Over three days in December 2024, elected representatives and community members from the Cardano blockchain ecosystem congregated in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 
and Nairobi, Kenya, to collaborate on a singular, revolutionary objective: to finalize the constitution for a first-of-its-kind, constitutional republic structure for their blockchain governance. This event, the Cardano Constitutional Convention, was 
one element of a two year process to transition to this new form of on-chain governance, with a constitution written through community input from 
thousands of international members.

The Cardano blockchain ecosystem sought a bottom-up, egalitarian approach to decision-making and development, which meant their many communities around the globe would have to facilitate consensus on an incredible scale to create and ratify a constitution. No other blockchain ecosystem had done this, especially not on this scale and with this commitment to decentralized, collaboratively-created governance.
To achieve this historic milestone, the Cardano community turned to Voltage Control, whose certified facilitators and coaches were instrumental in designing 
and facilitating global workshops to help
 in this ambitious process.

Cardano, like some other blockchains, leverages a decentralized governance model, meaning that no single entity owns 
or controls the network. Additionally, the Cardano blockchain platform validates and processes both transactions of its native cryptocurrency ada and votes by owners of ada on governance activities.  Through 
these votes, the community decides the direction of Cardano within the bounds of 
a community-approved, on chain-ratified Constitution.

For the Cardano community to achieve its full vision of on-chain governance, they required a constitution—and that’s where assistance from Voltage Control came 
into play.

The global network of facilitators from Voltage Control assisted in bringing together stakeholders from around the world, both remotely and in-person, to allow the stakeholders to collaborate  in the drafting, revision, and approval of a constitution.

Charles Hoskinson, CEO of Input I Output and Co-Founder of Cardano, identified the importance of a strong facilitation partnership, explaining, “Investing in the facilitation process—spanning 65 workshops in 50 countries—was an incredibly powerful move for our organization. It built genuine trust across a diverse global community, laid a stronger foundation for collaboration, and set the stage for the next wave of innovation in our ecosystem.”

By the end of this process, Cardano became the first blockchain ecosystem to prove that self-sustaining community governance can be put in place by the community itself.

The overall facilitation process offers a ground-breaking framework for organizations well beyond the realms of blockchain
and Web3. 

You don’t have to understand the intricacies of cryptocurrency and blockchain to embrace the benefits of facilitating decentralized decision-making in your organization. In this case study, we’ll outline the innovative process behind writing Cardano’s constitution—and what we all can learn from it.