what portion the community can get. I would like to see Cardano's maintenance and development costs decrease. Only really unnecessary things should be funded. We need to invest in commercialization, ideally through the community, not through FEs. In my opinion, the community should get at least 30-35% of the NCL in the next cycle. We'll see if that works.