Upcoming governance votes

Hello PlanetWatchers,

Today we are announcing three proposals that will be submitted to two governance votes in the upcoming weeks.

We believe that implementing a truly decentralized governance system is instrumental to the growth of PlanetWatch – this is something to be achieved in two steps. 

The first step is for PlanetWatch to listen to the community and bring forward proposals that key stakeholders support.

The second step is setting up a fully decentralized and transparent system enabling any community member to: 

• submit a proposal;
• trigger discussions across the community;
• measure the amount of traction the proposal gets;
• and eventually submit widely supported proposals to a community vote.

Let’s get to the proposals.

First vote – Recycle bins & Data streams recording

The first governance vote will encompass two separate proposals: 

Tier 1 and 2 recycle bin merge

According to PlanetWatch’s White Paper, Type 1 and Type 2 sensors are entitled to different reward rates based on their location – higher rewards for densely populated areas (Tier 1) and lower rewards for less populated areas (Tier 2).

Because of the bigger incentive to deploy in Tier 1 pixels, more people have deployed in these areas than in Tier 2 ones. As a consequence, the balance of Tier 2 recycle bins, both for Type and Type 2 sensors, is very large (and keeps increasing). On the other hand, as you can see in the image below, the balance of Type 1 – Tier 1 bin is decreasing fast.

This is the reason behind our proposal to merge Tier 1 and Tier 2 recycle bins both for Type 1 and Type 2 sensors. 

We are confident that merging tier bins into a single bin, for each type of outdoor sensor, will lead to a more efficient use of the reward budget and in particular ensure that Type 1 sensors will keep receiving max rewards for a longer period of time.

Data streams rewarding schedule optimization

Currently, data streams are recorded for reward purposes based on time slots that depend on the sensor type. For example, Type 1 streams are recorded every 15 minutes while Type 4 streams are recorded every 2 minutes.

Different time frames increase server load, decrease performance, and complicate operations. This is the reason why we propose that future data streams from all sensors will be recorded for reward purposes every 15 minutes. This will speed up the network’s dataflow, let the reward engine payout in a more timely manner, and provide additional resources and capacities for future growth. 

Please note:

• This time frame alignment will not affect – by any means – the overall quality of the data collected, nor the way data is displayed to the user. We will still collect data as often as needed, but the rewarding schedule will be simplified;
  
• Also, this change does not affect the maximum total daily rewards you can get for your streams. In fact, this change makes it easier for owners of Type 3 and Type 4 sensors to achieve full rewards, as there is a smaller chance of missing rewardable streams. This change will lead to modifications of tables in the White Paper as shown below.

Voting process

We are merging the two proposals above into a single governance vote, which means that you can either agree or disagree with both proposals together. 

We decided to merge these proposals because they both tap into the operation level of our network.

Second vote – Allocating voting rights to Planets holders

Currently, voting power is entirely allocated to sensor owners. No voting power is granted to PlanetWatch supporters who might own a significant amount of Planets but no sensors. Since all Planets long-term holders, both individuals and financial institutions, provide a big contribution to the development of PlanetWatch, we believe we should enable them to make their voices heard in the framework of PlanetWatch’s governance. 

In order to achieve this we propose that, in addition to one vote being allocated for each sensor reputation point (current system), one vote is also allocated for each lot of 1,000 Planets in a voting participating wallet. The aggregate voting power, based on sensor reputation points and Planets held in wallets would be fixed on a snapshot date prior to the voting date. 

It is worth noting that 

• Assigning voting power to Planets holders has the potential to draw additional attention to the Planets token and the PlanetWatch ecosystem at large. It would also increase the utility of our token;
  
• The proposed ratio (1 vote for each lot of 1,000 Planets held) would still grant a lot of power to PlanetWatchers who operate sensors and do not hold substantial amounts of Planets. This is best seen via the example below.

With this proposal, 1,000 votes (based on reputation points) can be achieved by:

Operating reliably 3 sensors of any kind with a runtime of 334 days (already in place)
OR
Holding 1.000.000 Planet Tokens (new)

This proposal reinforces the pivotal role of the Planets token in our ecosystem. It is also the first example of one which was triggered by discussions with a number of community members and supporters, including Borderless Capital. The support of entities such as Borderless Capital is instrumental in boosting PlanetWatch development, by providing the resources, network, and support needed to accelerate the growth of our process and our access to data sales opportunities. 

We will publish a blog post with instructions for each proposal closer to the voting date.