THELOGICALINDIAN - How stakeweighted voting promises to fix blockchain governance
The Polkadot Network is an aggressive blockchain activity that is alive to bear blockchain interoperability. Broadly speaking, Polkadot will acquiesce altered blockchains to affix and communicate, which could boldness difficulties accompanying to crypto affairs and app development. Crypto Briefing covered some of Polkadot’s appearance in added detail in a previous article.
Those appearance await on Polkadot’s babyminding system, which allows it to abide changes and acquaint new features. Polkadot has called to await on on-chain governance, which agency that its changes will be fabricated through bounden votes. Furthermore, Polkadot has been fine-tuning this archetypal to accomplish it as fair and attainable as possible.
Here’s how it works.
Stake-Weighted Voting
Polkadot will use a voting arrangement alleged stake-weighted voting. Typically, on-chain voting agency that one badge is account one vote. “One token, one vote” is accessible to implement, and naturally, it can be begin on several blockchains, including EOS and Cosmos.
However, this gives affluent investors affluence of power. Polkadot will breach abroad from this archetypal by redistributing and rebalancing voting power.
Stake-weighted voting agency that a distinct Polkadot badge can backpack a lot of voting power. In this case, tokens that accept been staked or “locked down” for a best aeon of time are account added votes. This allows investors who are not so affluent to accept a cogent say in affairs artlessly because they are added committed to an outcome.
Polkadot additionally relies on an adopted council, which can adduce or abolish referendums if they ability a accepted accommodation on the matter. The full process is abundant added complex, but the board abundantly exists to adduce reasonable referendums and shut bottomward alarming proposals. It additionally around represents non-voters by attached what able and alive stakeholders can do.
Anyone can adduce a election by staking tokens, and anyone can aback an absolute election in the aforementioned way. The end aftereffect is a voting-based babyminding arrangement that is attainable to best Polkadot users. Stake-weighted voting allows a advanced ambit of users to vote in (and propose) referendums. Meanwhile, the board provides added checks and balances.
On-Chain Upgrades
Strictly speaking, voting is not what makes Polkadot’s arrangement an on-chain babyminding model. Instead, the way in which votes are handled is key. Polkadot’s voting action is binding, and the accomplishments that chase a acknowledged vote are hard-coded into Polkadot itself. The actuality that acknowledged votes cannot be baffled is a authentication of on-chain governance.
Jack Fransham of Polkadot has explained how this action works. The capacity of the advancement action are above the ambit of this article, but in simple terms, Polkadot’s runtime automatically decides whether to accomplish upgrades based on its programming. This additionally ensures that no audience are “left behind” during an upgrade, as Fransham puts it.
This agency that Polkadot avoids the time-consuming adamantine forks that Bitcoin and Ethereum use to accomplish their upgrades. The end aftereffect is that, already a vote is successful, Polkadot’s changes are implemented absolutely quickly.
That said, this does not accomplish Polkadot unique: added blockchains with on-chain governance, such as Tezos, booty a similar approach.
Parachain Governance
It is important to agenda that, because Polkadot is an interoperability platform, it is not aloof a distinct blockchain. In fact, Polkadot will absolutely abutment a ample cardinal of “parachains,” which can assignment in several altered ways. Polkadot will bargain off slots for these parachains, which are “free to architecture their own babyminding mechanisms.”
In this context, Polkadot’s babyminding arrangement will artlessly behest how abounding parachain slots should be open. The activity has noted that awful parachains could activate to form, and there is no babyminding apparatus advised to handle this. In a worst-case scenario, a adamantine angle may be bare to break this problem—which would go adjoin Polkadot’s accepted babyminding practices.
Polkadot believes that awful chains are unlikely, but it admits that the babyminding apparatus could be exploited. “Contentious and victimizing mutations are possible,” Polkadot says. However, such awful mutations are absurd to action because they would crave approval from stakeholders and the council.
Will It Work?
It’s not bright whether Polkadot’s babyminding archetypal will be a success. As of mid-2024, Polkadot’s mainnet barrage is still several months away. That’s back the activity will absolutely charge to prove whether its awful beginning babyminding arrangement will serve its needs. Polkadot has mentioned that the babyminding arrangement could change in the meantime.
There is one snag: in 2017, a ample cardinal of Polkadot tokens were accidentally frozen. Polkadot has appear added public and private sales in the meantime, and it is additionally attempting to un-freeze the aloof tokens. This isn’t anon accompanying to Polkadot’s governance, but it could affect the success of the project.
In any case, babyminding is a behind-the-scenes matter, and Polkadot has affluence abroad activity for it. Polkadot is led by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood and his company, Parity Technologies. Polkadot has additionally partnered with several high-profile blockchains, including Zcash and OmiseGo—and users will apparently affliction about Polkadot’s accomplishments added than its governance.
