A5. Governance
Core Principle
Those who use the network should help shape it—without compromising the rules that ensure fairness and integrity. Governance at EDMA is about optimization, not revolution. We invite the community to adjust fees, standards, and budgets within carefully defined boundaries, while the foundation remains immutable: No proof. No token. No payment. No double-counting. And critically—50% of each protocol fee is permanently removed from supply on-chain. These principles are not subject to vote.
Governance Participation
EDM holders and stakers can participate in governance decisions. Users may vote directly or delegate their voting power to trusted parties—attestors, builders, or community leaders who understand the nuances of protocol operations.
Working groups organized by function—Attestors, Builders, and Marketplace—draft proposals publicly, ensuring that changes are designed by and for the people most affected by them.
Governance Authority: What Can Change
Governance has the power to tune parameters that affect daily operations and user experience:
Fee Levels: Adjust protocol fees per route within published minimum and maximum bounds. The community can optimize for market conditions without eliminating the economic sustainability of the network.
Fee Distribution: Determine how the non-burned portion of protocol fees is allocated among attestors, network operations, builders, and ecosystem development. The 50% burn is fixed; the remaining 50% is subject to community direction.
Listing Standards: Set minimum lot sizes, required metadata fields, and quality thresholds for different asset categories. These standards ensure marketplace integrity while adapting to evolving market needs.
Attestor Policy: Define SLA thresholds, rotation schedules, and penalty structures for attestors who fail to meet performance standards.
Schema and Category Support: Approve which asset schemas and categories the marketplace will support, allowing the protocol to expand into new verticals while maintaining verification standards.
Every governance parameter operates within guardrails. The community can adjust settings within the defined range but cannot eliminate the boundaries themselves.
Governance Limits: What Cannot Change
The settlement law and integrity mechanisms are immutable. Governance cannot:
Eliminate or weaken Proof-of-Verification requirements
Remove or compromise the One-Claim rule
Allow unverified assets to be listed or traded
Permit double-counted assets on the marketplace
Reduce the protocol fee burn below 50%
Override legal transfer restrictions on regulated assets
Bypass jurisdictional compliance requirements
These constraints ensure that governance optimizes the network without compromising the trust that makes it valuable.
Proposal and Voting Process
Proposals begin with clarity and brevity. Each must articulate: what changes, why buyers and sellers benefit, and how core integrity rules remain intact.
The community reviews proposals in public forums, providing feedback and identifying potential issues. When a proposal is ready, an on-chain vote opens to all eligible participants.
If a proposal passes, a 72-hour timelock activates, giving the entire community a final opportunity to review the change before automatic execution. The blockchain explorer documents every step—who voted, what changed, and the exact block when the change took effect. No surprises, no silent modifications.
Safety Mechanisms
Two systems maintain trust and stability:
Parameter Bounds: Prevent extreme changes that could destabilize the network or create perverse incentives. Governance can optimize within ranges, not eliminate them.
Timelocks: Ensure that no change happens instantly. The mandatory delay allows community review and, if necessary, coordinated response to problematic proposals.
Emergency Pause Authority: In rare emergencies—critical bugs or external security incidents—a limited Security Council can pause a single module for up to 72 hours. This authority is strictly bounded: no other actions are permitted, and every pause must be followed by a public post-mortem and a standard governance resolution. Every pause and unpause is visible on the network status page.
Protocol Fee Allocation
Half of every protocol fee is burned, permanently reducing token supply. The other half sustains network operations and growth.
Governance directs this non-burned portion across four categories:
Attestors: Compensation for timely, accurate verification work
Network Operations: Infrastructure, uptime, monitoring, and incident response
Builders: Grants for SDKs, integrations, dashboards, and developer tools
Ecosystem Development: Audits, education, community tools, and growth initiatives
Allocation splits are set within predefined bounds and reported in real-time on the blockchain explorer, ensuring complete transparency about where every unit of value flows.
Appeals and Accountability
If a listing is frozen due to verification issues, the asset owner can correct the evidence and appeal for reinstatement. If an attestation is incorrect, any party can challenge it—the evidence decides, not reputation or politics.
Attestors who provide inaccurate verifications lose rewards and face potential suspension. Those who consistently meet standards are compensated promptly and fairly.
If a passed governance vote attempts to exceed parameter bounds or violate legal constraints, it simply fails to execute. The explorer displays the reason for rejection, maintaining transparency even in failure.
Our Governance Promise
Your voice matters in shaping EDMA's evolution. You can help ensure fees remain fair, standards stay clear, and rewards align with performance—all without risking the fundamental rule that makes this network trustworthy: money moves only when assets are proven.
Governance at EDMA is intentionally simple: tune what users experience, lock what ensures trust.
Last updated