Cardano is a decentralized ecosystem of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and community governance, committed to improving economic, political, and social systems for everyone, everywhere. By offering this foundational infrastructure, Cardano empowers individuals and communities to manage their identity, value, and governance, fostering the emergence of decentralized applications, businesses, and network states. Through unbiased processing of immutable data, we, the participants of the Cardano Community, consisting of individuals, organizations, contributors, and others, choose to follow in the footsteps of the early Internet and cryptocurrency pioneers, who first forged bonds of community through digital technologies. We are guided by our shared principles and tenets as we exercise our self-governance by balancing decentralized decision-making with accountability and safeguarding the security of the Cardano Blockchain. Recognizing the need for a more robust and dynamic governance framework, that neither relies nor depends upon traditional nation-state governance systems, but instead relies on self-governance by the Cardano Community, utilizing, wherever possible and beneficial, blockchain technology in the governance process, we hereby establish this Cardano Constitution to govern the Cardano Blockchain ecosystem, ensure the continuity of the Cardano Blockchain, and guard the rights of those who utilize it and the rights of ada owners. With these purposes in mind, we, the Cardano Community, affirm our intention to abide by this Constitution in order to participate in the governance of the Cardano Blockchain ecosystem. We invite all who share our values to join us for as long as they wish, while honoring the freedom to take another path.