Plans for Building Democranet: A new on-chain voting system for governance

1 month ago 8

I am planning to build a new project called Democranet. It is an on-chain voting system for project and group governance. The name comes from combining democracy with Internet (or network), meaning democracy powered by networks.

A Different Design

Most on-chain governance systems today are created separately for each project. The design for Democranet is different: it is a single deployed smart contract system that multiple projects use.

This makes it more like a protocol than an application. Instead of each project creating its own governance contracts, projects connect to Democranet and use it directly.

This might be called Decentralized Governance as a Service (DGaaS).

I plan for Democranet to be permissionless, meaning any project can start using it for governance without needing approval.

A Dual-Layer Governance Model

I plan for Democranet to have a dual-layer governance system:

Senators: Each project can appoint or elect a group of senators.
Proposals: Token holders can submit proposals.
Filtering: Senators review proposals and decide which ones move forward.
Senate Vote: Senators vote on proposals; if a proposal passes, it advances.
Token Holder Vote: Finally, all token holders vote on senate passed proposals.

I plan to make the system configurable and adaptable to meet the needs and wants of different projects. For example, perhaps projects could assign senators at the start of governance or they could be elected by token holders. Or perhaps a project decides not to have any senators and just have token holders vote on proposals. I plan for various features and capabilities to be enabled, disabled or adjusted according to each project’s needs.

Development

I plan to write the Democranet smart contracts using EIP-2535 Diamonds, a standard I authored. Diamonds make it possible to create modular and upgradeable smart contract systems, which is well-suited for a governance system that can grow and evolve over time.

I am looking for people who may want to build Democranet with me. Areas where help is needed include:

Solidity Developers - work with me on smart contracts and testing.
Web Developers & Designers - build a great front-end experience for governance.
Graphics Designers & Branding - make a brand and make this project look beautiful.
Marketing & Community Builders - grow awareness and attract early projects.
Legal & Compliance Experts – help navigate regulatory uncertainties around governance and tokens.
Business Development - identify partnerships and projects that can benefit from Democranet.

At this stage, Democranet has no funding—it’s still early and experimental. If you’re interested in making this project with me, please fill out this form and join the Democranet Discord server so we can connect.

Market Research

I’m gathering insights from projects and individuals about their needs in on-chain governance. I want to understand the pain points with current systems and what improvements matter most.

I want to learn from you about on-chain voting systems for governance. Here are some questions I have:

What frustrates you about current voting systems used for project governance?
What features would make on-chain voting governance easier for you to use?
How could voting systems for governance be improved?
Which projects or communities could benefit from Democranet?
Which blockchain should Democranet be deployed on and why?

Please answer these questions and more in this survey and let’s discuss in the Democranet Discord server.

Summary

I plan to build Democranet, an on-chain voting system for project and group governance that:

Operates as a single deployed protocol for many projects.
Is permissionless, so any project can use it.
Uses a dual-layer governance model that is configurable.
Is being developed with EIP-2535 Diamonds for modularity and upgradeability.
Is in an early stage, currently focused on team-building and research.