Summary of the Transcript
Background and Philosophy
Cerkoryn registered as a DRep on September 2, 2024, and currently holds approximately 24.6 million ADA in voting power. He has a dual background in psychology and cyber security and possesses technical knowledge of Plutus and EUTXO architecture. His core philosophy is focused on establishing “sound money free from the control of a handful of elites, enhancing freedom for everyone”. His primary objectives include incentive reform, the development of alternate node clients, and scalability.
Technical Vision and Scalability
Regarding scalability, Cerkoryn has evolved his stance to favor “linear Leios” over full Leios. He argues that linear Leios provides significant TPS gains without requiring the ecosystem to sacrifice determinism, which he views as one of Cardano’s greatest benefits. He also advocates for Ouroboros Peras to improve finality times. He believes that while the industry hasn’t found true Product Market Fit (PMF) yet, having this technical infrastructure ready is essential to onboard future business use cases.
Governance and Rationales
Cerkoryn maintains a high rational rate of 98.6%. He states that he reads every governance action from top to bottom but utilizes AI to help format his scratchpad notes into coherent thoughts. He defended reusing rationales for Constitutional iterations 2.3 and 2.4, explaining that his reasoning—specifically the benefit of removing the treasury withdrawal budget action—had not changed between versions. He views his role as a DRep as deciding if a new constitution is a step improvement, leaving the specific interpretation of the document to the Constitutional Committee.
Budgetary Approach and “Politicking”
Although he initially supported a 200 million ADA Net Change Limit (NCL), his “yes” votes totaled 276 million ADA. He justifies this by explaining that certain withdrawals, such as the SNEK loan or DeFi liquidity proposals, are not “strictly speaking a spend” because they are expected to be repaid or generate yield for the treasury. He also admitted to some “politicking,” noting that he sometimes votes based on what will have the most impact rather than strictly what he wants in an ideal scenario.
Funding Mechanisms and Entities
Cerkoryn advocates for moving away from a “grants for everything” model and suggests specialized funding buckets:
- Project Catalyst: For innovation and startup ideas.
- CVD DAO: For scaling DApps with an existing proof of concept.
- Intersect Open Source Committee (OSC): For tools and maintenance of open-source projects.
- Treasury Withdrawals: For items that do not fit into other categories.
He is a strong supporter of the Amaru node by Pragma, viewing node diversity as critical to reducing dependence on IOG. However, he continues to support IOG on core engineering proposals, citing them as the “most capable team” currently available for ledger and node maintenance.
DRep Engagement
Cerkoryn primarily uses X (formerly Twitter), Discord, and Telegram to communicate with his 160+ delegators, noting that specialized DRep communication tools often lack activity. He claims he has never “vote shamed” others but regularly engages in debate, encouraging other DReps to “vote their conscience” and remain well-informed. He emphasized that not voting is an “implicit no,” which can lead to ecosystem stagnation.