Proposed Amendments to the SWARM Network Constitution
In an effort to continue evolving and improving governance of the SWARM Network, the SWARM Council is proposing several amendments to the SWARM Network Constitution (SNC). In this blog post, we aim to elucidate the specific aims of each amendment.
The intended purpose of these proposed amendments is to…
- better facilitate thoughtful consideration of Governance Action Ballots (GABs) by the community (to be redefined as “Default Masternode Delegation” — see further explanation below);
- relax certain requirements for staking SWM against GABs;
- eliminate the supermajority requirement for amending the SNC; and
- make other non-substantive, editorial revisions.
Default Masternode Delegation
The most substantial of these amendments is the establishment of a Default Masternode Delegation, aimed at increasing Member engagement and involvement in the governance of the SWARM Network (see definition of “Member”).
Under the current framework, Members can delegate their votes to any other Member in the Network. If several Members do not delegate their votes, or do not themselves vote, this can result in the failure to meet a quorum, and a stalling of potential actions being passed.
The new Governance Action Ballot (GAB) proposes that within each vote, non-voting Members automatically delegate their votes pro rata to the masternodes participating in a vote (hereafter known as “Default Masternode Delegation”). This significantly increases participation and empowers masternodes.
Relaxation of certain requirements for staking SWM against GABs
Two important ‘relaxation’ amendments are being proposed to further enable greater participation in governance.
One proposed amendment is that the minimum stake requirement for a seconder of a ballot (not the Sponsor) is being removed. How does staking against ballots currently work?
- Current Requirements: Ballot seconders are required to stake a minimum of 250 SWM against a proposal to improve its chances of being elevated to a ballot.
- Proposed Requirements: Ballot seconders can stake any amount of SWM against a proposal to improve its chances of being elevated to a ballot.
The desired outcome is that Members with smaller SWM holdings will be able to support a proposal without having to stake a large proportion of their held tokens.
The other amendment proposes to relax the locking period for stakes made against successful ballots. What currently happens to ballot stakes?
- Current Policy: Stakes associated with winning GABs are locked for two months after their vote,after which the staked tokens are returned to the Ballot Sponsors and Ballot Supporters.
- Proposed Policy: Stakes associated with winning GABs are locked for fifteen days after their vote, after which the staked tokens are returned to the Ballot Sponsors and Ballot Supporters.
The desired outcome of this amendment is to remove a potential hindrance for Members who want to support a proposal by addressing concerns that their tokens are locked for an extended period.
Elimination of the supermajority requirement for amending the SWARM Network Constitution
This amendment proposes to reduce the requirement for a supermajority to approve changes to the SWARM Network Constitution itself. This is to ensure that the community is able to effectively manage the affairs of the SWARM Network during this early period of distributed governance.
The current requirement is that any change to the constitution is only approved when
- (a) a quorum is reached and
- (b) the “Adopt” votes receive at least 66% of the total votes cast in the referendum.
Under the newly proposed constitution, if adopted, a ballot for a referendum on an amendment to the SWARM Network Constitution is approved when the votes for “Adopt” outnumber the votes for “Reject “ at the end of the Voting Period. Further, as detailed above, amendments resulting from the new Default Masternode Delegation rule mean than a quorum will no longer be required.
In other words, a simple majority will be sufficient to adopt an amendment to the SNC.
Voting opens Thursday 8 August and runs for a week — concluding 15 August. We encourage our community to read the ballot and participate in these important SWARM Network decisions. Discussion of these ballots and other network-wide topics can be had in our community forum, Telegram, Reddit, and the Issues tab in GitHub.
Follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop about all things SWARM.
