Overview
Bitplanet governance enables the community to collectively control the network's evolution. Rather than relying on a centralized foundation or development team to make critical decisions, governance distributes authority to BPL token holders who secure the network through staking.
What is Governance?
Governance is the mechanism through which Bitplanet's community makes binding decisions about the protocol. Every aspect of the network—from economic parameters to resource allocation—can be modified through proposals that token holders vote on.
This system ensures that no single entity controls Bitplanet's future. Instead, the collective wisdom of validators and delegators, weighted by their economic stake in the network, determines how the protocol evolves.
Who Participates?
Governance participation on Bitplanet is stake-weighted, meaning your influence corresponds directly to your economic commitment to the network's security.
Validators
Validators secure the blockchain by running nodes that propose and validate blocks. In governance, validators vote with their total stake: both their self-bonded BPL tokens and tokens delegated to them by others.
A validator controlling 5% of total network stake wields 5% of governance voting power. This alignment ensures validators have strong incentives to make decisions that benefit the network's long-term health.
Delegators
Token holders who delegate their BPL to validators participate indirectly by default—their voting power flows through their chosen validator. However, delegators can override their validator's vote by submitting their own.
This creates accountability: if validators consistently vote against their delegators' interests, delegators can either override specific votes or redelegate to validators whose governance philosophy better aligns with their own.
Proposal Submitters
Anyone holding sufficient BPL can submit proposals. There's no special permission or whitelist—the only requirement is a deposit of 10,000,000 BPL (refunded if the proposal passes or fails normally, burned if vetoed).
What Can Be Governed?
Economic Parameters (Brahma Module)
The most impactful governance domain is economic parameters that determine how value flows through the network:
Inflation Distribution: 50% to AI Attribution, 50% to Network Security (adjustable via governance) - see rationale
Reward Splits: 50% creators, 30% Applications, 20% contributors
Performance Limits: Maximum AIs per block (500), gas limits (25M), processing caps
Grant Controls: Maximum CORE per application (100), grant expiry period (1,000 blocks)
Contribution Types: TRAIN, REFER, CREATE, PROMPT, REVENUE, MARKET_CAP types and their active status
These parameters shape Bitplanet's economic landscape. Changing the siphon percentage from 50% to 60%, for instance, would redirect more inflation to AI development while reducing validator rewards—a trade-off requiring careful community deliberation.
Modified via: Brahma Parameter Updates proposals
Resource Allocation (Core Grants)
Governance controls access to CORE tokens, the permission tokens needed to bootstrap new AI agents. Rather than a centralized committee deciding which projects receive initial funding, the community votes on allocation requests through Core Grant Applications.
When an AI creator or platform needs CORE tokens to mint GEMs for a new AI, they submit a detailed proposal explaining their project's value proposition. Token holders evaluate the merits and vote on whether to approve the allocation.
Modified via: Core Grant Application proposals (or revoked via Remove Core Grant proposals)
System Configuration (Precompile Module)
Technical aspects of the protocol bridging Cosmos and EVM are governed:
Smart contract addresses: Precompiled contracts (governance, staking, Brahma), NFT factories, Uniswap router/factory
CSR contracts: Turnstile and other contract-secured revenue addresses
These updates allow the protocol to point to new contract versions after upgrades or security patches without hard forks.
Modified via: Precompile Address Updates proposals
Governance Rules (Gov Module)
Even the governance system itself can be modified through governance—a self-referential capability that provides maximum flexibility:
Voting periods: Standard (7 days) and expedited (3.5 days) durations
Deposit requirements: Minimum deposits (10M BPL standard, 50M BPL expedited)
Thresholds: Quorum (33.4%), passing threshold (50% standard, 66.7% expedited), veto threshold (33.4%)
Modified via: Governance Parameter Updates proposals
Governance Parameters
Bitplanet's governance operates according to specific parameters that define how proposals are submitted, voted on, and executed:
Minimum Deposit
10,000,000 BPL
Required to enter voting period
Deposit Period
7 days
Time to reach minimum deposit
Voting Period
7 days
Time for voting on active proposals
Quorum
33.4%
Minimum participation required
Threshold
50%
Percentage of YES votes needed to pass
Veto Threshold
33.4%
Percentage of NO_WITH_VETO to veto
Note: The native denomination is technically bplcoin in CLI commands, but we refer to it as "BPL" throughout this documentation for readability.
Expedited Proposals
For urgent matters, expedited proposals offer a faster path:
Voting Period: 3.5 days
Deposit: 50,000,000 BPL
Threshold: 66.7% YES votes
The higher requirements ensure expedited treatment is reserved for truly time-sensitive issues with broad support.
How Voting Works
Proposal Lifecycle
Bitplanet uses a two-stage proposal lifecycle: deposit period followed by voting period.
1. Deposit Period (7 days)
When someone submits a proposal, anyone can contribute BPL toward the required minimum deposit of 10,000,000 BPL. This collaborative mechanism allows proposals with broad support to reach the voting stage even if no single member can afford the full deposit.
If the minimum isn't reached within 7 days, the proposal expires and all deposits are refunded.
2. Voting Period (7 days)
Once minimum deposit is reached, validators and delegators cast votes using one of four options:
YES - Support the proposal
NO - Oppose the proposal
ABSTAIN - Participate in quorum without expressing preference
NO_WITH_VETO - Strong opposition signaling the proposal violates community norms
Passing Requirements
A proposal passes if it meets all three conditions:
Quorum: At least 33.4% of total staked BPL participates
Threshold: At least 50% of votes (excluding ABSTAIN) are YES
No Veto: Fewer than 33.4% vote NO_WITH_VETO
The veto mechanism provides an "emergency brake" for proposals the community views as harmful. If the veto threshold is exceeded, the proposal fails and all deposits are burned rather than refunded—a strong disincentive against bad-faith proposals.
Automatic Execution
Passed proposals execute automatically. The governance module holds special authority to modify parameters, update configurations, and allocate resources without manual intervention.
This automatic execution eliminates the trust assumption present in systems where a centralized team must implement governance decisions. When Bitplanet governance votes YES, the changes happen—no intermediaries required.
Proposal Types
Core Grant Applications
Purpose: Allocate CORE tokens to AI creators and platforms
These proposals request permission to mint CORE tokens, which are then burned 1:1 to create AI-specific GEM tokens. The community evaluates proposals based on project viability, team experience, potential ecosystem value, and requested allocation reasonableness.
Key Mechanics:
Cumulative: Multiple approved grants for the same requester aggregate—if you receive 50 CORE in one proposal and 30 in another, you have 80 total
Expiry: Allocations expire after approximately 1,000 blocks (~1.4 hours) if not claimed, preventing indefinite reservation of CORE tokens
Maximum: Default limit of 100 CORE tokens per application (adjustable via governance)
One-time use: Each allocated CORE can only be claimed once to mint GEM tokens for a specific AI
Remove Core Grant Applications
Purpose: Revoke previously granted CORE allocations
When grant recipients violate terms or allocations need revocation for security reasons, these proposals remove existing CORE grants. This safeguards the ecosystem by allowing the community to respond to policy violations or compromised projects.
Brahma Parameter Updates
Purpose: Modify economic parameters controlling reward distribution
These proposals adjust the economic engine: creator/Application/contributor reward splits, inflation siphon percentage, gas limits, maximum AIs per block, and contribution processing caps. All splits must sum to 1.0, and updates require submitting the complete parameter set for consistency.
Precompile Address Updates
Purpose: Update addresses for precompiled contracts bridging Cosmos and EVM
Precompiled contracts expose BitSDK functions to EVM smart contracts. These proposals update contract addresses after deploying new versions: governance precompile, NFT factory, staking precompile, Brahma precompile, CSR turnstile, and Uniswap router/factory.
Text Proposals
Purpose: Community signaling and coordination
Text proposals contain no executable code—they're pure consensus mechanisms for gauging support for future directions, establishing community standards, or coordinating off-chain activities.
Governance Rule Changes
Purpose: Modify how governance itself operates
The ultimate meta-governance: changing voting periods, quorum requirements, deposit amounts, or threshold percentages. These proposals reshape the decision-making framework for all future proposals.
Why Governance Matters
Adaptability
Bitplanet governance allows the protocol to adapt rapidly when the community reaches consensus, without waiting for foundations or core developers to prioritize changes.
Legitimacy
Decisions made through transparent, stake-weighted voting carry legitimacy that unilateral choices never could. When Bitplanet adjusts parameters or allocates resources, it expresses the revealed preferences of those with the most to lose from bad decisions.
Decentralization
True decentralization requires distributed authority. Bitplanet governance ensures no single entity can unilaterally control the network. Threshold requirements and quorum rules prevent tyranny of small minorities.
Additional Resources
Submitting Proposals - Detailed guide to creating and submitting proposals
Participate as a Validator - Run a validator node and participate in governance
Token Economics - Understand what economic parameters governance controls
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