Introduction
As the first step of this evolution to Astar, the network is transitioning from a centralized governance model to a more decentralized system with the adoption of Governance V1, inspired by Polkadot’s, a model adopted by other parachains within the Polkadot ecosystem. This new onchain governance hub empowers the community and ASTR token holders to shape the future of Astar, fostering a more democratic and resilient ecosystem. The Astar Foundation will continue to be the central force behind Astar, spearheading the development of Astar network and driving growth initiatives within the broader Astar Ecosystem.
Overview
Astar's governance system is an onchain mechanism designed to enable the network to evolve through the collective decision-making of its stakeholders. Its core principle is to ensure that the majority of the stake can guide the network's development. Enabling blockchain governance is a core pillar of Astar evolving into a collective to expand ASTR utility to Soneium and the Superchain ecosystem.
Key features include stake-weighted referenda, Adaptive Quorum Biasing, and batch approval voting. These elements allow token holders and councils to collaboratively shape the protocol.
Governance proposals can originate from the public (token holders) or the Council. Public proposals go through a queue, where the most endorsed ones advance to referendums for stakeholder voting. Treasury proposals and Council proposals are evaluated separately.
The governance process ensures inclusivity and flexibility, allowing token holders to vote directly or delegate their voting power. Decisions made through this system are executed after an enactment period, maintaining transparency and adaptability for Astar’s continuous evolution.
Astar's governance is accessible with Subsquare, a sleek and user-friendly platform designed to streamline your participation in governance. Subsquare makes voting and engaging in governance activities straightforward, empowering every user to have their say with ease. ➡️ Subsquare
The initial governance launch period begins on December 2, 2024, following the runtime upgrade to enable onchain governance on Astar Network.
Note: Governance v1 is based on the initial version of Polkadot's governance, distinct from the current OpenGov model. This model has been successfully adopted by other parachains within the Polkadot ecosystem. It offers a degree of decentralization, relying on the Main Council and Technical Committee for oversight.
We chose this model to avoid reinventing the wheel, as it provides a solid foundation for introducing onchain governance. It also retains centralized entities capable of swiftly responding to network threats or emergencies.
Terminologies & Parameters
- Voting: The process of stakeholders determining whether or not a referendum should pass. Votes are weighted both by the number of ASTR that the stakeholder account controls and the amount of time they are willing to lock their ASTR.
- Proposal: A potential function call to be voted on in a referendum. Proposals can modify the behavior of the network, from minor parameter tuning up to replacing the runtime code.
- Preimage: A Preimage is the hash of the function call intended to be executed by the proposal. In short, it's the action(s) to be executed onchain.
- Referendum: A vote on whether or not a proposal should be accepted by the network. Referenda may be initiated by the Governance Council, by a member of the public, or as the result of a previous proposal. Stakeholders vote on referendums with ASTR tokens.
- Motions: A motion is essentially a "referendum" or "decision" being considered by Councils. Councils can vote on motions like approving Treasury Proposals or making proposals for the community to vote on.
- Launch Period: The Launch Period is the time window during which public proposals are proposed and endorsed by the token holders or external proposals are made by the Main Council. Launch Period is set to 7 days on Astar Network.
- Voting Period: The Voting Period is the time window during which the token holders can vote on the referendum. Voting Period is set to 7 days on Astar Network.
- Enactment Period: In case the referendum passes (quorum achieved during the Voting Period), the Enactment Period is the delay before the proposal is actually executed onchain. The Enactment Period is set to 2 days on Astar Network.
- Endorsing Proposals: Anyone can submit a proposal by depositing the minimum amount of tokens. If someone agrees with the proposal, they may deposit the same amount of tokens to support it - this action is called endorsing. The proposal with the highest amount of bonded support will be selected to be a referendum in the next voting cycle. In case the proposal is canceled (e.g. for being malicious), the user's deposit is slashed.
Note: At the end of a launch period, external proposals from the Main Council are prioritized for becoming referendums. If no external proposals are queued, the public proposal with the highest endorsement will be upgraded to a referendum.
Getting Involved as ASTR Holders
ASTR token holders are the heart of governance, playing a critical role by proposing ideas, making and endorsing proposals, voting on referendums, and requesting treasury funds to benefit Web3 projects. Active community participation ensures the network remains decentralized and aligned with collective interests.
Understand Onchain Proposals vs Offchain Proposals
In Astar's governance system, it's essential to distinguish between onchain and offchain proposals. Both types can now be managed directly on Subsquare, making Townhall no longer necessary for offchain proposals.
Onchain Proposals
These are proposals that directly affect the blockchain and require execution onchain. They are managed through Astar Governance V1 in the Democracy section. Examples of onchain proposals include:
- Changes to network parameters or runtime upgrades;
- Treasury payments;
- DApp Staking Listing and Delisting;
Voting on these proposals involves onchain actions, requires locking tokens and has a direct impact on Astar Network.
Offchain Proposals
These proposals in the Discussions section on Subsquare or the Astar Forum, do not result in any direct changes on the blockchain. They are used to gather community opinions and discuss topics that don’t require onchain execution. Examples of offchain proposals include:
- Deciding where the next Astar Meetup in Japan should take place
- Community-driven discussions on marketing strategies or partnerships
For those already familiar with Astar offchain governance through Astar Gov (Townhall), all discussions and proposals—both onchain and offchain—can now be seamlessly managed on Subsquare. While the Astar Forum remains a valuable space for broader community engagement, Subsquare is now the centralized hub for all governance activities, with:
- Onchain proposals handled under the Democracy section
- Offchain discussions facilitated in the Discussions section
This clear division ensures both onchain and offchain governance processes remain efficient and purpose-driven, empowering the community to engage meaningfully in Astar’s evolution.
What can ASTR token holders do?
- Create a Public Proposal with onchain effect;
- To create an onchain proposal, a minimum deposit of 1000 ASTR is required. If the proposal is canceled, the deposit will be slashed.
- Endorse an existing proposal by reserving some ASTR as a deposit, increasing the chance of it to get upgraded to a referendum;
- If the endorsed proposal is upgraded to a referendum, the deposit is returned.
- If the proposal is canceled due to being malicious, the deposit is slashed.
- If the endorsed proposal is neither upgraded to a referendum nor canceled, the deposit remains locked.
- Vote on an ongoing referendum;
- Request a treasury payout;
- Delegate voting power to another person through delegation.
For detailed explanations on how to perform these actions and step-by-step guide, you can refer to the Astar documentation.
Conviction voting
Astar Network adopts Polkadot's Conviction voting concept, enabling token holders to boost their voting power by committing to lock in their tokens for a specified duration. The longer the lock period, the greater the voting multiplier. Tokens are only locked if the proposal is approved and can be released only at the end of the lock period.
The Base governance lock duration is set to 9 days to match the unlocking period for dApp staking. This should encourage users to participate both in dApp staking & the governance.
Once the locking period ends, tokens can be unlocked from governance through Subsquare or Polkadot.js. Locking tokens in governance differs from locking them in dApp Staking. If you have tokens locked in both governance and dApp Staking simultaneously, you must unlock them from both systems before transferring them from your wallet.
dApp Staking & Governance
Tokens used in Astar Native dApp Staking (Substrate) can also be used in governance for creating, endorsing, or voting on proposals.
Three Councils Model
The governance system also features three main councils: the Main Council, the Technical Committee, and the Community Council. These councils are here to support and execute, ensuring that community-driven decisions are implemented effectively.
Main Council
The Main Council, initially made up of core contributors from the Astar Foundation, manages membership changes across councils, approves Main Treasury spending, and can make proposals that require a simple majority or super-majority in referendums.
- Initially: 6 council members, who can be rotated through Public Referendum.
- Function Privileges:
- Create external proposals with super majority approval, simple majority, super majority against voting schemes.
- Cancel a referendum during the voting phase.
- Approve or reject treasury spending proposals.
Technical Committee
The Technical Committee consists of experienced Astar developers responsible for fast-tracking urgent proposals, canceling harmful ones, and ensuring the network’s technical security and stability. The body is also responsible for proposing key technical decisions regarding further development of Astar L1.
- Initially: 3 committee members which are elected by the Main Council.
- Function Privileges:
- Fast-track or vetoes external proposals from the Main Council.
- Cancel a public proposal.
- Enable or disable emergency maintenance functions on Astar Network.
Community Council
The Community Council, a unique element of Astar governance, composed of 9 members, includes both Foundation members and highly involved Astar community members. Its purpose is to drive Astar’s growth through community initiatives. This body is also responsible for managing the Community Treasury and maintaining dApp Staking, Astar’s unique system designed to provide a basic income for dApp developers and accelerate Web3 adoption.
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Initially: 9 members appointed by the Main Council following community consensus.
- 3 Core team members;
- 3 Ecosystem Agents;
- 3 Community members.
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Member selection:
- Ecosystem Agent Seats: Internal to Ecosystem Agents Program
- Community Representative Seats: Public (Forum)
- Application on Astar Forum;
- Election on Astar Gov (Townhall);
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Function Privileges:
- Register new dApps into dApp staking with 2/3 agreement;
- Unregister dApps from dApp staking with 4/5 agreement;
- Perform lock/unlock/stake/unstake operations for the community treasury with 2/3 agreement;
- Approve or reject community treasury spending via 2/3 agreement.
Public & Community Treasuries
Unlike Polkadot, Astar Network has two onchain treasuries managed through governance:
- Main Treasury under the responsibility of the Main Council. This treasury is designated to fund the growth of the Astar ecosystem through development grants, marketing, community initiatives, liquidity provision, incentives, infrastructure funding, etc.
- The Community Treasury, overseen by the Community Council, is designed to support community development and initiatives such as events, marketing, activities, ecosystem agent rewards, campaigns, etc. It also supports dApp Staking projects through the Unstoppable Community Grant Program.
Treasury proposals
Anyone can create a treasury proposal, which the corresponding council will approve or reject. To create a proposal, the proposer must include a deposit equal to 5% of the requested amount, with a minimum of 100 ASTR and a maximum of 1000 ASTR. If a proposal is approved by the council, it moves to the spending period until executed. The treasury spending period is set to 7 days, meaning funds are paid out weekly.
Join the first ever onchain governance proposal on Astar Network
The activation of onchain governance marks a significant step for Astar and its community. As we embark on this journey toward achieving stability and autonomy in our governance system, we introduce our first proposal to engage the community. This allows you to start participating in the voting process and gain hands-on experience.
This proposal encodes "Astar Governance Day 1" within a block on the Astar Network. It involves a remark call, which are extrinsics with no effect; they serve as notes added to the blockchain by embedding information within a block. While it has no onchain effect, it offers a great opportunity to participate initially before voting on real proposals.
▶️ Today, we are making Astar history with the launch of on-chain governance on Astar Network. Be part of the discussion here: https://forum.astar.network/t/astar-onchain-governance/7537/1
Review the proposal and cast your vote now: https://astar.subsquare.io/democracy/referenda/0
Conclusion
Astar’s governance is a collaborative effort where token holders drive decision-making through proposals and voting, while councils facilitate execution and maintain network stability. This community-driven model empowers everyone to shape Astar’s future and is essential for expanding the network’s capacity to support new initiatives and realize its broader vision. As we advance toward full decentralization, guided by council support, we anticipate a well-developed ecosystem with real-world Web3 adoption, setting the stage for the next phase of Astar's governance evolution. For an in-depth technical explanation of Gov v1, please refer to the Astar or Polkadot documentation.
