AlphaGrowth Revises Cardano PRIME After DRep Feedback

AlphaGrowth has outlined revisions to Cardano PRIME while the proposed 12-month DeFi growth program remains under Cardano governance review.

The discussion took place during a Cardano PRIME Deep Dive X Space moderated by Cardano community member Ed n’ Stuff, who led questions on the budget, liquidity retention, performance compensation, Treasury safeguards and support for existing Cardano protocols.

AlphaGrowth founder and CEO Bryan Colligan and Head of DeFi Operations Eric Waisanen provided the main responses on behalf of the firm.

AlphaGrowth Plans Major Cut to PRIME Marketing Budget

The currently published PRIME proposal allocates 15 million ADA, valued at approximately $2.4 million under its planning assumptions, to marketing and business development.

During the X Space, AlphaGrowth confirmed that the allocation is being revised following feedback from delegates. Waisanen explained that the proposal had already been adjusted and that the team was working toward publishing the updated version.

Part of the marketing allocation is expected to move into liquidity incentives and ecosystem grants. Later in the discussion, the revised marketing budget was described as roughly $640,000, compared with the original $2.4 million allocation.

AlphaGrowth also clarified that the original category covered more than conventional advertising. Potential integration fees, co-marketing arrangements and distribution costs associated with exchanges, custodians and other external platforms were included within the marketing budget.

Under the revised approach discussed in the Space, some of those expenses could instead move into ecosystem grants or other gated spending categories.

Performance Fees Shift Toward Longer TVL Retention

The second major revision concerns how AlphaGrowth could earn performance compensation for qualifying TVL growth.

The currently published PRIME framework requires qualifying TVL to remain in place for at least 30 days at a measurement date, while also reporting a six-month rolling persistence figure.

DRep feedback questioned whether the structure could reward temporary liquidity attracted primarily by incentives.

AlphaGrowth responded with a tiered retention model. Under the structure described during the Space, approximately 30% of applicable performance upside could be released after 30 days, another 30% after three months and the remaining 40% after six months.

The percentages were presented as part of an amendment still being finalized rather than a published contractual schedule.

Colligan and Waisanen also described PRIME as a phased program rather than an immediate liquidity campaign. Early work would focus on auditing Cardano DeFi, identifying missing infrastructure and improving products before larger liquidity incentives are deployed.

PRIME continues to target more than $200 million in net qualifying TVL growth. Approximately 75% of the program budget remains subject to an Operating Group release decision after the initial four-month audit and gap-analysis phases.

PRIME Will Concentrate Support Across Cardano DeFi

The Space also clarified how PRIME intends to allocate grants, integrations and liquidity support across Cardano protocols.

Asked whether resources would be distributed relatively evenly among existing projects, Waisanen rejected that approach. AlphaGrowth instead plans to identify protocols capable of supporting competitive DeFi products and larger capital deployments.

The discussion used decentralized exchanges and money markets as examples. Rather than spreading resources across many similar protocols, AlphaGrowth described a model focused on developing one or two strong participants in individual DeFi categories where that produces a more efficient market structure.

Cardano-native teams would retain priority where they can provide comparable capabilities. External protocols or infrastructure providers could be introduced where the audit identifies missing primitives or functionality.

Under the published governance structure, AlphaGrowth develops program recommendations and deployment instructions, while the independent five-member Operating Group can veto material decisions and controls the Phase 3 release vote.

The public PRIME proposal currently continues to display the original $2.4 million marketing allocation and existing 30-day TVL persistence requirement. The changes outlined by Colligan and Waisanen in the X Space therefore represent AlphaGrowth’s planned response to DRep feedback, with the revised terms still awaiting publication in the formal PRIME documentation.