Cardano Foundation Understands Blockchain Governance as Digital State-Building Process

The Cardano Foundation is developing its blockchain governance following the model of a state system. CEO Frederik Gregaard explained at the Cardano Summit 2025 in Berlin that the network now comprises seven to eight million "Citizens" with voting rights and is evolving from a pure smart contract platform into a commonwealth with fiscal and monetary mechanisms ^[1].

At the heart of this approach is a constitution developed jointly with the community. Between 500 and 600 participants discussed the text in detail in Argentina before it was anchored on the blockchain and ratified by hundreds of thousands through voting ^[1]. Large portions of the constitution have been implemented as smart contracts.

The Foundation relies on liquid democracy: users can delegate voting rights but can withdraw them at any time. All financial transactions, including salaries and event costs, are published transparently on the blockchain ^[1].

With an uptime of over 3,000 days since 2017, Cardano also positions itself as critical infrastructure. The ten-year strategy aims to sustainably balance transaction fees and network incentives. Gregaard acknowledges that this governance approach slows down processes, but argues it is more sustainable in the long term ^[1].