Protocol governance

Who is able to change a protocol's rules - its supply schedule, its fees, its transfer rules - and by what process.

Example

A fixed protocol, a vote among holders, a small set of key holders, and a company are four different answers with four different meanings.

Important

Governance determines whether everything else you checked is a fact or a current intention. A supply schedule somebody can vote to change is a plan, not a schedule.

Related terms

• Token unlock — The scheduled release of units held back at issue - typically from a team, early backers or a treasury - into circulating supply.
• Circulating supply — The units of a digital asset currently in holders' hands, as distinct from the total number that will eventually exist.
• Due diligence — The work of independently verifying the claims made about an investment before committing money to it - the documents, the counterparties, the registrations and the numbers.

Lessons that explain it

• Seven questions about one specific asset — What it does, who can issue more of it, who already holds it, how deep the book is, whether the rules can be changed, where you would keep it, and what would tell you that you were wrong. (14 min)

All 578 terms in the Investing glossary