A More Detailed Guide to Algo Governance

https://algorand.foundation/governance

The first run of the Algo Governance will begin shortly on October 1st. If you participate you will earn the normal passive staking 5.6% + the applied Governance rate. This means the minimum we will get is 12%, while the maximum is 30%. If there is less than 1 billion total Algo committed, every participant will get 30% (details to follow). The governance is quarterly, with each period lasting 3 months, and will end in Q1 2022.

This governance is an important step for Algo as it allows us to participate in the decision making process and helps decide how the Algo ecosystem develops. The governance will also help decentralize the network, with people using the network having an actual say in partnerships, grants, reward policies for Algo.

Here's some quick clarification to some of the details of how to participate.

How to Join

There will be an inception period which will begin from the end of September. We will have a several day window to commit our Algo to the governance.

Here's how the actual sign up will take place.

TLDR; You can send a zero Algo transaction through the Official Algo wallet or commit through a web portal that will be provided through the Algo foundation website.

"During the inception phase, any Algo-holding account can sign up by sending a zero-Algo pay transaction through the Official Algo wallet to a designated sign-up address, with the committed number of Algos encoded in the Notes field. Also, during the inception period the Foundation will provide a web portal."

I don't think any sign-up addresses have been released yet or the web portal. If anyone has any more information please comment.

The Rewards

https://images.prismic.io/algorandfoundationv2/1d860345-6651-4a0e-8bf3-a801c8a2a279_Capture+rewards.JPG?auto=compress,format

The Algo Foundation has committed 60 million Algo as rewards. The rewards rate for governors is calculated as the ratio between the rewards pool for the period and the number of Algos committed by compliant governors' accounts.

Therefore, if less than 1 billion Algo are committed, each participant would receive 6%+24% = 30%

If there is 2 billion committed, we'd each get 18%. And for over 4 billion there would be a 12% reward.

Therefore, if we are part of the first governance, we can hope for higher percentages(an idea also expressed by the Algo foundation), but we can't say for sure. Either way, 12% as a base is absolutely amazing!

The Voting

According to the Algorand website, there will be a minimum of one vote per governance period. Participants must vote in all voting sessions to claim their rewards. The voting session will be open for governors to vote for 3 days.

The Algorand Foundation will announce each voting session ahead of time, including a full list of the topics that are included in this voting session.

Voting will occur by sending a voting transaction to a designated voting address.

. A Vote-with-the-Foundation option

The UI provided in the web portal for governors will include a simple vote-with-the-foundation checkbox. Governors can check this box, and this will generate a voting transaction that agrees with the Foundation’s recommendation on all topics. Governors that want to do so will be allowed to opt to endorse automatically the Foundation’s preferred choice.

Which Wallet?

"During the inception phase, any Algo-holding account can sign up by sending a zero-Algo pay transaction to a designated sign-up address"

Any privately owned wallet that can hold Algos can be used to participate in the governance program. The Algo official wallet is the safest bet. And as for exchange wallets, they released this statement.

"This will depend on the exchange. Please contact your exchange directly."

It seems that some exchanges may offer services to join governance, however, as you don't technically own your Algo when it's on exchange, it depends on each exchange whether you can participate.

The official Algo Wallet as well as Exodus Wallet have so far been confirmed as working options. If there's any other official confirmation from any exchange or Wallet please comment.

Warning

To make sure you get your rewards do not do these things.

• Do not miss a vote. Remember to look for the auto voting option.
• Do not move your committed Algo out of the wallet during the three month governance period. You can technically move your Algo at any time, but if you move it you lose your governance rewards.

ALSO

"It is NOT advisable to commit 100% of your Algo balance in the wallet to the governance program, since you will need to use a little of it as transaction fees for the voting transactions. It is recommended to leave at least one Algo uncommitted in the account."

I for one was going to commit every damn Algo I had to the governance. So be careful of this!

Interesting facts

We should be able to track the amount of participants and Algo locked into governance through the app which will be cool.

"The Foundation will work with our partners to display governance information directly in the official Algorand wallet and other leading wallets."

I hope this answers any questions about how to participate in Algo Governance. Feel free to add any information I may have missed and good luck!

Rewards details

Governance detailed exposition