The Solana Foundation has unveiled a new, stake-weighted on-chain governance mechanism designed to formalize protocol decision-making across the network. With this system, validators will be able to propose network-wide changes directly on chain, marking a key shift in how key decisions are reached on Solana. The technical development process for individual proposals will run separately from this new governance initiative.
How the new framework will work
At the center of the new model is the Solana Governance Proposals structure, or SGP. SGPs will allow the core development teams to formally capture the community’s opinion on major issues where a technical roadmap is not yet set. Before any technical specification is drafted, the SGP process will record participants’ preferences, bringing greater transparency and consensus to the network’s direction.
The Foundation emphasizes that SGPs will not replace the longstanding Solana Improvement Documents (SIMD) process, which will remain as the main framework for comprehensive technical changes to the protocol. Instead, SGPs are intended to serve as a consensus-building step, establishing community alignment before development work begins.
The Solana Foundation explains that the SGP framework is specifically designed for decisions with potentially significant, long-term economic impact on the network, aiming to reach clear agreements between validators and token delegators prior to kicking off development.
15% threshold required for voting
To move an SGP proposal to the voting stage, it must receive support from validators controlling at least 15% of the network’s active stake. This threshold is intended to filter out proposals lacking sufficient backing, and to prevent the governance process from becoming congested with low-support issues.
According to the framework, only validators with at least 100,000 delegated SOL are eligible to initiate a governance proposal. Each proposal comprises a markdown-formatted specification file and an on-chain proposal account, anchored by a specific commit hash to precisely identify the version under consideration.
Mini glossary: A commit hash uniquely identifies a specific version of code or documentation in software development. This ensures proposals reference the exact document version put to a vote, preventing post-submission changes.
Once the 15% backing is confirmed, each proposal moves onto a stake-weighted on-chain vote, where only affirmative and negative votes are counted—abstentions are excluded. Approval requires a two-thirds majority within the designated voting period.
| Criteria | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Transition to voting | Minimum 15% support of active stake |
| Eligibility to propose | At least 100,000 delegated SOL |
| Approval threshold | Two-thirds majority |
Direct intervention rights for delegators
The new system assigns clearer roles within Solana’s governance structure and reduces the need for informal coordination on strategic decisions affecting the entire protocol. Meanwhile, technical design authority will continue to reside with the core developers through the SIMD process.
Delegators who assign their tokens to validators will now have a greater say on each individual proposal. If a delegator disagrees with their validator’s voting choice, they can override it on a per-proposal basis, granting stakers more direct control over how their tokens are used in governance decisions.
This framework separates community sentiment from technical implementation and enables delegators to override their validator’s vote on each proposal, as highlighted by the Foundation.
The rollout of SGP comes on the heels of recent infrastructure and security initiatives by Solana. In April, the Foundation launched the STRIDE program in partnership with Asymmetric Research to bolster security audits and incident management capabilities. The SGP framework now adds a governance dimension to the network’s ongoing development.
