The Pocket Network Foundation is proposing a new governance model and we’d like to gather feedback from the community before moving forward.

This post outlines the core principles, how the model works, and the safeguards in place.

Why a New Model?

Our goal is to design a governance system that is secure, fair, and representative. To guide this, we’ve built around four “North Stars”:

• Use Existing Tools: Rely on proven systems, not custom complexity.
• Captureless and Secure: Make hostile takeovers prohibitively expensive.
• Anti-Plutocracy: Limit the ability of the wealthiest to dominate governance.
• Represent All Stakeholders: Ensure builders, node runners, stakers, and community members all have a voice.

How the Model Works?

Validators as Delegates

• Validators secure the network and vote on governance proposals.
• Token holders delegate their stake to validators who best represent their views.
• Delegation is flexible: you can change anytime.
• Choosing validators as delegates significantly helps with sybil resistance and reduces which is curtail to our design due to considerations we have for anti-plutocracy

Quadratic Voting

Instead of “one token = one vote,” voting power grows with the square root of stake. This reduction of power will happen at the validator level.

• 1M tokens = 1,000 votes
• 16M tokens = 4,000 votes

This makes governance harder to capture by large holders and ensures broader participation.

Creating a proposal

To create a proposal a minimum amount of tokens must be staked, this ensures that proposal has a minimum support to begin with.

Community Caucuses

A caucus is a structured group within the community that represents a specific type of stakeholder. For example, builders, node runners, or stakers.