How to Participate in Secret Governance
Discover how Secret governance works, and how to contribute to the future of Secret by creating and voting on proposals.
This guide will cover:
What is Secret governance?
Secret Network features on-chain governance. Changes are made according to rules encoded in the blockchain protocol and are approved by validators and delegators in the network.
In this way, community members can influence protocol development and how shared resources (like the Secret Community Pool) are spent. For example, they can create proposals to:
- Increase the block size
- Change the number of validators included in the active set
- Choose to fund a support team or a specific committee
- Fund a team to develop a new Secret app
Secret is built with the Tendermint consensus protocol, which makes it a DPoS blockchain.
The benefits of blockchain governance
Because Secret Network governance is permissionless, anyone can get involved by holding and staking SCRT. Permissionless governance is important because it:
- Makes Secret governance democratic and censorship-resistant
- Provides transparency into past decisions and their level of support
- Gives all community members a voice and the chance to contribute with their own ideas
But for Secret governance to be truly democratic, there have to be enough participants. That’s why people who are interested (like you!) are vital to the health of our blockchain.
How Secret governance works
Proof-of-Stake means you need to hold and stake Secret Network’s native coin (SCRT) to vote on proposals. The more SCRT you stake, the higher your voting power.
If delegators don’t vote, they will “inherit” the vote of the validators they’re staking to. If their validators don’t vote either, their votes are not counted and are added to the “coins not participating in the vote” tally.
Current Secret governance parameters
- Minimum deposit amount (no of coins needed to move a proposal into voting): 100 SCRT
- Deposit period (no of days a proposer has to collect the deposit): 1 week
- Voting period (no of days a proposal is on-chain and can be voted on): 1 week
- Quorum (min no of coins that need to participate in a vote): 33.4%
- Threshold (min no of coins that need to vote “yes” for a proposal to pass): 50%
- Veto (min no of coins that need to vote “no with veto” for a… veto): 33.5%
Types of proposals
We can distinguish three types of proposals:
- Parameter Change proposal: Proposals to change parameters of the Secret Network blockchain, like increasing the number of validators on the network.
- Community Pool Spend proposal: Proposals that include a budget request to, for example, fund the building of a new app or onboarding of a new support member.
- Signaling proposal: Proposals that are used to reach consensus on actions to be taken within the ecosystem, but can’t necessarily be implemented right away, or need multiple parties to participate. Examples include deciding on minimum and maximum gas fees (set individually by validators) and changing the structure of committees (this requires discussion between multiple parties).
The voting process
1. The proposal is submitted
Before a proposal is submitted on-chain, it should be posted on the forums for at least seven days. This period creates enough time for the community to review the proposal in multiple feedback rounds. If a significant change is introduced, the proposal should be up on the forums for at least another three days.
2. Deposits are gathered
After submitting the proposal on-chain, a minimum of 100 SCRT must be deposited within 1 week. The required deposit acts as spam protection. This deposit will be burned if the proposal is vetoed (more than 33.4% of the votes are “No With Veto”).
3. The proposal goes on-chain
Once a proposal reaches the required deposit, it transitions into the voting period for seven days, during which validators and delegators can vote.
4. The votes are tallied
At the end of the voting period, the votes are tallied. A proposal is accepted if:
- More than 33.4% of the staked SCRT coins that participated in the vote
- More than 50% of the coins participating voted “Yes”
- Fewer than 33.4% of the coins participating voted “No With Veto”
Note: “Abstain” votes are excluded from the tally.
5. The proposal is implemented
Parameter Change proposals and Community Pool Spend proposals will immediately go into effect upon being passed. With Signaling proposals, all depend on whether a timeline was mentioned or not (note: these proposals can also concern ongoing efforts).
How to vote on proposals using Keplr wallet
The easiest way to get involved in governance is to start voting on proposals. Here are the steps to do so:
Step 1: Get some SCRT and start staking
Before you can vote on proposals you need to become a delegator. Here’s how to do so:
- Install the right wallet — we recommend the Keplr wallet as it includes easy tools for staking and voting on proposals
- Get some SCRT — you can find all your options for doing so here
- Stake your SCRT — read this tutorial to find out how (also includes staking with the Citadel.One wallet)
🚨 If you don’t vote you will automatically inherit the vote of your validator(s) — so pick yours carefully.
Step 2: Check out what proposals are on-chain for voting
- Go into the Keplr wallet web app
- Click on “Secret Network” (on the left side) and select “Governance”
- Click on “Details” to view a full description of the proposal, a link to the discussion on the forums, and a breakdown of the votes so far
🔎 We encourage you to research a proposal before casting your vote. To do so, read the relevant discussions on the forums (you can find the link in the “Details” section of the proposal) and attend the Governance committee calls (you can find the date + time pinned to the #🏛governance channel in our Discord).
Step 3: Cast your vote
Now comes the fun part! Voting is very easy: just click on the button next to the proposal that says “Vote”. When casting your vote, you have 4 options:
- Yes — You agree
- No — You don’t agree
- No With Veto — Counts as a No but adds a Veto, which you can use if you suspect malicious behavior (remember: if more than one-third of the votes are No With Veto, the proposal is automatically rejected and the deposits will be burned)
- Abstain — Indicates you’re not in favor of or against the proposal, but accept the result of the vote (often used in case of conflicting interests or lack of information)
You can change your vote as many times as you like — only the last vote you cast will count as valid.
How to create a proposal
Do you have a great idea for Secret Network? You’re in luck, as anyone can create a proposal to make changes to the network! This includes chain parameter changes, using the community pool to fund new apps or support roles, and much more.
💡 If you’re a developer and looking for funding, you can check out our Grants (to kickstart your Secret project) or our Ecosystem Fund (for long-term financial & strategic support to scale your project).
To create a proposal and make it go on-chain, follow these steps:
Step 1: Create a draft of your proposal
The first step is to create a draft of your proposal that includes:
- An introduction: A description of the project as you’d like to implement it. Include all privacy-related aspects and why you chose Secret Network. Once you put it on-chain, you should add a link to the forum thread where you discussed your proposal.
- Your background: Your team’s background with sufficient detail, including past projects and overall experience.
- Timeline, milestones, and KPIs: A detailed timeline of the proposed project, including milestones and KPIs.
- The budget you request: A breakdown of the budget following the latest guidelines.
Here’s a great example of a proposal by one of our community members that recently went on-chain and was approved!
💡You can use this proposal template. Make sure to copy it to your own Drive before making any changes!
❗️ A note on budget requests in proposals
Here are a few things to keep in mind when requesting a budget with a Community Pool Spend proposal:
- State your budget in USD in your initial proposal
- Convert your budget to SCRT if you submit your proposal on-chain
- Include a 10% volatility buffer to offset potential downturns in the valuation of SCRT
If the value of your ask is more than 10% below the original ask (in USD, without volatility buffer) once your proposal passes, place another Spend Proposal on-chain immediately to make up for the difference.
When you request funding for a limited amount of time, like when running a committee, you can adjust the funding duration instead. An example: let’s say the price at the end of the voting period is 20% below the original price at submission (without buffer). Then you can either make another proposal for the remaining 20% or reduce the funding period by 20% — in which case you won’t have to submit another proposal.
Step 2: Post it on the forums for feedback
Before your proposal goes on-chain, put up your tentative proposal on the forums for seven days to gather community feedback and allow for multiple feedback rounds.
Best practices for posting on the forums:
- Include a descriptive title
- Keep the forum thread updated with any relevant information related to the proposal
- If you make significant changes to the proposal, communicate these clearly and leave your proposal up on the forums for at least three days before moving on-chain
If you want to gather live feedback, the weekly Governance call is your chance to do so! Here you can give a brief rundown of your proposal and field any questions that might pop up later on. You can find the date + time of these calls in the #🏛governance channel on our Discord.
Step 3: Submit your proposal on-chain
Once you’ve put your proposal on the forums for 7 days, gathered community feedback, and implemented changes accordingly, it’s time to submit your proposal on-chain.
To do this, you’ll have to use the Secret Network Light Client (Secret CLI) — a command-line interface tool for interacting with nodes running on Secret Network.
- Install Secret CLI. You can find the instructions here
- Submit your proposal in text format. For Community Pool Spend and Parameter Change proposals, you’ll also have to provide a proposal file. View the full instructions on how to submit a proposal with Secret CLI here.
❗️ A note on Community Pool Spend proposals
When you create a Community Pool Spend proposal, you need to indicate your budget in uSCRT and include a volatility buffer of 10%. Here’s an example of how to do this:
- Budget: $50,000
- SCRT valuation: 9.21 USD
- Volatility buffer: 10%
- 50,000 (USD) * 1.1 (10% buffer) / 9.21 (USD/SCRT) = 5,428.88 SCRT
5,428.88 * 1,000,000 = 5428880000 uSCRT
Need help with SecretCLI and/or creating your proposal? You can ask us any burning questions in the #🏛governance channel on our Discord server or our Governance Telegram group.
Step 4: Secure your deposit
For a proposal to be considered for voting, a minimum of 100 SCRT must be deposited within one week (from the day the proposal was submitted). Proposals that don’t meet this requirement will be deleted.
Any SCRT holder may contribute to this deposit to support proposals — no staking required. This means the party submitting the proposal doesn’t necessarily need to provide the deposit.
Deposits will be returned automatically if:
- The proposal does not reach the minimum deposit threshold
- The proposal is approved or rejected (but not vetoed)
Deposits will be burned if:
- 33.4% or more of the votes are “No With Veto”
- Less than one-third of the staked coins vote
🥳 If your proposal is approved: Celebrate!
If your proposal is approved, the changes will be implemented depending on the type of proposal you submitted and the timelines you outlined.
❗️Adjust your budget in case of big SCRT price fluctuations
If you applied for a budget with a Community Pool Spend proposal, make sure to compare the current valuation of SCRT to when you submitted your proposal.
If it’s more than 10% below the original asking price, you can go back on-chain to update the proposal and make up for the difference. In this case you’ll submit a
Supplemental Spend proposal. (Note: you can’t change anything else about your original proposal except the budget.)
For example:
- You asked for a budget of $50,000
- When you submitted your proposal SCRT was worth 9.21 USD
- When your proposal is approved SCRT has dropped to 5.55 USD
- Because of this you’ll only receive 5,428.88 (SCRT) * 5.55 (USD/SCRT) = 30,130.29 USD — almost 20,000 USD below the $50,000 you asked for
- Since this is more than 10% below the original budget you requested, you can immediately go back on-chain to ask for the difference
Submit a Supplemental Spend Proposal asking for: (50,000–30,130.29) / 5.55 = 3,580.13 SCRT to supplement the original Spend proposal
😭 If your proposal was rejected: CRY
If your proposal is rejected, you can claim back your deposit provided that your proposal was not denied with a No With Veto.
Before giving it another shot with a new proposal, gather feedback from the community to discover why your first proposal was rejected and find out how you can improve your next one.
Note: putting your original (rejected) proposal back on-chain again without any changes will likely result in a No With Veto and the burning of your deposit!
An example of how to submit a proposal in practice
Petra and Hans want to create a new dApp on Secret Network (name is still very secret). They are planning to go on-chain with a Community Pool Spend proposal to support the initial development. They want to ask for a budget of 50,000 USD.
This is how they could go about this:
- They write up a detailed draft proposal, including an introduction, team background, milestones/goals/KPIs, and a budget in USD.
- They post their draft proposal to the forums in the Governance sub-forum on Saturday, January 8th, for community feedback.
- Petra and Hans attend the weekly Governance meeting on January the 12th to give a brief rundown of their intended proposal and field any questions that might pop up.
- On January the 15th (a week after posting the draft to the forums), they prepare to submit the Spend proposal on-chain, after making some small adjustments based on community feedback.
- The SCRT valuation immediately before submitting the proposal is 9.21 USD and their budget was 50,000 USD, including a volatility buffer of 10% this thus comes to: 50,000 (USD) * 1.1 (10% buffer) / 9.21 (USD/SCRT) = 5,428.88 SCRT = 5428880000 uSCRT. They submit their Spend proposal with this ask.
- Voting ends a week later and the vote passes. The SCRT valuation at that moment has dropped to 5.55 USD and Petra and Hans thus only receive 5,428.88 (SCRT) * 5.55 (USD/SCRT) = 30,130.29 USD, almost 20,000 USD below their original ask of 50,000 USD. Since this is less than 45,000 USD (10% below the original ask), Petra and Hans can immediately go back on-chain to ask for the difference.
- They submit a supplemental Spend proposal on-chain asking for: (50,000–30,130.29) / 5.55 = 3,580.13 SCRT to supplement the original Spend proposal and support the development of their Secret dApp.
- During the governance process and the development period, they keep the forum post updated with any important information.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change my vote once I’ve cast it?
Yes, only your last vote will count.
Do I need to stake a minimum amount of SCRT to vote?
No, but remember that you’ll have to pay fees to vote, so you’ll have to weigh that against the impact you can make with your vote.
Where can I view all proposals that are currently on-chain and can be voted on?
In any block explorer — including Secret Nodes and Mintscan — and the web app interface of your Keplr wallet.
What happens when I veto a proposal?
If 33.4% of all voting power vetoes a proposal, it does not pass and the deposit is burned.
What happens when my proposal gets vetoed?
Your deposit will be burned, e.g. you’ll lose the SCRT you put in.
Can I put up another proposal if my first proposal doesn’t pass?
Yes, but we suggest you go back to the community first to discuss it and make changes accordingly. Otherwise, there’s a big chance voters will veto your proposal and your deposit will be burned.
How can I increase the chances of my proposal passing?
By following the latest version of the Secret Network Charter (currently proposal 81) and the best practices outlined in this nifty guide.
What’s the difference between the Community Pool, the Ecosystem Fund, and Grants?
The Community Pool is spent using on-chain governance, the other two funding options are managed by SCRT Labs (the core dev team behind Secret Network).
Can changes be reverted once they go live?
Yes, but only by passing another Parameter Change proposal or a hard fork.
Can I vote on a proposal without a Keplr wallet?
Yes, you can participate in governance with a Citadel.One wallet or with SecretCLI, in which case you’ll need an address with staked SCRT to vote. Here you can find the instructions on how to vote with SecretCLI.
Can I vote without staking?
No, you can only vote with “bonded” (SCRT) coins, on a one bonded SCRT = one vote basis.
Can I vote when I stake with multiple validators?
Of course! If you vote, all the tokens you’re staking will contribute towards that vote.
Does staking with multiple validators give me a chance to vote multiple times?
No, you can pick just one option (“Yes”, “No”, etc.), and all your staked coins will “adopt” that option.
Can I vote using SCRT I’m currently unstaking?
No, you can’t vote on a proposal with “unstaked” SCRT — even if it’s not available in your wallet yet because it’s still unbonding.
Where to join the discussion 💬
For general Governance discussions, you can go to:
- The #🏛governance channel on our Discord server
- Our weekly Governance committee calls (you can find the day + time pinned to the top of the #🏛governance channel on Discord)
- Our Secret Governance Telegram group
- The Secret Governance section on our forums
To view all proposals (past and currently open ones) go to:
For updates on proposals:
- Sign up for our Governance Updates Telegram group
- Get personalized proposal alerts on Telegram with our SCRT Proposal Hunter bot
