Updated process for deciding the future of Aragon Court

Aragon

• 5 min read
Updated process for deciding the future of Aragon Court

The Aragon Association team has been watching the discussion around the (since withdrawn) proposal put forth by Aragon One CEO Jorge Izquierdo to unify the community's efforts and merge ANJ with ANT. Since the proposal was published both the ANJ and ANT holder communities have expressed the desire to have a greater say in not only the outcome of the proposal but in its design as well. While we initially wanted to leave this discussion and voting process in the hands of the community, the logistics have become complex enough that we believe more coordination is needed to ensure fairness, legitimacy, and accessibility of the process.

As such, after consulting with Aragon One we are announcing a new, slightly modified voting schedule and a lightweight process for community members to put forward alternative proposals that have a chance to be on the ballot alongside Aragon One's proposal.

First, there will be an ANT vote to answer the question, Should Aragon One deploy Aragon Protocol with ANT as its staking token? This is the first and most important decision to make. We have shared a bit about Aragon Protocol in our blog post on Aragon 2, and Jorge shared some of his ideas about Aragon Protocol in the recent town hall, but we feel it's important to share more information and get explicit approval from ANT holders before moving forward with this.

If ANT holders approve the proposal to deploy Aragon Protocol with ANT as its native token, the next decision to make will be about the future of Aragon Court. The initial Aragon One proposal that kicked off this whole discussion was intended to address this decision and now we want to open it up to the community to help us decide. All community members will have an opportunity to put forth a proposal and advocate for their vision of the future.

Before the final ANT vote to decide on the future of ANJ and Aragon Court there will be a non-binding poll of ANJ holders to gather their sentiment on the proposals that will appear on the final ballot. This will give ANJ holders a chance to clearly declare their preferences and better inform the later vote by ANT holders. After the ANJ poll, ANT holders will then have the opportunity to cast the decisive votes and help chart the path forward for ANJ and Aragon Court.

We expect that this will be the last change to the vote process for these proposals and appreciate the community's patience, understanding, and feedback as we've been navigating these important decisions. We look forward to working together to implement whichever proposal ultimately wins in the final vote.

Vote schedule and proposal process

Stage 1. ANT vote on proposal to Deploy Aragon Protocol

  • Aragon One proposes to deploy a smart contract system called Aragon Protocol that uses ANT as the staking token. The first draft of the full proposal has been published by Aragon One here, and the community review officially starts now. The exact details of the proposal may change in response to the review before the vote starts.
  • On Monday November 9th at 16:00 UTC the Aragon Association will start a binding vote on Snapshot asking ANT holders to vote on Aragon One's proposal and answer the question: Should Aragon One deploy Aragon Protocol with ANT as its staking token?
  • The snapshot will use ANT balances at the start of the vote to calculate voting power.
  • The vote will last for 48 hours, ending on Wednesday November 11th at 16:00 UTC.
  • More than 50% of ANT voting on the proposal must vote Yes for the proposal to be approved. There is no minimum quorum.
  • If the Deploy Aragon Protocol proposal is rejected, then we will maintain the status quo (Aragon Court + ANJ governed by the Aragon Network, no Aragon Protocol).
  • If the Deploy Aragon Protocol proposal is approved by ANT holders, then we move on to Stage 2.

Stage 2. Community proposals on The Future of Aragon Court

  • In this stage the community can submit proposals to help decide the future of Aragon Court. Community members could also start submitting proposal drafts for this stage during Stage 1 if they want to get community input sooner and help inform the first vote as well.
  • With the recent approval of Aragon One's proposal to deploy Aragon Protocol with ANT as the staking token, what should happen to ANJ and Aragon Court?
  • Anyone who has a proposal can submit it to the Aragon Network - Proposals subcategory of the Aragon forum.
  • Proposals should follow a similar format as the original Aragon One proposal, and contain the following sections:
  • Summary: two to three sentences at most describing the proposal at a high level.
  • Motivation: detailed explanation of the rationale and motivation for what is proposed to be enacted.
  • Specification: detailed step-by-step description of how exactly the proposal will be enacted.
  • Proposals are due by Monday November 16th at midnight 00:00 UTC (Sunday night/Monday morning). The Aragon Association will then freeze proposals and prepare all properly submitted proposals for the ballot. We recommend submitting proposals at least a few days before the deadline to give the community time to review and give feedback.

Stage 3. ANJ poll on The Future of Aragon Court

  • On Monday November 16th at 16:00 UTC the Aragon Association will start a non-binding, informative poll on Snapshot asking ANJ holders to vote for the proposal they like best. The snapshot will use ANJ balances at the start of the poll to calculate voting power.
  • The poll will use the approval voting method, meaning that ANJ holders will be able to vote for as many of the proposals as they like.
  • Snapshot does not support approval voting directly, so to implement the same voting method, each proposal will be put to a separate vote with Yes and No as the voting options.
  • The poll will last for 48 hours, ending on Wednesday November 18th at 16:00 UTC.

Stage 4. Final ANT vote on The Future of Aragon Court

  • On Wednesday November 18th at 16:00 UTC the Aragon Association will start a binding vote on Snapshot asking ANT holders to vote for the proposal they like best. The snapshot will use ANT balances at the start of the vote to calculate voting power.
  • Like the ANJ poll, each proposal will be put to a separate vote with Yes and No as the voting options.
  • The vote will last for 48 hours, ending on Friday November 20th at 16:00 UTC.
  • The proposal that has greater than 50% support as measured by ANT votes cast AND has the most Yes votes cast in its favor at the time the vote ends wins. There is no minimum quorum.
  • In case of a tie, we will schedule a runoff vote starting Monday November 23rd at 16:00 UTC, also lasting 48 hours with voting power determined at the start of the vote and no minimum quorum. The runoff vote will be conducted using first past the post voting rules. All proposals will be on the same ballot and voters will be asked to vote for the proposal they prefer the most. The proposal that has the most votes cast in its favor at the time the vote ends wins. If there is a tie in the runoff vote then the Aragon Association Board of Directors + Advisor Joel Monegro will vote to break the tie. We will have a final decision to share with the community by no later than November 27th at 16:00 UTC.
  • The Aragon Association commits to dedicating resources to faithfully implement whichever proposal ultimately wins the final ANT vote.

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