Cardano DRep DAO Platform Completed as PRIME Voting Begins
Jaromír Tesař and his development team have completed work on a Catalyst-funded governance platform backed by 94,000 ADA. DRep Council is already supporting voting within Cardano PRIME, while broader funding plans remain subject to further governance decisions.
By SongMarketCap
Cardano DRep Jaromír Tesař announced on October 24 that the DRep DAO project had officially concluded and its platform was actively being used. The initiative introduces tools for public discussion, proposal management, and voting among Delegated Representatives (DReps).
Its latest application involves Cardano PRIME, where members of the program's Operating Group are voting on funding requests prepared by AlphaGrowth.
Catalyst Fund 14 Backed the Platform With 94,000 ADA
The DRep DAO Platform received 94,000 ADA through Project Catalyst Fund 14 under the Cardano Use Cases: Concepts category.
Tesař coordinated the project alongside a development team and participating DReps. The original proposal identified Kamil Hamerník for user experience design and Viktor Konopatenko for frontend development.
Project Catalyst records show that three of four milestones have been completed, with 64,000 ADA distributed and 30,000 ADA remaining.
Although Tesař announced the project's completion, its official Catalyst status remains "In progress." The final milestone covers the launch process, governance activity, a demonstration of fund distribution, and closing documentation.
The development effort has also produced publicly available source code under the MIT license, allowing developers to examine and reuse the underlying software.
DRep Council Moves From Development to Active Governance
DRep Council provides a platform where Cardano DReps can prepare documents, discuss proposals, submit revisions, and participate in internal governance votes.
According to Catalyst milestone documentation, the platform completed its first governance voting cycle on Cardano mainnet on September 30, establishing a practical use case beyond development and testing.
The wider project also includes a separate Innovation and Growth DAO application tested on Cardano's Preprod network. That application focuses on funding proposals and related governance processes, while DRep Council supports coordination and collective decisions among DReps.
Cardano PRIME has now become another example of the platform's use.
Tesař confirmed that members of the program's Operating Group are using DRep Council to vote on the first round of requests for proposals prepared by AlphaGrowth.
The process allows participants to review proposals and record decisions through a publicly accessible governance interface.
However, the final outcomes of those specific Operating Group votes have not been independently confirmed.
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A Potential Alternative Funding Model for Cardano Builders
The original DRep DAO proposal outlined a broader ambition: creating a governance-based funding system that could serve as an alternative to parts of Project Catalyst.
Under the proposed model, smaller development teams could submit funding requests through a shared DAO process rather than individually initiating treasury withdrawal actions requiring a 100,000 ADA governance deposit.
The platform would not eliminate Cardano's protocol-level deposit requirement. Any eventual withdrawal from the Cardano Treasury would still require an appropriate on-chain governance action and the necessary approval.
The proposal envisages annual funding of between 50,000 and 100,000 ADA per team. It also describes a hypothetical allocation of 10 million ADA that could support up to 200 projects.
These figures represent the proposed funding model, not an approved treasury allocation or an operating grant program.
Participating DReps would be able to review budgets, debate funding requests, and consider competing offers before making decisions.
Tesař has indicated that the team is prepared to pursue broader deployment if the Cardano community supports the approach.
For now, DRep Council has demonstrated governance functionality and is being used within Cardano PRIME. Establishing a separate treasury-funded grant system would require agreed rules for administering funds and an approved on-chain withdrawal. The remaining Catalyst milestone also requires evidence of the governance and fund-distribution processes, along with final project documentation.