Ten months ago, I wrote about how the EOS Constitution isn't really a contract. As time went on, it became very problematic, especially concerning the scope and role of ECAF (the EOS Core Arbitration Forum) within a DPoS system. Three months ago, I wrote another post following what some describe as a "constitutional crisis" back in December when ECAF issued an order to change a private key and the active block producers essentially said, "No."
By the way, the reason they said no was (IMO) to not set a precedent for blockchain keys being changed because an unelected body said to do so. Instead, months of work went into the lost key recovery solution which Michael Yeates (
So that brings us to today, an historic moment for the EOS Mainnet. The interim constitution is no more!
This happened just a short while ago (as of when I started writing this, about 30 minutes ago) in block 52,570,381 which you can see here:
IMO, the Block Producers (including eosdacserver), who supported this initiative should get your support:
As I adjust my own votes (my proxy currently has 2.8M EOS behind it), I'll certainly consider supporting the BPs who helped make this happen.
This is an historic moment for EOS and DPoS in general. When it comes to governance, this is a bit like changing out the engine of a plane while it's still in flight. The stake holders who vote for block producers who secure the EOS network spoke out with overwhelming approval in the user agreement referendum/poll:
Now some might be concerned about only 1.7% of token holders showing up for the referendum given Article XI of the now replaced interim constitution:
Article XI - Amending
This Constitution and its subordinate documents shall not be amended except by a vote of the token holders with no less than 15% vote participation among tokens and no fewer than 10% more Yes than No votes, sustained for 30 continuous days within a 120 day period.
and
Article XX - Interim Constitution
This constitution is interim and is intended to remain in effect until a permanent constitution is written and ratified in a referendum.
So does 1.7% count as ratification? Where is ratification defined? Does Article XI define ratification or just a special case for when the real constitution (not an interim one) is in place? Fear not, law lovers, because ultimately it doesn't matter.
As I've mentioned many times before, the voting engagement on EOS is not that great:
If you haven't yet voted for BPs or referendum, please consider setting a good EOS proxy like my own (lukeeosproxy) or Freedom Proxy or Brock Pierce's proxy.
The wet-finger-in-the-air guess of 15% voter participation over a 120 day period was far too optimistic about voter engagement. It was never going to happen. When building products or services, the most important thing to do is get it in front of real users. Until you do that, you just have a hobby or idea. As soon as people are willing to put real time, money, and attention into using your live, production product, you don't really know what you have. Once EOS Mainnet went live, we started collecting real-world data and that data told us we had to move forward, even without a 15% engagement.
1.7% may not sound like much, but at today's EOS prices ($5.41) those +17M tokens represent $95,323,918 in value. I'm not sure about you, but in my mind nearly $100M in value is no joke.
Thankfully, for those who love the law, we can point to Article XIV to justify our actions:
Article XIV - Severability
If any part of this Constitution is declared unenforceable or invalid, the remainder will continue to be valid and enforceable.
We essentially declared Article XI invalid today and moved past it. The token holders spoke by voting for BPs who approved the multisig proposal, and changes were made. The beauty of this DPoS example is there was no token fork. There is no "EOS Classic" over this issue. Though other constitutional approaches were submitted and other paths forward were possible (and some are being explored on other EOSIO-based chains), we came to consensus via on-chain voting mechanisms and those with the most at stake in the EOS ecosystem voted with their tokens to support block producers to approve this path.
This is non-violent, global consensus.
This is DPoS.
This is one example of how the world can change towards more voluntary societies who come to agreement without threats of violence or any use of force.
Thank you to all who are participating in this journey forward.
Edit: To be clear, I’m not a lawyer and this is like, just my opinion, man.
