Learn · Governance
Governance: Voting, Upgrades & Control
VirtEngine's answer to "who controls this?" has two layers: on-chain governance by bonded stake for protocol decisions, and a not-for-profit foundation whose constitution forbids private capture of the project itself. This guide covers both.
Bonded stake governs
Validators and delegators vote with bonded stake on parameter changes, software upgrades, and chain configuration. Economic parameters — staking targets, validator-fee parameters, marketplace settlement fees and issuance policy — are chain state, adjustable by proposal rather than by decree. If you delegate, your stake carries governance weight; using it is part of the job.
The approved-client list
The most consequential governed object is the approved-client list in x/config: the set of client interfaces permitted to submit VEID identity data. Because identity capture happens in software, the integrity of that software is a trust decision — and VirtEngine puts it to a stakeholder vote with a public proposal trail, rather than leaving it to any single party.
Governed economics
- Marketplace settlement fees — governed parameters applied to settled payments
- Validator transaction-fee parameters — proposed at approximately 90% below standard networks
- Issuance policy — VEID-led 15-token batches: 14 to eligible humans and 1 to the Foundation genesis account
- Chain configuration — operational parameters queryable as state
Roles and administrative power
Privileged capabilities resolve through the roles module (x/roles): auditor status, administrative operations, and configuration changes all require appropriately-roled accounts, with role grants themselves recorded as transactions. Administrative power on VirtEngine is enumerable — you can query who may do what.
The stewardship layer
Above the chain sits DETIO FOUNDATION LTD, an Australian not-for-profit public company limited by guarantee (ACN 699 651 771) that stewards the protocol, patent rights, identity system, chain, and token. Its constitution imposes a public-benefit lock: no operation for private commercial interests, no dividends, no private capture of the IP — and on winding-up, assets pass to another public-benefit entity.
The division of labor is deliberate: stakeholders govern the running protocol; the foundation's constitution guarantees no one can take the protocol itself private.
Asked about governance guide
What can governance change?
Economic parameters — staking targets, fee parameters, issuance policy — plus the approved-client list, chain configuration, and software upgrades. Anything protocol runs by proposal and vote.
Why is the approved-client list so important?
Identity capture happens in software, so that software's integrity is a trust decision — made by stakeholders with a public proposal trail, rather than left to any single party.
What does the Foundation control?
Stewardship of the protocol, patent rights, identity system, chain, and token under a public-benefit lock — not operation of the network or a central VEID service. Stakeholders govern the running protocol; the constitution guarantees no one can take the protocol itself private.