Greetings Harmony Validators
Many of you had questions regarding HIP-25: Validator DAO Bootstrap Initiative and what is to happen going forward. The Validator DAO Bootstrap Initiative proposal is a much anticipated program for assisting new validators in gaining election. The vote was largely in favor of the program and had already passed quorum. That is why it was a surprise for many that the vote did not pass. The Governors wanted to address the Harmony Validator questions in order to help everyone understand what happened.
I thought that quorum was already met?
The current Snapshot takes the stake weight count at the end of the voting period and not the beginning. This is dynamic tracking of the stake weight that is done during the voting process can give the impression that a quorum was already met when that is not the case.
What caused the quorum to not be met?
A significant increase in stake weight happened to a non-voting validator. However, it is important to note that this was not the only cause as quorum still could have been met by having other validators vote. The proposal was short by a small percentage. Admittedly though the significant increase in stake weight can be problematic in passing other less popular proposals in the future.
How can the Harmony Validators govern effectively with the new quorum threshold?
This is a fair question and not unreasonable to ask. Everyone is interested in successful self-governance. Harmony and the interested parties are in discussions on how to move forward. Now this can take many forms but as an example, Harmony validator can set a governance flag for those wanting to participate in governance. Those validators with the governance flag indicator will have their stake weight counted for quorum.
I have other questions?
Please feel free to ask them here and hopefully one of the governors or a member of the Harmony team can answer it.