Need for Clarity on Astar Network’s Governance Models

[Maarten]

Thanks a lot for your post.

@tora0515

1. Fragmented Governance Platforms
Governance activities are scattered across three platforms:

• Astar Forum
• Subsquare https://astar.subsquare.io/
• Townhall https://astargov.com/

Foundation stands is currently as following as stated in the article: https://astar.network/blog/astar-onchain-governance-153

For those already familiar with Astar offchain governance through Astar Gov (Townhall), all discussions and proposals—both onchain and offchain—can now be seamlessly managed on Subsquare. While the Astar Forum remains a valuable space for broader community engagement, Subsquare is now the centralized hub for all governance activities, with:

• Onchain proposals handled under the Democracy section
• Offchain discussions facilitated in the Discussions section

The recent use of Townhall was because a certain feature was not yet possible to do on Subsquare:

Voting will open tomorrow. After reconsideration, we’ve decided to conduct the vote on Astar Gov (Townhall). Initially, we planned to use Subsquare, but it doesn’t offer voting power based on tokens or multiple options. Since these features are available on Astar Gov, we have chosen it for this vote.
Source: Introducing the Community Council - #13 by Gaius_sama

In short: Subsquare is the only place that will be seen as source of truth!

@tora0515

4. Low Participation and Awareness

Participation in governance is significantly lower than expected compared to the total user base and Astar holdings in wallets.

I identify this as a common issue in the current web3 landscape. Everyone is shouting for a governance system and decentralization but only a few actively participate. I do understand this because it takes time and the ROI is limited. What we will do from Foundation is to make sure that we keep promoting our governance systems through our socials, community, projects, etc…

Highlight the possibility to delegate your votes to some delegators that can be your voice if you trust them based on their actions and interactions on the forum and voting participation: Subsquare | Astar Delegation

We are just getting started with the full onchain governance so I do expect some time to get it more embedded in our daily habits.

@tora0515

I’d love to hear the community’s thoughts and suggestions on:

• How we can integrate or streamline the governance platforms.
• Ways to standardize and improve the voting process.
• Strategies to increase participation and awareness.

To recap on my view:

1. Only Subsquare is recognized by Astar Foundation as hub for every related to onchain proposals. The forum is purely for discussions, not voting!
2. We follow the standardization mentioned here, related to the different councils: Technical Guide | Welcome to Astar
3. Keep actively promoting and increase its visibility