September 11, 2025 | Parameter Committee Triweekly - meeting notes

Governance Parameters Committee Updates
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Triweekly parameter committee meeting - September 11, 2025

These are the minutes of the PCs (Parameter Committee) triweekly meeting. This is a summary based on automatically generated notes and may therefore contain inaccuracies or errors.

The purpose of the Parameter Committee is to provide technical advice and recommendations relating to protocol parameters. It discusses all parameters relating to the Cardano protocol including network, technical, economic and governance parameters.

Summary

Nicolas Cerny, Kevin Hammond, and Tommy Kammerer discussed the new Google Meet viewer feature. Alexander Moser, Kevin Hammond, and Samuel Leathers discussed past meetings, document discussions, Intersect’s governance action service, Plutus primitives, hard fork timelines, and the min margin parameter. Neil Davies, Kevin Hammond, Tommy Kammerer, and Markus Gufler discussed the process for new parameter introduction, urgency and stakeholder engagement for min margin, and communication and outreach for parameter discussions.

Details

  • Viewer Feature in Google Meet Nicolas Cerny highlighted a new Google Meet feature that allows participants to join as viewers without interrupting calls or accessing the chat, similar to Discord’s role system. Kevin Hammond and Tommy Kammerer discussed how this feature could enable more people to attend meetings as viewers while still being visible to organizers.
  • Recap of Past Meetings and Document Discussions Alexander Moser provided a recap of the past two calls and highlighted ongoing discussions. He noted that Kevin Hammond created documents for asynchronous discussion on the MPC zero cost setting and SIP 50, both of which relate to parameter changes and require collective responses.
  • Intersect’s Governance Action Service Alexander Moser discussed the idea of Intersect providing a service to fund governance action deposits for those lacking necessary funds. Kevin Hammond clarified that Intersect would be willing to shepherd proposals endorsed by this group or third parties, but not unendorsed requests. Kevin Hammond also mentioned that this group is constituted only to endorse parameter changes, with other changes handled by appropriate bodies like the hard fork working group.
  • Plutus Primitives and Hard Fork Timelines Kevin Hammond provided an update on the Plutus team’s plans to introduce new primitives, which will necessitate changes to the Plutus cost model. He stated that the implementation is expected by November, with a hard fork proposal anticipated around January, which is a delay from the previously expected October timeline. Samuel Leathers confirmed the unlikelihood of a hard fork by the end of the year, especially with holidays approaching.
  • Min Margin Parameter and Intra-Era Hard Fork Alexander Moser raised the question of whether the min margin parameter is urgent enough to be enabled during the Plutus cost model updates via an intra-era hard fork, with a fixed value until the next proper hard fork planned for 2026. Samuel Leathers expressed their opinion to implement it properly in the Dystra hard fork, suggesting that setting a value other than zero would require a community vote. Kevin Hammond clarified that a vote on the hard fork itself would occur, but controversial fixed values could cause issues.
  • Process for New Parameter Introduction Neil Davies emphasized the need for a clear process for introducing new parameters like min margin, highlighting the importance of consensus and avoiding situations where fixed values might lead to a rejection of the hard fork. Kevin Hammond also noted that min margin should be marked as a security-critical parameter, allowing stake pool operators to vote on it, and acknowledged that guardrails for new parameters necessitate constitutional changes and potentially new guardrail scripts, extending the timeline for implementation.
  • Urgency and Stakeholder Engagement for Min Margin Neil Davies questioned the urgency of the min margin parameter, suggesting that if there were clear evidence of urgency, a process could be expedited. Samuel Leathers confirmed that Carlos is working with the community on potential changes, and Neil Davies suggested requesting an update from Carlos for the next meeting. Alexander Moser proposed a process to invite Carlos to discuss the urgency and desired initial values for min margin and mele cost, which would then inform discussions on guardrail requirements and the suitability of an SPO poll.
  • Communication and Outreach for Parameter Discussions Kevin Hammond and Neil Davies discussed how to issue a public call for experts to contribute to the discussion on min margin, suggesting the meeting minutes and TSC account as channels. Tommy Kammerer and Markus Gufler advocated for broader outreach using the SPO notification, Cardano Twitter account, and the upcoming Round Table Talks. Markus Gufler also mentioned Carlos’s ongoing series of smaller calls with SPOs to discuss potential parameter changes and recommended keeping Carlos aligned with the parameter committee’s discussions.
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