Governance API

Candidates#

There is no duty assigned to candidates. However, committee members and consensus nodes are elected from certain number of candidates with most votes.

How to Become a Candidate#

An address can be registered as candidate or unregistered afterwards. Corresponding contract methods are as follows:

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS
`RegisterCandidate`	ECPoint publicKey	Adjustable, initially 0.00001
`UnregisterCandidate`	ECPoint publicKey	0.00065536 (CpuFee)

note

Registering / unregistering candidate requires signature. It means candidate registering / unregistering is only self-determined.

Candidate Voting#

Every address has the right to vote to only one address (whether or not it's a candidate). Candidate's received votes are defined as the sum of NEO held by its voter. Every standby committee member will vote to itself in genesis block.

Voting contract method is as follows. Please not that voter's signature will be checked.

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS
`Vote`	UInt160 account, byte[] voteTo	0.00065536 (CpuFee)

As voters' votes & held NEO, as well as registered candidates keep changing, candidate set and their votes are re-calculated in every block.

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS
`GetCandidates`	null	0

Committee#

Function & Scope#

Committee members have the privilege to modify the configuration of Neo network by voting, including:

Role designation
Set fee per byte for network transmission
Set execution fee (CpuFee) factor
Set storage price
Block / unblock account
Set Oracle service price
Set gas released per block
Set fee to register a candidate
Add NNS root
Set the NNS registration/renewal fee
Update the NNS contract
Set minimum fee for contract deployment

Method definition and corresponding fee are defined in PolicyContract as shown below:

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS	Contract
DesignateAsRole	Role role, ECPoint[] nodes	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	RoleManagement
SetFeePerByte	long value	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	PolicyContract
SetExecFeeFactor	uint value	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	PolicyContract
SetStoragePrice	uint value	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	PolicyContract
SetPrice	long price	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	OracleContract
SetGasPerBlock	BigInteger gasPerBlock	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	NeoToken
SetRegisterPrice	long registerPrice	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	NeoToken
AddRoot	string root	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	NameService
SetPrice	long price	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	NameService
Update	ByteString nef, string manifest	StoragePrice * (nefFile.Length + manifest.Length)	NameService
SetMinimumDeploymentFee	BigInteger value	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	ContractManagement

To bring such modification into effect, committee members should send a transaction which calls corresponding method & includes enough signatures on chain. This transaction is executed as long as it's signed by more than half of the committee members.

Furthermore, corresponding reading methods are also supported:

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS	Contract
`GetDesignatedByRole`	Role role, uint index	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	RoleManagement
`GetFeePerByte`	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	PolicyContract
GetExecFeeFactor	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	PolicyContract
GetStoragePrice	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	PolicyContract
`IsBlocked`	UInt160 account	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	PolicyContract
GetPrice	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	OracleContract
`GetGasPerBlock`	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	NeoToken
GetRegisterPrice	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	NeoToken
GetMinimumDeploymentFee	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	ContractManagement

How are committee members elected#

Sort the registered candidates by votes
Take certain numbers of candidates (21 by default) with the most votes as committee members. Committee members are refreshed every 21 blocks.

Corresponding contract method#

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS	Return value
`GetCommittee`	null	0.04194304 (CpuFee)	Current committee members in format of ECPoint[]

Consensus Nodes#

Function & Scope#

Consensus nodes are nodes which are able to start or vote to new block proposals.

How are consensus nodes elected#

Sort the registered candidates by votes
Take certain numbers of candidates (7 by default) with the most votes as consensus nodes. Similar to committee members, consensus nodes are refreshed every 21 blocks.

Corresponding contract method#

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS	Return value
`GetNextBlockValidators`	null	0.04194304 (CpuFee)	Consensus nodes by persisting block in format of ECPoint[]

Token Distribution#

Total NEO amount, or 100 million tokens are distributed in genesis block to standby consensus nodes' multi-signature address.

All interactions in Neo are performed through transactions. Sending a transaction on chain requires paying GAS tokens as fee, including system fee and network fee. System fee will be burnt as resource consumption for transaction execution, while network fee will be distributed to the speaker (the consensus node who starts a new-block proposal) of the block where corresponding transaction is included.

Nep17 Contract Method#

NEO and GAS are Nep17 contracts. Nep17 contract methods are as follows:

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS	Result
`/docs/n3/reference/governance_api/symbol`	null	0	Token symbol.md in String
`/docs/n3/reference/governance_api/decimals`	null	0	Token decimals.md in UInt
`TotalSupply`	null	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	Token total supply in BigInteger
`BalanceOf`	UInt160 account	0.00032768 (CpuFee)	account balance in BigInteger
`Transfer`	UInt160 from, UInt160 to, BigInteger amount	0.00131072 (CpuFee) + 0.0000005 (StorageFee)	Send specified amount of token from Address from to Address to. Please note that it will check from's signature, whether caller is from, whether to is payable, whether from's balance is enough

Contract methods by NEO:

Method	Parameters	Fee in GAS	Return value
`UnclaimedGas`	UInt160 account	0.00131072 (CpuFee)	unclaimed GAS amount of this address in uint