---
title: "governance"
aliases: 
tags: 
- blockchain
---

A structure through which a participant or user of a system agrees to use the system

There are three key elements of governance: Rulers, Rules and Participants. The rulers set the rules based on the participants goals and needs. 

Governance types:
- Standard (e.g., corporations, non-profits, partnerships &c)
	- Direct (each user takes part in the governance model by directly affecting every decision. Votes determine the actions)
	- Representative (user vote to choose a representative who makes decisions on their behalf)
- Blockchain (managing the ever changing state of the blockchain's needs nand demands)
	- Off-chain/On-Chain
		- off-chain/soft- similar to institutions - a group of individuals trusted by the community form a group which is responsible for the blockchain's governance and well-being
		- on (self governing) - users within the chin, directly vote on decisions to be made, changes are then made automatically depending on the outcome - this all happens intra-protocol 
	- Governance of the infrastructure/governance by the infrastructure

# Block chain governance
Four central parties
- Core developers
- Node operatoes
- Token holders
- Blockchain team

## On chain governance
users within the chain directly vote on decisions to be made, changes are then made automatically depending on the outcome - this all happens intra-protocol 

some say this method is dangerous [^1] because it uses a one-vote-per-person system, and therefore is vulnerable to the [sybil-problem](notes/sybil-problem.md). To counteract this some use a one-vote-per-coin system via [proof-of-stake](proof-of-stake). However this means that people/orgs with more coin have more weight in their votes — this is at best a plutocracy

blockchains are experimental software. they are evolving rapidly. There already exists good models for governing hard technical projects: the Linux Foundation and the IETF. demoracies are not suited for fast, robust, change — they waste a lot of time and effort on campaigns, etc.

[^1]: https://hackernoon.com/blockchains-should-not-be-democracies-14379e0e23ad