Governance Phase 2: GoChain Improvement Proposals & Voting — GoChain
The GoChain Foundation’s mission is to promote the long-term success of the public blockchain network and the GoChain ($GO) token to support it. It’s been close to two and a half years since the GoChain mainnet first launched in May 2018. During that time, the GoChain Foundation has remained committed to the growth of a decentralized ecosystem where users can participate in not just the development of blockchain use cases and applications, but also in the governance of the network.
There is a lot of confusion about the term ‘governance’. Our belief is that governance is the process of creating and maintaining a framework for collaboration within which innovation is fostered and an enduring good is created that benefits many. A good governance framework includes rules, but also allows the freedom to adapt and grow within those rules. It’s focused on being able to change in response to opportunities and threats. In short, a good governance framework is designed to create enduring value for those who use the system to which it is applied.
What is blockchain governance?
Blockchain governance is one of the hottest topics today. From ‘code is law’ to more traditional approaches being brought over from public company governance models, experiments are taking place at blockchain companies around the world — with varying degrees of success. Blockchain governance, however it is applied, is about ensuring the integrity of the network and ecosystem around a specific blockchain protocol. It’s about building trust in an emerging technology so that its potential for positive impact on society can be realized.
What will be different about the GoChain governance model?
The GoChain Foundation started working early on to develop a comprehensive governance framework with GoChain Foundation advisor David R. Koenig, author of the critically-acclaimed booked Governance Reimagined: Organizational Design, Risk, and Value Creation, and architect of Networked and Distributive Governance of a Commons — and idea which was awarded the he inaugural HBR/McKinsey M-Prize for Management Innovation from the Management Innovation eXchange (MIX). Together we’ve compiled what we believe is one of the most extensive frameworks for enterprise blockchain governance to-date which takes into account all the stakeholders in the ecosystem including organizations securing the network, $GO token holders, developers, etc.
We view the GoChain ecosystem as a commons — something where its users have access to and a common interest in its long-term success. In sum, GoChain governance will be about ensuring that the GoChain blockchain will be valuable for all and is around for a very long time. Our governance players are networked and distributed. They help preserve and enhance the value of our GoChain commons — something that each stakeholder has an interest in seeing be successful.
Such a framework has taken time to develop and will continue to take time to fully implement. However, we are proud to begin to take steps toward it today by inviting two of the most important stakeholders to participate in our governance: our community of $GO token holders and the organizations staking their reputations to operate nodes and run the network.
Phase 1
Over the past two years, the GoChain Foundation has been the primary driver behind development of GoChain technology, proposing and approving updates, and building out the network. The plan from day 1 was to build up enough reputation in the network, then begin to pass along the torch to the nodes and the community to make governance decisions.
Starting today, organizations operating nodes and $GO token holders will be able to: 1) Propose changes, and 2) register and vote for or against those proposals.
Phase 2
Proposing Changes
In order to submit a proposal, visit the GoChain Foundation github. Proposals must be well thought out and submitted following the submission template. This template includes a 1) summary section with a clear and concise description of what the problem is, 2) a why section where the proposer explains the driving motivation for the change, 3) a specification section with details of how the proposer intends for the change to be implemented, and 4) an additional information to add color, commentary, references, and more.
Proposals that will be considered are those that aim to establish voter support for a specific course of action. For example, the direction of software development, or adopting or changing some policy.
Proposals that receive a minimum of 50 reactions (“thumbs up” or “thumbs down”) on Github with a minimum of 75% being “thumbs up” will be advanced to a consensus vote on the network. We highly encourage proposers to engage with the community in a positive way both before and after submitting a proposal. Engaging the community will allow you to gather feedback, gauge the sentiment for or against the proposal, and better understand your proposal’s chance of success before investing time in a proposal.
Specific details on all of the rules and procedures will be published shortly on the GoChain Foundation website.
Voting For/Against Changes
The beauty of a governance model built on the concepts of Networked and Distributive Governance of a Commons is that it creates a voting system that ensures broad representation of all stakeholders. The ecosystem is designed to be a living entity and a self-governed legal jurisdiction. That’s the difference between successful commons governance and the all too familiar systems which suffer from abusive self-interests, or when regulation is left to governments or overly hands-off self-regulation models (think 2007 Financial Crisis).
There are multiple stakeholders in the GoChain ecosystem, but to begin with, two critical stakeholders will participate in voting: 1) the community of $GO token holders and 2) the organizations staking their reputations to operate nodes and run the network. Both stakeholder groups will have an equal share of influence in the vote (50% and 50%, respectively).
The initial implementation of voting has been designed with simplicity in mind. It should be simple for stakeholders to vote and simple for the system to tally. All stakeholders will vote through their MyGoChain portal and the vote will be recorded transparently on-chain.
Stakeholders will have the option to vote in favor of a proposal (yes), against a proposal (no), or abstain from voting. When the voting period begins, a snapshot of the $GO token balances will be taken of all registered addresses and each stakeholder will receive that number of votes. This means that token holders with more $GO will have proportionately more stake in a vote.
For a proposal motion to pass, at least 75% of the non-abstain votes must be in favor of passing it. Additionally, it is especially important that stakeholders in the GoChain ecosystem participate. Therefore, there will be a quorum requirement of 20% for every vote. This means that at least 20% of all votes cast must be non-abstain for the result to be considered valid.
Specific instructions on how to vote on your MyGoChain portal as well as details and rules about the voting process will be published shortly on the GoChain Foundation website.
Implementing Proposed Changes
If the quorum requirement is met, and more than 75% of the votes are in favour of activating the proposed change, then the GoChain Foundation team will make every effort to expedite the changes in accordance with the wishes of the stakeholders. In the future, this procedure will become more defined.
Proposals Currently Under Review
There are two 2 major proposals which are in the process of gathering support on Github. We encourage you to share these with other stakeholders, conduct your own thorough research, and get involved in the process.
Questions?
No worries, we will be hosting an AMA to address any lingering questions or concerns. Additional details and date / time to follow.
Contact Information:
The GoChain Foundation
Adam Norris, Director of Operations
[email protected]
Originally published at https://gochain.foundation on October 23, 2020.
