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Governance Extent

The extent of Governance varies depending on the level of the hierarchy where one is situated.

Protocol Governance​

Protocol governance profoundly influences the evolution, decentralization and security of the network. It facilitates the growth of the network by allowing changes and improvements to be proposed and implemented, thus promoting innovation and competitiveness. It can enhance decentralization by encouraging stakeholder participation in decision-making, creating a democratic environment. In addition, go governance impacts network security, helping maintain the integrity and resilience of the system.

Zone Rules​

Zone rules encompass the acting entities and the digital resources that interact within a designated Zone. These rules can be tailored to address specific use cases, industry sectors, partnership circles, or geographical regions, facilitating context-specific governance arrangements. By customizing the rules to match the unique characteristics and requirements of each Zone, effective and targeted governance be established, ensuring proper management and compliance within the designated Zone.

OKP4 recognizes the following distinct types of rules.

Zone rules define the rights, obligations, permissions, and prohibitions governing acting entities operating within a specific zone. Numerous rules can be expressed regarding the properties of the acting entity, either established by their metadata or established and verified using Verifiable Credential information.

Here are some of the supported credentials:

  • Identity Credentials: These credentials establish and verify the acting entities' identity within a zone's context. These credentials can be verified by restricting Decentralized Identities through the expression of blacklists or whitelists, thereby controlling authorized identities.
  • Qualification Credentials: These credentials certify acting entities' qualifications, skills, or expertise relevant to the governance process.
  • Reputation Credentials: These credentials provide information about acting entities' reputations or track records in the Axone ecosystem or other ecosystems. They can be based on past performance, ratings, reviews, or endorsements from trusted and acknowledge sources.
  • Token-related Credentials: These credentials bring the proof of token ownership in a wallet, token staking in specific blockchains, token voting, and token transfer history, to list a few — all of which serve as evidence of active participation and contributions within the blockchain ecosystem.
  • Anything as Credentials: These categories of credentials expand the possibilities by considering unconventional or innovative credentials within the governance framework. By acknowledging "Anything as Credentials," the Axone governance framework remains open to diverse forms of evidence and allows for continuous adaptation to meet the evolving needs of the Axone ecosystem.

Zone rules define the conditions under which digital resources can be considered within the scope of an activity involving acting entities. Numerous rules can be expressed regarding the properties of the digital resources established by their metadata.

Here are some of the rules which can be expressed:

  • Format Compatibility: Specify the accepted formats for the digital Resource.
  • Size Limitations: Define the acceptable size for the digital Resource.
  • Metadata Requirements: Specify the mandatory or recommended metadata elements accompanying the digital Resource, providing vital information such as authorship, creation date, or keywords.
  • Ownership and Intellectual Property Rights: Specify ownership rights and intellectual property protections for the digital Resource, including the assignment of rights, licensing agreements, or copyright considerations.
  • Quality Assurance: Specify quality standards or benchmarks for the digital Resource, ensuring its reliability, accuracy, performance, or adherence to specific industry or technical specifications.
  • Anything as Property: Specify conditions on any other property of digital resources, unconventional or emerging, within the governance framework, allowing for adaptable rules and requirements.

The Zone Rules directly address matters that significantly impact business activities. The rules specify the mechanics of business and economic interactions among the various actors within the Zone.

Here are some facets of business models in the zones:

  • Retribution models: Rules establish the economic terms resulting from the orchestration of resources within a zone. The retribution model describes the creation and redistribution of resulting value, benefitting all participating parties. The models can be diverse and significantly different from each other, and their design can either promote equity or impose constraints on it. For instance, in one specific Zone, it may be stated that Open Data does not receive remuneration, whereas other data sets receive remuneration. Conversely, each service provider may set the price associated with their service usage in another zone, with compensation arranged according to this price.
  • Economic Incentives: The rules specify financial incentives to promote desirable behaviors and outcomes within the Zone. This can include mechanisms such as reward systems, token incentives, or revenue-sharing models that encourage active entities to contribute to the growth and development of the Zone actively.

The zone rules also establish the principles by which the rules can be modified, amended, enhanced, or simplified. The Axone governance framework supports various processes, providing flexibility and adaptability of the Zone rules. Let's explore some of the amendment processes supported:

  • Consensus or Voting: Amendments require an agreement or voting process. The Zone rules specify voter qualifications, voting period, approval threshold, and verification mechanisms.
  • Autocratic: A designated entity or group proposes and enacts rule changes. The Zone rules express the entities' decentralized identities and outlines the proposal process and decision criteria.
  • Participatory: Broad stakeholder participation is emphasized. The Zone rules specify the considered entities, the qualification required and the conditions for participation.
  • Bring Your Own Rules: The expressive power of the rules enables the establishment of various amendment processes, which only need to be imagined to become a reality within the Axone protocol. This flexibility allows for exploring and implementing diverse, innovative amendment mechanisms within the protocol.

Resource Consent defines the conditions for including a resource in an activity involving entities operating within a Zone. While the Zone rules specify the regulations from the perspective of the Zone, the consent represents the rules from the perspective of the Resource. It serves as the expression of the resource owner's considerations regarding the terms of use for the Resource, providing guidelines for its proper utilization within the dataverse.

Understanding the unique relationship between the consent of resources and the zone rules is essential. The licenses and zone rules must be compatible, as the powers of a zone recognizing a resource as being included and thus compatible with its operation require reciprocal confirmation of compliance from the helpful resource. It should be noted that, by the hierarchy of norms, zone rules always take precedence over consent in the event of conflicts or discrepancies.

Agreement between parties​

Agreements between parties refer to the contractual arrangements established between entities within the Zones of dataverse, governing their interactions.

Financial Holding Agreement​

This type of agreement sets the mutually agreed-upon rules where tokens or some other resources are held in temporary custody until certain conditions are met. The essence of the Financial Holding Agreement is to securely release the held items only after all agreed-upon conditions are satisfied, thereby offering assurance and protection to all the parties involved.

Service Provision Agreement​

This is an arrangement detailing the terms under which specific services are provided and executed within a Zone as part of the Axone protocol. This agreement stipulates the expectations, duties, and deliverables between all participating entities, such as service providers and consumers. It forms the core of the Orchestration mechanism.