Voting For Governance With Keplr — Simply Staking
In this guide we will first outline what are proposals in Governance, followed by the two parties involved in this process, namely, delegators and validators.
Lastly, we will go through a vote for Governance on a proposal for the Akash chain. The process will be done using the Keplr Wallet.
Cosmos
The Cosmos ecosystem is a network of sovereign blockchains that use the Cosmos SDK as their network building block and use IBC to communicate between each other. At the centre of this ecosystem is the Cosmos Hub, which is the most economically secure and has the strongest validator set of all.
Proposals
An on-chain governance proposal is a binding referendum which could be a poll, a parameter change, or a proposed software upgrade by anybody holding tokens of said network. A Participant submits a proposal, also including a token deposit. Once the network’s required deposit threshold is reached, the proposal enters its voting period.
Participating as a delegator, voting is your right and it is necessary to maintain a secure and community-led network. Cosmos implemented this Governance system in order for anyone participating in a network to be able to contribute to the decision-making that shapes the future of the network.
Understanding proposals is essential to vote accordingly as this will impact the future of the network. The validator whom you have delegated to will vote on your behalf, however, you also have the option to cast your own vote too. Therefore it is important to delegate to a validator whose views align with yours.
Validators and Delegators
Token holders vote for validators in an election process. Validators are responsible for processing transactions and adding blocks to the blockchain. This consensus mechanism is designed as a digital democracy conforming to consensus rules dictated by the network.
Delegators are weighted based on their voting power, which consists of their delegated stake. The validator is therefore elected by token holders akin to stakeholders.
Apart from the voting power and proposals validators may submit, they take turns to produce blocks on-chain. It is critical that the delegator endorses the actions and capabilities of the validator on said network, therefore prospective delegators must do their due diligence before selecting and binding their assets to one, as their actions directly impact their staked tokens by being slashed/penalized if and when a validator misbehaves or suffers too much downtime. The amount will be a percentage of the delegated tokens.
Ultimately, when electing a validator, delegators obtain a voting right for securing the network and may actively participate in governance by submitting a vote or automatically have the validator vote on their behalf on the proposed future improvements to the network.
What you will need:
- Keplr Wallet
- Staked tokens in the Cosmos ecosystem
The 4 Voting Options
Yes
You accept the terms of the proposal.
No
You do not agree with the terms of the proposal, however you may be open to amended future proposals.
No with Veto
You believe the proposal is malicious, and you want their proposal deposit to be taken away.
Abstain
You cannot take a decision on the proposal yet you vote nonetheless, meaning that you are willing to let the rest of the network decide. Abstain votes count to obtain quorum, meaning that at least 40% of the total staked tokens must have participated in the Governance proposal.
Note:
- Voting power is proportional to the amount staked.
- Validators will vote on behalf of the delegators, however the delegators may override the vote of the validators casting the vote themselves.
- Only staked tokens can be used as a means to participate in governance.
Casting your vote on Keplr
We have written a guide on how to set up Keplr if you don’t have it installed.
1- Access your Keplr dashboard by clicking here:
https://wallet.keplr.app/#/dashboard
2- Select the chain you want to cast your vote for. In this case we will voting for a proposal on Akash #9 Developer Program and Community Awards.
3- Click on the Governance option under the Akash tab. The governance page specific to the network will appear.
4- A list of Active and passed proposals will appear. Current proposals are tagged as VOTING PERIOD and ones that have ended are tagged as PASSED.
Click on Details in order to view information on the current active proposal. Alternatively to view passed votes on governance you may click on Details on any of the PASSED votes.
Lastly if you understand the proposal and wish to cast your vote, click on the Vote option.
5- Click Vote.
4- Cast your vote.
5- Confirm by clicking on Confirm.
6- Set the transaction fee and click on Approve.
7- A transaction pop-up notification will appear once and if the transaction succeeds.
Concluding remarks
Blockchain governance is essential to decentralized networks in order for the community itself to bring forward proposals and implement what is in their best interest. Therefore in order for the system to function as intended, network participants should contribute to the network by casting their vote or stake their tokens to a validator that aligns with their views.
This way the Cosmos ecosystem achieves a higher voting turnout as the validators whom the delegators endorse will always automatically vote on their behalf(proxy voting). For the most part, delegators will entrust the validator to do so, however they have the choice to override the vote by casting the vote and sending the vote transaction, provided that the voting period has not ended.
Every society requires a form of governance to maintain an ordered community, by means of common norms set by the community itself along with an objective set of rules in place to maintain order. This objectivity has increasingly become subjective when imposed by entities with absolute centralized power. The Cosmos ecosystem aims to become a network of blockchains that build and maintain individual transparent and permissionless communities by means of blockchain governance. The members of these communities then work together to take decisions in the best interest of their network.
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