Governance Philosophy
GNDX governance is designed around three non-negotiable principles.
Long-Term Alignment
Voting power requires locking tokens. Those unwilling to commit to the protocol long-term should not control its direction.
A 4-year lock delivers 4× the voting power of a 1-year lock. This isn't a bonus — it's the core mechanism. Governance should be controlled by people whose financial interests are tied to the protocol's long-term success, not by speculators who can exit the next day.
Transparency With Speed
Every proposal is public and debated for days before any on-chain action executes. The process is also fast enough to respond to market conditions within a week — not months.
The three-stage process (Temperature Check → Governance Vote → Timelock) is designed to catch bad proposals before they cost gas, give the community time to debate, and still move quickly enough to be useful.
Genuine Decentralization
Admin keys are relinquished at launch. The founding team has no special override powers after deployment. Governance is the protocol's decision-making system — not a rubber stamp for team decisions.
The deployer EOA renounces all admin roles at the end of the deployment script. After launch, the only way to change any parameter is through a $GAME governance vote and Timelock execution.
What Governance Controls
$GAME holders vote on:
- Adding or removing tokens from the index (any tier)
- Adjusting tier weight allocations (within hard on-chain bands: Core 55–65%, Ascent 20–30%, Frontier 10–15%)
- Changing fee parameters (within hardcoded bounds)
- Allocating from the protocol treasury reserve
- Approving smart contract upgrades
- Approving chain expansions
- Electing and removing Gaming Council members
- Modifying TWAP execution parameters
What Governance Cannot Change
These parameters are enforced at the smart contract level. No vote can override them:
| Parameter | Value | Why Immutable |
|---|---|---|
| Max single token weight | 10% (1000 bps) | Prevents index from becoming single-token exposure |
| Audit requirement | 2 audits pre-launch | Protects user funds from unaudited code |
| Team vesting schedule | Immutable after deploy | Prevents team from changing own incentives |
| Max streaming fee | 1.5% | Prevents fee exploitation of index holders |
| Guardian pause max duration | 72 hours | Prevents multisig becoming a permanent backdoor |
Governance Token: $GAME
$GAME is the governance token. However, raw $GAME does not grant votes directly. To participate in governance, holders must lock $GAME as veGAME (vote-escrowed GAME). Only veGAME holders can:
- Create proposals (minimum 1,000 veGAME)
- Vote on proposals
- Receive protocol fee revenue share
This design prevents flash loan attacks on governance — tokens must be locked before a proposal snapshot to count.
The Gaming Council
The Gaming Council is a 7-member elected body that handles the research burden of evaluating index composition proposals. They propose and research; the community decides. The Council cannot execute anything unilaterally.
See Gaming Council for full details.
See also: Proposal Process · veGAME Mechanics