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Governance

The Aptos on-chain governance is a process by which the Aptos community members can create and vote on proposals that minimize the cost of blockchain upgrades. The following describes the scope of these proposals for the Aptos on-chain governance:

  • Changes to the blockchain parameters, for example, the epoch duration, and the minimum required and maximum allowed validator stake.
  • Changes to the core blockchain code.
  • Upgrades to the Aptos Framework modules for fixing bugs or for adding or enhancing the Aptos blockchain functionality.
  • Deploying new framework modules (at the address 0x1 - 0xa).

How a proposal becomes ready to be resolved​

See below for a summary description of how a proposal comes to exist and when it becomes ready to be resolved:

Proposal voting flowProposal voting flow
  • The Aptos community can suggest an Aptos Improvement Proposal (AIP) in the Aptos Foundation AIP GitHub.
  • When appropriate, an on-chain proposal can be created for the AIP via the aptos_governance module.
  • Voters can then vote on this proposal on-chain via the aptos_governance module. If there is sufficient support for a proposal, then it can be resolved.
  • Governance requires a minimal number of votes to be cast by an expiration threshold. However, if sufficient votes, more than 50% of the total supply, are accumulated prior to that threshold, the proposal can be executed without waiting for the full voting period.

Who can propose​

  • To either propose or vote, you must stake, but you are not required to run a validator node. However, we recommend that you run validator with a stake as part of the validator set to gain rewards from your stake.
  • To create a proposal, the proposer's backing stake pool must have the minimum required proposer stake. The proposer's stake must be locked up for at least as long as the proposal's voting period. This is to avoid potential spam proposals.
  • Proposers can create a proposal by calling aptos_governance::create_proposal.

Who can vote​

  • To vote, you must stake, though you are not required to run a validator node. Your voting power is derived from the backing stake pool.
  • Voting power is calculated based on the current epoch's active stake of the proposer or voter's backing stake pool. In addition, the stake pool's lockup must be at least as long as the proposal's duration.
  • Verify proposals before voting. Ensure each proposal is linked to its source code, and if there is a corresponding AIP, the AIP is in the title and description.
tip

Each stake pool can be used to vote on each proposal exactly only one time.

Who can resolve​

  • Anyone can resolve an on-chain proposal that has passed voting requirements by using the aptos governance execute-proposal command from Aptos CLI.

Aptos Improvement Proposals (AIPs)​

AIPs are proposals created by the Aptos community or the Aptos Labs team to improve the operations and development of the Aptos chain. To submit an AIP, create an issue in Aptos Foundation's GitHub repository using the template To keep up with new AIPs, check the #aip-announcements channel on Aptos' discord channel. To view and vote on on-chain proposals, go to Aptos' Governance website.

Technical Implementation of Aptos Governance​

The majority of the governance logic is in aptos_governance.move and voting.move. The aptos_governance module outlines how users can interact with Aptos Governance. It's the external-facing module of the Aptos on-chain governance process and contains logic and checks that are specific to Aptos Governance. The voting module is the Aptos governance standard that can be used by DAOs on the Aptos chain to create their own on-chain governance process.

If you are thinking about creating a DAO on Aptos, you can refer to aptos_governance's usage of the voting module as an example. In aptos_governance, we rely on the voting module to create, vote on, and resolve a proposal.

  • aptos_governance::create_proposal calls voting::create_proposal to create a proposal on-chain, when an off-chain AIP acquires sufficient importance.
  • aptos_governance::vote calls voting::vote to record the vote on a proposal on-chain;
  • aptos_governance::resolve can be called by anyone. It calls voting::resolve to resolve the proposal on-chain.