CIP-1694: A Governance Model for Cardano Proposed by IOG (Part 1/3)

Voltaire was a French philosopher from the Age of Enlightenment

Cardano’s final era is known as the Voltaire era. This era will create a voting system for Cardano users to vote on network changes (via improvement proposals). The treasury system, which receives small amounts of ADA from each transaction fee, will be used to fund new developments and other humanitarian causes. This governance system will enable Cardano to adapt and adjust itself in the future in a decentralized manner. Although CIP-1694 has not been finalized yet, IOG has released a draft that you can read here.

CIP-1694

Cardano’s governance mechanism today :

• Allows IOG, the Cardano Foundation, and Emurgo (the genesis entities) to enact governance actions if endorsed by a majority of keyholders (currently 5 of the 7 genesis keys, which are all held by those three entities).
• Hard forks of the blockchain are carried out (or not) by Stake Pool Operators (SPOs)
• Treasury movements are also almost entirely controlled by Project Catalyst under the current governance model.

Before CIP-1694

This centralized form of governance is a temporary stopgap solution until CIP-1694 creates a governance mechanism where ADA users, stake pool operators, and constitutional committee members will be responsible for ratifying governance proposals.

Tricameral Legislative Body

Any Cardano user can submit governance proposals to implement a governance action. Three entities (or bodies) will be responsible for ratifying any governance proposals:

1. Constitutional Committee (which can include the genesis entities)
2. Delegation Representatives (DReps)
3. Stake Pool Operators (SPOs)

Based on the type of governance action prescribed, the governance proposal will have to be approved by at least one of the three entities listed above (we will explain the roles of these three entities further in part two).

After CIP-1694

Cardano Constitution

The Cardano Constitution is a text document (with an on-chain hash digest) that explains Cardano’s common beliefs and fundamental values. The Cardano Constitution has not yet been written, but drafts by community members have already been started:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iHLsDptxCGURPyf9hSXvAwVtg9m-45g8VSS7l5g6d3E/edit?usp=sharing

Infographic

Below is an infographic by Able Pool that outlines the steps in getting a governance action approved after CIP-1694 is implemented.

Download this infographic HERE

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