Dear DReps,
We have resubmitted the Scalus 2026 Treasury proposal after taking in the feedback from the previous vote. The new proposal is deliberately smaller, narrower, and more incremental.
Proposal is live: Governance action | Cardano Explorer
DRep Feedback
The feedback was clear and useful. Many DReps recognised the Scalus vision, technical quality, existing adoption, and Lantr Engineering’s delivery record.
At the same time, the previous proposal was considered too broad and too large relative to demonstrated demand and current Treasury capacity.
We took that seriously.
What It Funds
₳2,464,844 (~$394,375 at $0.16/ADA) · 9 months · no contingency
- Maintenance: keep the existing Scalus stack healthy and safe to build on.
- Dijkstra hard-fork readiness: Plutus V4, new builtins, nested transactions, accounts, conformance, so the teams and tools that depend on Scalus keep working through the hard fork.
- Interoperability: make Scalus components easier to reuse from the JVM (Java/Kotlin, Cardano Client Lib, Yaci) and JS/TS ecosystems.
- A first scoped application runtime: a bounded step into operating applications, validated through reference apps, tests, and early users.
Out of scope: standalone L1 node · full L2 integration · broad formal verification.
What We Changed Based on Feedback
The main concerns raised by DReps were:
- the total ask was too large relative to previous Scalus funding and current Treasury capacity;
- the previous scope tried to fund too much at once;
- the standalone JVM L1 node overlapped with other node initiatives;
- L2 integration and formal verification introduced dependency risk;
- the full application-platform thesis needed stronger adoption validation before platform-scale funding.
This resubmission addresses those concerns directly:
| Area | Previous proposal | This proposal |
|---|---|---|
| Budget / duration | ₳8,503,000 / 12 months | ~₳2,464,844 / 9 months |
| Reference rate | $0.25/ADA | $0.16/ADA |
| FTE | 8.25 | 2.25 |
| FTE-months | 99 | 20.25 |
| Contingency | 10% | 0% |
| Focus | Full application platform expansion: L1 node, L2 integration, application runtime, advanced devnet | Maintenance, Dijkstra readiness, interoperability, and a scoped runtime step |
| Application runtime | Production-grade runtime | Scoped runtime step, validated with real teams |
| Standalone L1 node | Hardened standalone & embedded L1 node for production operation | Removed from scope |
| L2 solution integration | Gummiworm operator setup and full integration | Removed from scope; runtime designed to support future L2 integration |
| Integrated local devnet | Advanced devnet capabilities | Limited to Dijkstra/emulator needs |
| Formal verification | Broad formal verification track | Out of scope; future integration may follow as IO’s Lean/Blaster framework matures |
Traction
Scalus is already used directly by projects such as Gummiworm L2, Bifrost bridge, SugarRush DEX, Vela stablecoin, and DID/DIDComm protocol, and its components are reused through tooling such as MeshJS, Evolution SDK, Lucid Evolution, Cardano Client Lib, and YaciDevKit.
Call for Support
We believe this revised proposal is a proportionate continuation of proven work: smaller in scope, lower in cost, and focused on infrastructure that is already used across the Cardano ecosystem.
If you recognised the value of Scalus in the previous proposal but were concerned about the size, breadth, or risk profile, this resubmission is designed to address those concerns directly.
We ask DReps and the Cardano community to support this revised proposal.
Support will help keep Scalus maintained, prepare it for Dijkstra, deepen reuse across existing tooling, and take the next bounded step toward helping teams run applications on the same stack they build with.
Thank you