Governance
Notareum governance is designed to transition from foundation stewardship to full community ownership over three years. The native mechanism is vote-escrowed NOTA (veNOTA): locking NOTA for longer periods grants proportionally greater voting power, aligning governance with long-term commitment rather than short-term token holdings. This page covers the NOTA token properties, the veNOTA lock mechanism, governable parameters, and the progressive decentralization roadmap.NOTA token
TheNotareumNOTAToken is an ERC-20 token with votes, permit, and burnable extensions.
The initial supply is minted to the deployer at construction. Additional minting is possible via
mint(address, uint256) restricted to ROLE_OPERATOR, enabling goal-oriented distribution tied to KPIs. See $NOTA Token for the full economic design.
veNOTA vote-escrow
NotareumVeNOTA is an ERC-721 contract where each locked position is an NFT.
Lock parameters
Creating a lock
amount: NOTA to lock (MUST be > 0).duration: lock duration in seconds (91 days to 1,461 days).- Returns an ERC-721 token ID representing the lock position.
Voting power formula
Voting power decays linearly as the lock approaches expiry:timeRemaining = lockEnd - block.timestamp (0 if expired). At maximum lock (1,461 days): votingPower = amount * 10. At minimum lock (91 days): votingPower ≈ amount * 0.062. At expiry: votingPower = 0.
Managing lock positions
increaseLockAmount(tokenId, amount): Add more NOTA to an existing lock.extendLock(tokenId, newDuration): Extend lock end time. New end MUST be later than current.withdraw(tokenId): Withdraw NOTA after lock expiry. Burns the NFT.
Example
Governance parameters
Parameters are organized into three categories by sensitivity.Category A: Critical
Require veNOTA supermajority plus a timelock. Include quorum sizes, approval thresholds, minimum stake requirements per tier, unbonding period duration, and maximum burn rate. These are the parameters that define the security model of the protocol.Category B: Economic
Require veNOTA majority. Include active burn rate, treasury rate, alias registration fee, and verification fees per level. These control the token economics and protocol revenue.Category C: Operational
RequireROLE_PROTOCOL_ADMIN. Include treasury address, burn address, fee collector address, and contract pause/unpause. These are administrative parameters requiring fast execution.
Access control roles
All privileged operations are gated throughNotareumAccessManager with seven named roles.
Progressive decentralization
Governance follows a three-phase roadmap. Year 1: Foundation Leadership. Foundation multisig holdsROLE_ADMIN and ROLE_PROTOCOL_ADMIN. veNOTA voting is used for signaling and non-binding community feedback. Core contracts are audited and deployed.
Year 2: Hybrid Governance. ROLE_PROTOCOL_ADMIN operations require a passing veNOTA governance vote followed by Foundation multisig execution. Category B parameters are governed on-chain. Community earns influence as token distribution broadens.
Year 3+: Full Decentralization. Community-elected councils hold administrative roles. A Governor contract holds ROLE_PROTOCOL_ADMIN. Foundation retains only an emergency multisig veto. All Category A and B changes flow through community governance.
Timelock
All governance-controlled Category A and B parameter changes SHOULD be subject to a minimum 48-hour timelock before execution. This gives the community time to review and coordinate responses to potentially harmful governance proposals before they take effect.Security considerations
Plutocracy risk. The 10x multiplier for long-term lockers gives disproportionate power to whale stakers. The protocol SHOULD implement voter participation thresholds and quorum minimums. Governance attack window. The 14-day unbonding period limits how quickly an attacker can acquire then exit validator stake after a governance attack. Lock periods from 91 days to 1,461 days further commit voting capital. Timelock. All Category A and B changes SHOULD have a minimum 48-hour timelock before execution.Related pages
- $NOTA Token for the token overview
- veNOTA for lock mechanics and examples
- Fee Model for governable fee parameters
- Security for the governance threat model
- Participating in Governance guide