11. Governance

11.1 Governance Philosophy

ISONET governance is built to ensure decentralization, transparency, and long‑term sustainability. It follows the principle of progressive decentralization, gradually shifting decision-making power from the core team to the community as the ecosystem matures.

The governance system ensures:

• No central point of failure

• Transparent fund usage

• Community‑driven innovation

• Systemic checks on malicious proposals

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11.2 Governance Participants

🔹 Token Holders

All $ISONET holders may vote on protocol upgrades, fee adjustments, and treasury decisions. Voting weight is based on:

• Tokens staked

• Duration of staking

• Node tier (additional multipliers)

🔹 Node Operators

Node operators receive enhanced governance privileges because they secure the network. High-tier operators receive up to 2.5x voting multiplier.

🔹 Delegates

Token holders may delegate voting rights to specialized community members who actively review proposals and participate in discussions.

🔹 Protocol Council (Temporary)

A small multisig council oversees early-stage safety and emergency-response functions. This council dissolves by 2027.

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11.3 Proposal Lifecycle

1

Proposal Drafting

Any staker with ≥100,000 $ISONET may create a draft proposal.

This includes:

• Protocol parameter changes

• Treasury allocations

• Network upgrades

• New node tier definitions

• Burn proposals

2

Pre‑Screening

Before entering governance, proposals must pass:

• Automatic safety scanner

• Gas-impact review

• Treasury impact analysis

• Compliance with governance rules

Unsafe proposals are rejected automatically.

3

Public Discussion

Drafts enter a 3–7 day discussion period:

• Forums

• Discord governance channel

• GitHub RFCs

Edits may be made before final submission.

4

Voting Phase

A 7‑day on‑chain voting window opens.

Requirements:

• 10% quorum

• >50% simple majority

5

Timelock

If a proposal passes:

• A 48‑hour timelock activates

• Community can verify the final execution bytecode

• Emergency veto (only for critical exploits) may occur

6

Execution

Upgrades are executed by automated contracts.

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11.4 Voting Mechanics

Voting Weight Formula

Voting power = Staked tokens × Duration multiplier × Node multiplier

Duration Multipliers

• 0–6 months → 1.0×

• 6–12 months → 1.5×

• 12+ months → 2.0×

Node Multipliers

• Sentinel → 1.0×

• Guardian → 1.5×

• Architect → 2.5×

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11.5 Treasury Governance

Treasury Allocation Rules

Funds in the treasury can be used for:

• Grants

• Developer funding

• Partnerships

• Bounties

• Node insurance subsidies

• Marketing

Guardrails

• No withdrawal >5% per proposal

• No multi-proposal stacking

• Requires multisig execution

• All spending visible on-chain

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11.6 Emergency Governance

Activated only if:

• A critical exploit is discovered

• A major governance takeover attempt occurs

• Treasury security is compromised

Emergency powers:

• Temporary pause of routing rewards

• Temporary proposal submission freeze

• Unlocking disaster recovery funds

Emergency authority expires after 7 days.

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11.7 Governance Transparency

Transparency is ensured through:

• On-chain audit logs

• Automatic result publication

• Open-source proposal code

• Quarterly governance reports

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11.8 Governance Roadmap

2025 (Current)

• Governance v1 live

• Basic proposal + voting

• Treasury multisig

• Forum discussion system

2026

• Delegate system

• Weighted reputation model

• Governance analytics dashboard

2027

• Full Governance v2

• AI-assisted proposal scanning

• MPC-secured treasury

• Protocol Council dissolution

2028+

• Autonomous governance

• Fully decentralized policy engine

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The governance system ensures ISONET evolves in a fully decentralized, secure, and transparent way. Token holders, node operators, and delegates collectively shape the entire future of the protocol.