Sequencers
The first gate. A change needs their signals before it can become a proposal.
How the network runs
Governance
Have a say in how Aztec changes.
Proposals are discussed in public, sequencers signal, tokenholders vote, and a timelock runs before anything executes.
Three roles.
No single point of control.
Tokenholders
The final say. Voting power comes from $AZTEC locked in governance, staked or not.
Core contributors
An open, merit-based group that reviews every improvement proposal.
From an idea
to a live upgrade.
Every protocol change walks the same path, in public.
Write it down
An improvement proposal starts as a public discussion on GitHub. Security considerations are mandatory.
Turn it into code
An accepted proposal becomes an upgrade payload: real onchain actions anyone can inspect.
Sequencers signal
They signal support as they propose blocks. Without a quorum of signals it goes no further.
Tokenholders decide
After a review delay, voting opens to everyone with locked tokens.
Wait
A mandatory delay gives node operators time to upgrade.
Ship it
Anyone can execute a passed proposal. A failed one cannot be resubmitted.
Three conditions. All required.
Miss any one and the proposal fails.
Quorum
Enough of the total voting power has to take part for the result to count.
Supermajority
A clear margin in favour, not a one-vote win.
Minimum participation
A floor on turnout, so a few large holders cannot decide alone.
How to take part.
Voting power comes from locked tokens.
Stake as a sequencer
Stake 200,000 $AZTEC or more, run the node, and vote with the stake that secures the network.
Open the staking dashboardDelegate to an operator
They run the infrastructure and, by default, may vote for you. Check their voting policy first.
How delegation worksLock for governance only
No rewards, no slashing, and a full vote on every proposal.
Questions, answered.
How does an Aztec protocol upgrade pass?
An improvement proposal is reviewed in public, turned into an onchain upgrade payload, and signalled by sequencers as they propose blocks. With enough signals it becomes a proposal, tokenholders vote, and a mandatory timelock runs before anyone can execute it. It must clear quorum, a supermajority, and a minimum participation level at once.