The rise of the Martian Council and the future of Mars Protocol

The Citadel hovers high above the Martian plains. There, members of the Martian Council gather to help decide the future of the protocol. The door to the Council is open to all who stake MARS (specifically, xMARS holders).

Earlier today, Mars contributors from Delphi Labs posted Mars Request for Comment, Number 0 (MRC-0) in the Mars Forum. It includes a proposed framework for bringing proposals and ideas to the Martian Council (the DAO of xMARS holders) and safely upgrading the Mars Protocol.

In the sections below, we will outline the proposed framework and detail the recommended steps for successful on-chain votes.

The Mars Protocol upgrade process

No one person or entity controls the Mars Protocol. Instead, control resides in the hands of Mars stakers (xMARS holders) throughout the galaxy. Any xMARS holder can propose a change to the protocol. And any xMARS holder can vote on new proposals.

To facilitate this process, we envision the following workflow for proposing and implementing changes.

1. Submit a Mars Request for Comment (MRC) in the Mars Forums.

MRCs are an opportunity to present your idea and solicit feedback before submitting it for a formal governance vote. Each MRC should be posted for at least 5 days to gather community feedback. After that time, the proposer should review and incorporate any feedback they believe will strengthen the proposal by editing their original post.

MRC-0 includes links to templates for specific types of proposals (specifically for technical proposals, general proposals, adding assets to the Red Bank, and applying for a C2C credit line).

2. Wait for the 2-day freeze period to elapse.

After gathering community feedback, the proposer can make any desired edits to their original post. Then, they must leave the full text of the proposal unchanged for at least two days before it can be sent on for a formal governance vote.

3. Submit a Mars Improvement Proposal (MIP) for an on-chain vote.

The text of an MRC that’s been frozen for at least two days can be used to submit a formal governance vote or Mars Improvement Proposal (MIP). Proposers must submit an on-chain transaction with the MIP details and a link to the original Mars Request for Comment (MRC).

At the protocol’s inception, the following parameters were set for on-chain governance votes: 100,000 MARS must be submitted with the governance proposal. If the proposal passes, all MARS tokens are returned to the proposer. If the proposal is rejected, the 100,000 MARS tokens will be distributed to xMARS holders. The high MARS requirement is intended to protect the protocol from governance attacks in its nascent stages and it incentivizes proposers to listen very closely to community feedback in the forums before proceeding to an on-chain vote.

To pass, a vote must hit the following targets as defined at launch:

• Participation: To be eligible to vote, xMARS holders must have held their xMARS at least 1 block before the MIP was submitted on-chain.
• Quorum: At least 10% of all available voting power (xMARS supply + vesting xMARS) must participate in the vote.
• Threshold: A simple majority (at least 50% + 1 of all cast votes) of participating voters must vote in favor of the proposal.

The voting period will be open for 37028 blocks or approximately 3 days.

4. Implementation.

Proposals that successfully pass an on-chain vote are authorized by the Martian Council for implementation by Mars contributors.

Closing thoughts

MRC-0 will stay active for at least 7 days (5 days + a 2-day freeze). If the community signals support for the proposal, Mars Protocol contributors will submit it for an on-chain vote. Should that vote pass, Mars will use the governance framework as the recommended model for all future upgrades. Please join us in the Mars Forums to make the proposal process better here.

Disclaimers/Conflicts of Interest

The Mars Improvement Proposal (MIPs) Framework (see MRC-0) was made by Delphi Labs Ltd., a British Virgin Islands limited company. Delphi Labs engages in incubation, investment, research and development relevant to multiple ecosystems and protocols and was part of the joint venture which researched and developed the Mars Protocol. Delphi Labs is one of several entities which associate with one another under the “Delphi Digital” brand. Delphi Digital’s associated entities and/or equityholders or service providers of such entities hold MARS and may have financial interests in this proposal. Such entities and persons may also have financial interests in competing projects or ecosystems.

This article does not constitute investment advice. Before interacting with Mars, review the project disclaimers here.

Follow Mars on Twitter for the latest updates from Mission Control.

‍