In this post you will discover how SCRT blockchain governance works, and how to contribute to the future of Secret Network by creating and voting on proposals.

Secret Network features on chain governance. Community members can make changes according to rules encoded in the blockchain protocol and approved by the network’s validators and delegators.

Community members can influence protocol development and how we spend shared resources, like the funds in the Secret Community Pool.

For example, you can create proposals to:

• Increase the block size
• Change the number of validators included in the active set
• Choose to fund a support team or a specific committee
• Fund a team to develop a new Secret app

Secret Network is built with the Tendermint consensus protocol, which makes it a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) blockchain.

Every proposal must follow these rules to be considered by the community:

💰 Minimum deposit amount:

100 SCRT

🗓💰 Deposit period:

One week

🗓🗳 Voting period:

One week

🗳 Minimum # of coins that need to participate in a vote (quorum):

33.4%

✅ Minimum # of coins that need to vote “yes” for a proposal to pass:

50%

❌ Minimum # of coins that need to vote “no with veto” for a veto:

33.5%

📄 Parameter Change proposals

Proposals to change the Secret Network blockchain rules, like increasing the number of validators on the network.

💸 Community Pool Spend proposals

Proposals that include a budget request to, for example, fund the building of a new app or onboarding of a new support service.

🚩 Signaling proposals

Proposals used to reach consensus on actions we should take as an ecosystem but can’t necessarily be changed right away, or need multiple parties to implement. Examples include deciding on minimum and maximum gas fees (set individually by validators) and changing the structure of a committee.

Parameter Change proposals and Community Pool Spend proposals will immediately go into effect upon being passed.

Signaling proposal adoption depends on whether the proposal mentions a timeline. These proposals can also concern ongoing efforts that initiate one or more future actions.

Now comes the fun part! Voting is very easy: just click on the button next to the proposal that says “Vote”. When casting your vote, you have four options:

✅ YES

You vote to accept the proposal

❌ NO

You vote against the proposal

❌👎 NO WITH VETO

Counts as a No vote, but adds a Veto. You can use this option if you suspect malicious behavior (remember: if more than one-third of the votes are No With Veto, the proposal is automatically rejected and the deposit will be burned)

🤷‍♂️ ABSTAIN

Indicates you’re not in favor of or against the proposal, but accept the result of the vote (often used in case of conflicting interests or lack of information)

Note: You can change your vote as many times as you like—only the last vote you cast will count.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when requesting a budget with a Community Pool Spend proposal:

• State your budget in USD in your initial proposal
• Convert your budget to SCRT once your proposal is ready to go on-chain
• Add a 10% volatility buffer to offset potential downturns in the valuation of SCRT

If the value of your ask is more than 10% below the original ask (in USD, without volatility buffer) once your proposal passes, place another Spend Proposal on-chain immediately to make up for the difference.

When you request funding for a set period, like when running a committee, you can adjust the funding duration as well.

Example: let’s say the price at the end of the voting period is 20% below the original price at submission (without considering the 10% buffer). Then you can either make another proposal for the remaining 20% or reduce the funding period by 20%—in which case you won’t have to submit another proposal.

Before your proposal goes on-chain, put up your tentative proposal on the forums for seven days to gather community feedback.

Best practices for posting on the forums:

• Include a descriptive title
• Keep the forum thread updated with any relevant information related to the proposal
• If you make significant changes to the proposal, communicate these clearly and leave your proposal up on the forums for at least three days before moving on-chain

Visit the Secret Network forums

If you want to gather live feedback, the weekly Governance call is your chance to do so! Here you can give a brief rundown of your proposal and field any questions that might pop up later on.

Once you’ve put your proposal on the forums for seven days, gathered community feedback, and implemented changes accordingly, it’s time to submit your proposal on-chain.

You’ll have to use the Secret Network Light Client (Secret CLI)—a command-line interface tool for interacting with nodes running on Secret Network.

• Install Secret CLI. You can find the instructions here
• Submit your proposal in text format. For Community Pool Spend and Parameter Change proposals, you’ll also have to provide a proposal file. View the full instructions on how to submit a proposal with Secret CLI here

Need help with SecretCLI and/or creating your proposal? You can ask us any burning questions in the #🏛governance channel on our Discord server.

For a proposal to be taken on-chain and considered, the proposer must deposit a minimum of 100 SCRT within one week. Proposals that don’t meet this requirement will be removed.

Any SCRT holder may contribute to this deposit to support proposals—no staking required. The party submitting the proposal doesn’t necessarily need to provide the deposit, so you can fund a proposal written and submitted by someone else.

Deposits will be returned automatically if:

• The proposal does not reach the minimum deposit threshold
• The proposal is approved or rejected (but not vetoed)

Deposits will be burned if:

• 33.4% or more of the votes are “No With Veto”
• Less than one-third of the staked coins vote