Overview
Pi Lanningham Blog is a personal writing site where a Cardano engineer explains how the network works and how he votes on the proposals that shape it. Readers get his full reasoning on individual funding and policy decisions, plus longer explainers on technical topics. The author writes in the open about judgment calls that are usually made behind closed doors.
The author is Pi Lanningham, chief technology officer at SundaeSwap Labs and the operator of a Cardano stake pool1. Cardano lets people hand their voting power to a delegated representative, known as a DRep, who then votes on their behalf. Pi Lanningham is registered as one, and the blog is where he documents the thinking behind each vote2.
Key Features
- Vote-by-vote reasoning you can check. Each governance post names a single proposal, states the yes, no, or abstain decision, and walks through why2. Anyone delegating voting power can see the logic rather than just the outcome.
- Technical explainers written for outsiders. Longer pieces tackle subjects like a proposed upgrade to how Cardano processes transactions, deliberately balancing plain-language explanation against technical detail so non-specialists can follow along3.
- A working engineer's vantage point. The author leads engineering at a company building trading software on Cardano, so posts draw on hands-on protocol work rather than commentary from the sidelines1.
- Plain reasoning over promotion. The site describes itself as long-form content that does not fit conveniently in a social media thread, and posts read as explanation rather than marketing1.
- A public record that accumulates. Because every vote gets its own post, the archive doubles as a searchable history of one representative's positions across many proposals4.
What to Expect
The archive splits into two kinds of reading. Most posts are short governance notes, often just one to four minutes, each tied to a specific proposal and stating a clear position with supporting reasoning. These are quick to scan and most useful if you follow Cardano funding decisions or are deciding whom to delegate to.
The rest are substantial technical essays that reward more time. These cover subjects like consensus upgrades, stablecoin mechanics, transaction diagrams, and mathematics the author finds worth sharing. The longest run to many thousands of words and open with an outline, so you can judge the scope before committing3.
The site is plain and fast, with an archive paginated across several pages and no account or sign-up of any kind. There is no feed for reader apps and no email newsletter, so following new posts means checking the archive or following the author on X4. Anyone comfortable reading a well-written technical article will manage the evergreen posts; the governance notes assume a little familiarity with how Cardano funding proposals work, though each explains its own subject.
