Aethir Foundation Bylaws
Last updated
Last updated
The Aethir Foundation is committed to decentralization, fostering innovation, and maintaining alignment among all ecosystem participants. The purpose of these bylaws is to establish the governance framework that will enable the sustainable growth and decision-making processes within the Aethir ecosystem.
The Aethir ecosystem is divided into three primary stakeholder classes, each with defined roles and participation rights:
1.1 Compute Providers (2 representatives, 1 for Enterprise, 1 for Edge):
Enterprise Compute Providers and Retail Compute Providers (Edge) who hold seats on the Council and contribute computational resources.
1.2 Checkers:
Appoint a representative to the Council to ensure the integrity of computational resources.
1.3 $ATH Token Holders:
Represented on the Council with voting power tied to $ATH token holdings and additional governance rights for staked $ATH tokens (veATH).
Each class holds distinct powers, including appointing representatives to the Council and engaging in governance proposals specific to their respective roles.
2. The Council
2.1 Role: The Council oversees the day-to-day operations of the Aethir ecosystem and consulting with the Foundation Board on major initiatives. It serves as a forum for community input on operational matters and plays a consultative role between the different classes, ensuring that key decisions are made with input from all stakeholder groups.
2.2 Composition: The Council includes representatives from each class:
Compute Providers
Checkers
$ATH Token Holders
The Indexer Representative
The Foundation Representative
2.3 Powers and Limitations: The Council discusses and ratifies proposals impacting the Aethir ecosystem. While the Council manages day-to-day operations, it lacks authority over treasury-related or major governance decisions, which rest with the Foundation Board.
2.4 Proposal Rights:
During the initial two years, only Council Members may submit formal proposals. After this period, $ATH token holders with 5% of circulating supply may directly propose items without Council sponsorship.
3. Foundation Board
3.1 Role: The Foundation Board as the final decision-maker and steward, ensuring proposals align with Aethir’s mission and legal framework.
3.2 Powers: The Board has the ultimate veto authority over any proposals deemed misaligned with Aethir’s objectives, manages the treasury, and allocates funds for ecosystem growth. While unelected, the Board must justify any vetoes transparently, and actions should reflect community consensus where possible.
3.3 Accountability: To maintain checks on the Board, any vetoed proposal may be subjected to a community override vote. A successful override (requiring 75% approval) will move the proposal forward despite the Board’s initial decision.
4. The Indexer
4.1 Role: The Indexer acts as a central coordinator within the Aethir ecosystem, matching end-users with the appropriate compute resources. The Indexer maintains offtake agreements with end-users and service level agreements with Computer Providers, ensuring resource allocation efficiency. The indexer also oversees the performance and availability of compute resources to meet ecosystem demands.
4.2 Eligibility: To prevent conflicts of interest, the Indexer cannot concurrently serve as a Compute Provider or Checker. The Indexer must possess technical expertise in cloud computing and resource management.
4.3 Appointment: The Indexer is appointed by a governance vote among all staked $ATH holders. Upon successful appointment, the Indexer serves a three-year term unless removed by a governance vote.
4.4 Powers and Responsibilities:
Managing off-take and service level agreements to optimize compute availability.
Ensuring that the allocation of compute resources meets the ecosystem’s performance standards.
Reporting to the Council and the Foundation Board on resource demands and availability, and advising on compute-related governance proposals. 4.5 Removal: The Indexer may be removed if:
A governance vote surpasses the required threshold for removal.
The Indexer entity is dissolved, becomes insolvent, or fails to meet operational standards.
The indexer ceases to operate as a legally compliant entity.
In the event of removal, a by-election will be initiated to appoint a new Indexer who meets the eligibility requirements.
5. Governance Voting Process
Staking and veATH Tokens: Governance is conducted through veATH tokens, which are earned by staking $ATH. Voting power is proportional to the amount and duration of staked tokens.
Voting Stages:
Temperature Check: A preliminary stage to assess community interest in a proposal.
Debate: A formal discussion stage where the proposal is refined and debated.
Implementation Preparation: A buffer period for the foundation to prepare on-chain changes as necessary, time is dependent on the context of the proposal.
Decision: Final voting on-chain, with the implementation following a successful vote.
Delegation: veATH holders can delegate their voting power to trusted community members, who act as their representatives in governance decisions.
Types of Proposals:
Impacting Rewards Proposals: Requires a super-high quorum for any proposals that impact rewards, given the direct financial implications.
Requires a Temperature Check Quorum of 25% of staked supply.
Requires a Decision Quorum of 70% of staked supply.
Impacting Protocol/Stake Base Proposals: Requires a standard quorum for proposals that affect the protocol operations or staking mechanisms but do not directly affect rewards.
Requires a Temperature Check Quorum of 12.5% of staked supply.
Requires a Decision Quorum of 60% of staked supply.
Counter-Proposal Quorum:
Include requirements for a counter-proposal quorum to balance governance processes by ensuring that any alternative proposals meet a designated threshold of participation and support. Counter-Proposals can be raised during the Temperature Check period, or the Implementation Preparation period for any proposal.
They require the same Temperature Check and Decision Quorum of the initial proposal.
Classes of Proposals:
Impacting Rewards Proposals: These proposals affect any financial or reward-related aspects within the Aethir ecosystem and require a super-majority quorum to pass.
Impacting Protocol/Stake Base Proposals: These affect the core protocol operations or staking mechanisms and require a standard quorum.
Quorum Size: Quorum thresholds will be guided by circulating and staked supply data as follows:
Circulating Supply: Approximately 12% of the total supply.
Staked Supply: 25% of the circulating supply is currently staked. Final quorum percentages will be set based on tokenomic analysis to ensure fair representation.
Edge Users Classification: Edge (retail) compute providers are recognized as a distinct class separate from professional compute providers. Voting powers, rights, and obligations of Edge users will be specific to their classification.
ATH Holders Voting Rights:
All $ATH token holders are eligible to vote. Staked $ATH (gATH) provides enhanced voting power with a 1.5x multiplier.
Determination of whether staking affects quorum calculation remains under review, pending further tokenomic assessment.
6. Sentinels
Role: Sentinels are a community-elected multisig group responsible for protecting the Aethir ecosystem from hostile governance takeovers. They hold veto powers to block malicious proposals or technical threats.
Powers:
Veto any changes to bylaws or proposals deemed to be malicious.
Publish a rationale for vetoing any proposal to maintain transparency
Counterproposal Authority: The Sentinels shall have authority to assess counter proposals for any governance or operational risk. In situations where a counterproposal may undermine the integrity, security, or objectives of the Aethir ecosystem, the Sentinels retain the right to veto the counterproposal. Any veto exercised must be publicly justified to ensure transparency, providing rationale to the community on the grounds for such action.
Limitations: Vetoes are subject to approval by the Council and can be overridden by a 75% community vote, ensuring balance between security and decentralization. The overriding of Vetoes will be instated 24 months after the launch of Governance, to ensure enough of the network is circulating, preventing any malicious attacks on the protocol by individual financiers.
7. Elections
Council Elections: Representatives from each stakeholder class (Compute Providers, Checkers, $ATH Token Holders) are elected through governance votes. Candidates must meet specific eligibility criteria based on their contributions to the ecosystem.
Indexer Elections: The Indexer is selected through a governance vote of all staked ATH holders.
Sentinel Elections: Periodically, Sentinels are renewed through community governance votes.
8. Amendments and Major Changes
Class-Specific Proposals: Changes impacting only a specific stakeholder class (e.g., Compute Providers) require approval and quorum from that particular class, preserving each group’s autonomy over matters that specifically impact them.
Community-Wide Proposals: Proposals with ecosystem-wide impact require the approval of the entire Aethir community, with higher quorum and approval thresholds to ensure broad consensus.
Minor Changes: Typographical corrections and clarifications do not require full governance votes and can be handled administratively.
