EMURGO Exits Intersect Board and Plans Cardano DRep Deregistration

EMURGO has resigned from the Intersect board and plans to deregister as a Cardano DRep, linking both decisions to recovery work for users affected by the SecondFi incident. The changes affect two separate parts of Cardano governance: organizational oversight within Intersect and on-chain voting through the DRep system.

EMURGO Resigns from the Intersect Board

Intersect is a member-based organization that supports Cardano development, governance coordination and administrative processes. Its work includes hard fork coordination, support for committees and working groups, and administration of projects funded through the Cardano Treasury.

EMURGO held one of the board seats assigned to Intersect’s founding seed funders. Following elections held in 2025, the board expanded to seven members, four of whom were elected by Intersect members.

Before the latest announcement, Intersect listed EMURGO Chief Operating Officer Nikhil Joshi as the company’s representative on the board. EMURGO did not specify whether the vacant seat will be filled through an appointment or a future election process.

The resignation took effect immediately, according to EMURGO’s August 3 announcement.

Cardano DRep Deregistration Will Follow Later

EMURGO registered as a Cardano DRep in March 2025, allowing it to vote on governance actions using voting power delegated by ADA holders.

The planned deregistration has not yet been completed. EMURGO said it intends to withdraw from the DRep system in due course, making it separate from the Intersect board resignation that is already effective.

The decision follows EMURGO’s earlier withdrawal from the Pentad, a coordination group that brought together several major Cardano organizations. Responsibility for Cardano’s presence at TOKEN2049 was also transferred to the Cardano Foundation.

EMURGO connected these institutional changes to its decision to concentrate teams and resources on the SecondFi recovery process. The latest move therefore extends the operational consequences of the incident into both Intersect’s organizational governance and Cardano’s on-chain voting system.

SecondFi Wallet Migration Will Reset User Delegations

According to EMURGO, users migrating their wallets through the recovery process will be removed from their existing stake pool and DRep delegations. After migration, they will be able to select their preferred stake pool and registered DRep again.

The two delegations perform different functions. Stake pool delegation assigns ADA stake to an operator participating in block production, while DRep delegation assigns governance voting power to a representative voting on Cardano governance actions. Neither form of delegation transfers ownership of the user’s ADA.

The migration will not automatically move users to another representative or stake pool. EMURGO’s board resignation is already in effect, while its on-chain DRep deregistration and the restoration of individual user delegations remain separate steps in the recovery process.