Glossary · Governance

Governance action.

A formal on-chain proposal that, if ratified, changes protocol parameters, the constitution, or the treasury.

In depth

CIP-1694 defines several types of governance action: motion of no confidence, update to the Constitutional Committee, new constitution, hard-fork initiation, protocol-parameter update, treasury withdrawal, and a generic "info" action. Anyone can submit one by paying a deposit, which is returned later. Each action has a voting window and, except for info actions, action-specific thresholds from the governance bodies that vote on that type (DReps, SPOs, and/or the Constitutional Committee). Info actions only record votes and cannot be enacted.

Example

A treasury withdrawal of 100,000 ada to fund a public good is filed as a governance action, voted on by DReps and the Constitutional Committee (SPOs do not vote on treasury withdrawals), and only paid out once both reach their thresholds.

Next on this path

  1. Voting procedure The on-chain record of a single vote cast by a DRep, SPO, or the Constitutional Committee.
  2. Constitutional Committee A small group that checks whether each governance action complies with the constitution.
  3. Treasury A pool of ada controlled by on-chain governance and funded by epoch rewards.