2.6 Governance

Orbit Chain uses a set of laws and governance consensus system akin to that of a basic constitution. Bitcoin and Ethereum have had problems with consensus that led to several forks of chain being created because they lack a basic governance system with consensus. As such, we believe having governance is paramount to maintaining a good, sustainable system.

‌Governance refers to a set of operational policies centered around a decentralized voting system. It allows Orbit ecosystem partcipants to cast their votes to decide the direction and policies Orbit assumes. However, Orbit governance is not a pure democracy, but a representative democracy. What that means is: regular holders can delegate their ORC to a Candidate and will not be able to directly vote on a subject matter. Instead, Candidates will have voting power vested by holders through ORC, and will exercise their influence on the outcome of a voting process. ‌

How voting occurs

‌All resolutions are to be voted in agreement or disagreement only, and candidates can participate and exercise their right by choosing favor, oppose, or abstain.

‌As such, all resolutions are to be suggested with specific numerical values and avoid vague, abstract forms.

‌Resolution Example 1) Let’s lower the yearly inflation rate from 10% to 8%

‌Resolution Example 2) Let’s use 20,000,000 ORC for execution of IEO

Members of the Governance

‌(1) Candidate

‌‌Top 7 Validators gain additional block-producing rights (# of Validators to increase in future)

‌The rest of the candidates will be on a waitlist to become block producers

‌Candidates are required to participate in voting on Governance resolutions

(2) Voter

‌Voters are allowed to delegate their tokens by voting on a Validator. This is their only responsibility and authority.

‌* Exercising Voting Power on the Governance : ‌Every Candidate has Voting Power proportional to the number of ORC delegated

‌Governance Voting Procedure

‌(1) Resolution Initiative

Required fields: Title, Subject Matter, Numerical Specificities and Reasoning

‌‌Requirements: Candidate must have over 3 million in Voting Power

‌Cost: 100,000 ORC (As soon as the resolution is initiated, this amount is locked up, and is excluded from staking)

‌In the case that the resolution fails, the initiative cost is moved to the reserve, whereas if it is passed, the cost is returned back to the candidate.

(2) ‌Voting Start

‌Time: Voting starts on D+2 00:00 (UTC) from the Resolution Initiative

‌Once a Resolution is registered, a relevant notice is sent out through the Allbit website and other communities

‌Rule 1. For every resolution, Voting Power of a Candidate is determined as per the snapshot taken at the start of Voting

‌Rule 2. During the process of Voting, a change in the number of ORC due to staking/unstaking is not reflected on Voting Power

‌Reason: Due to the current structure of Orbit Chain, Voting Power of Candidates is subject to fluctuations.

‌(3) Voting Procession

‌Voting Period: 7 Days (168 Hours)

‌Voting Options: One in favor, opposition, or abstention

‌Voting is compulsory, and all candidates are required to participate in the voting process (Responsibility imbued by authority)

‌Voting may end prematurely should the valid votes in favor or in opposition pass 50% of the total votes, as determined by the snapshot.

(4) Grace Period

‌Voting Grace Period: From the end of voting, until 14 Days (336 Hours) after the start of Voting

Ex) If the voting is completed in 3 days, the grace period may increase to 11 days in total.

‌If votes are cast during the Grace Period, the votes are not reflected on the voting results.

‌(5) Voting Finalization

Should the quorum not be reached by the end of voting, the resolution is deemed invalid.

‌Quorum: The quorum is the minimum number of votes required for a resolution to pass. This is based on the number of votes determined by the snapshot at the time of voting start, the total number of votes excluding the abstention is considered valid. Quorum is defined as over 40% of these valid votes.

‌Only if over half of the valid votes are in favor of the resolution, the resolution is considered to be successful.

‌Once the result of a resolution is determined, the Grace Period starts for the said resolution.

‌(6) Penalty for failing to participate in voting

‌Penalty: 1% of Candidate’s Voting Power (Slashing)

A candidate who fails to participate in the voting within the Grace Period loses 1% of the allocated Voting Power, and the deducted (slashed) ORC is allocated to the Reserve.

‌(7) Resolution progression

‌There are two major ways that a Resolution may be carried out.

‌Immediate Progression: Resolutions that can be carried out immediately within the system, such as inflation or block reward rate.

Subsequential Progression: Some Resolutions cannot be carried out immediately, such as development, concept, and direction. These resolutions are to be reviewed by the Committee, prior to a relevant agenda and roadmap being shared to the community. ‌