What is Governance For?

The $GWEI token plays a central role in the decentralized governance of the ETHGas ecosystem. With $3-4 billion dollars flowing through the Ethereum Gas markets each year, it's primary function is to enable holders to participate in the future of the protocol through proposal creation, voting, and delegated decision-making.

1. On-Chain Governance

Holders of $GWEI, can stake their tokens and earn $veGWEI, where $veGWEI can be used to vote on governance proposals, which may include:

• Adjusting core protocol parameters (e.g. fees, incentives, collateral factors)

• Adjusting the buy-back & burn of our token with protocol fees

• Approving smart contract upgrades or migrations

• Allocating funds from the protocol treasury

• Integrating new chains, products, or external partnerships

This ensures that critical decisions affecting the protocol are made in a transparent and decentralized manner.

2. Delegation & Liquid Democracy

To enhance scalability and decision quality, $veGWEI supports vote delegation. Token holders can delegate their voting power to trusted individuals, organizations, or professional delegates, while retaining full ownership of their tokens. This liquid democracy model encourages broad participation without requiring every holder to vote on every proposal.

3. Staking & Governance Weight

To align governance influence with longer-term commitment, voting power can be amplified by staking or locking $GWEI for a defined period. Longer lock durations or higher stake amounts confere proportionately greater voting power. This mechanism incentivizes holders to take a long-term view when participating in governance decisions.

4. Treasury & Ecosystem Development

The protocol's treasury is governed by $veGWEI holders. Governance proposals may allocate treasury funds to ecosystem initiatives, development grants, liqudiity incentives, or strategic partnerships. This community-drivne resource allocation enables sustainable growth while maintaining decentralized control.

5. Upgrade & Emergency Powers

$veGWEI governance serves as the final authority over protocol upgrades, parameter changes, and emergency actions. While operational responsibilities may be delegated to specialized committees or smart contracts, ultimate decision-making power rests with the governance process.

Importantly, the $GWEI token and associated $veGWEI governance tokens do not represent ownership in the protocol, claims on revenue, or any financial rights. Its utility is strictly limited to participating in the decentralized governance of the ETHGas ecosystem.