As we move towards Store’s goal of operating four independent governance branches (Executive, Mining, Judicial, and Security), there are two preceding steps. The first of these steps took place in January 2021, when Store began the process of establishing its decentralized governance system by holding its First Governance Vote (FGV). For the first time, a public vote was taken on critical Store economics by those that lead governance. This post will detail the FGV, as well as the lessons and insights we learned from this experience and how they are being incorporated into Store’s upcoming Second Governance Vote.
The Ballot
The FGV ballot contained three measures in which voters were asked:
- To set the current price of the $STORE token to:
- $0.049 ($19.87MM Allocated Market Cap)
- $0.059 ($23.93MM Allocated Market Cap)
- $0.069 ($27.98MM Allocated Market Cap)
2. Whether Store may retroactively readjust the price to $0.035 for token holders that bought at higher prices.
3. If $STORE purchasers in the pipeline at the time of the vote would be allowed to purchase at $0.035.
For a measure to pass, a simple majority was required.
The Voters
Qualified voters are those that purchased at least $10,000.00 worth of $STORE between January 2020 and January 2021 at the price of $0.035 per token.
Our team reached out to qualified voters via email to confirm their intent to vote and sent each voter a unique registration number. A quorum was established via this registration process that required at least three qualified voters to register. Of the 23 qualified Store voters, all 23 registered to vote and 18 participated.
In accordance with Store’s 1 Entity; 1 Vote system, each qualified voter would have an equal vote, regardless of the number of tokens owned.
The Results
After the first round of voting was completed and results were tallied, two measures were passed with a simple majority and one required a second round of voting.
- The first round of voting to set the current $STORE price saw results as followed:
- $0.049: 9
- $0.059: 2
- $0.069: 7
Because a simple majority was not reached, the $0.059 price was removed from the ballot and the second round of voting commenced:
- $0.049: 8
- $0.069: 9
With a simple majority of nine votes to eight, the $STORE token was re-priced to $0.069.
2. When asked whether Store may readjust the price to $0.035, voters responded:
- Yes: 16
- No: 2
With a simple majority of 16 votes to two, it has been decided that Store may readjust the price to $0.035.
3. When asked if $STORE purchasers in the pipeline at the time of the vote would be allowed to purchase at $0.035, voters responded:
- Yes: 17
- No: 1
With a simple majority of 17 votes to one, $STORE purchasers in the pipeline will be able to purchase the token at $0.035.
Takeaways
Draft formal policies for operations and first rules for governance
Our team will develop formal, transparent policies for the voting process. Some, if not all, of these policies, should then be proposed as the first set of rules to vote on for governance.
Invest in technical resources to enable governance to scale quickly with community
Due to this vote taking place with a small number of qualified voters, we were able to use a very manual process. Going forward, there should be a technical team (project manager and engineer) focused exclusively on building out governance tools and working with the community to reduce human error and increase transparency.
Articulate a clear voting philosophy to inform voting procedures
The voting philosophy that underscores the different layers of governance needs to be better defined. Store has adopted a more parliamentary approach (as opposed to a general election), but not entirely. Voters, for example, may be anonymous with their wallets (similar to a general election) but subject to parliamentary rules (e.g. quorum). Our team will continue to work to hash out the policies and best practices necessary to fully automate governance procedures.
The completion of the FGV is a major step forward as we continue moving towards the decentralization of the decision-making process on Store.
The lessons and insights from this experience are being incorporated into Store’s upcoming Second Governance Vote for the launch of a test net. The SGV will further decentralize governance by increasing the number of potential qualified voters and the shifting authority of the protocol away from centralized control.
These steps will ultimately culminate in the launching of the Store main net with a truly decentralized democracy.
