Solana Launches Onchain Governance, Giving Stakers a Direct Voice in Protocol Decisions

The Solana Foundation has launched Solana Governance Proposals (SGPs), a new onchain governance system that allows validators and stakers to formally participate in major protocol decisions.

Under the new framework, any validator with at least 100,000 $SOL delegated can submit an SGP. Votes take place fully onchain, use stake-weighted voting, and are verified through Merkle proofs. Delegators also gain the ability to override their validator's vote or cast a vote if their validator does not participate, a feature the Solana Foundation describes as "staker sovereignty."

According to the Foundation, proposals remain permissionless, but voting only begins after a proposal receives support from at least 15% of the network's stake. The threshold aims to ensure the validator set only votes on issues that attract meaningful community interest while allowing developers to continue routine protocol work without frequent governance votes.

The launch follows months of debate over how Solana makes protocol decisions, after the failure of the SIMD-0228 inflation reduction proposal exposed concerns that validators held disproportionate influence over governance. The new system expands participation by allowing delegators to directly influence votes that affect the network's future.

SGPs Vs. SIMDs

The new governance model distinguishes between Solana Governance Proposals and Solana Improvement Documents (SIMDs). An SGP answers the question, "Should we do this?" It provides a stake-weighted signal from validators and delegators on whether the ecosystem supports pursuing a particular direction. A SIMD answers a different question: "How exactly do we do this?" It focuses on the technical specification required to implement protocol changes and remains subject to review by core developers.

The Solana Foundation said all governance proposals should now use the SGP process, while SIMDs should remain focused on technical implementation. The Foundation pointed to Alpenglow, Solana's proposed consensus upgrade, as an example. An SGP could have first measured community support for pursuing the idea before one or more detailed SIMDs defined the implementation. A successful SGP gives core developers a clear mandate to move forward, while the implementation work continues through the SIMD process.

How the Voting Process Works

Every SGP contains two components. The first is a public markdown document outlining the proposal, rationale, and voting question. The second is an onchain proposal account created through the svmgov program that links directly to that document.

An SGP is intended for long-term directional decisions with onchain economic implications that benefit from stake-weighted community input. If fewer than 15% of the network's stake supports holding a vote, the standard SIMD process continues without an SGP. Once the 15% support threshold is reached, the proposal advances to a stake-weighted vote.

To pass, a proposal requires a two-thirds supermajority of participating stake. Abstentions do not count toward the calculation, and there is no minimum turnout requirement.

Community Members Welcome the Change

Dr. Nick Almond, Head of Governance at Jito Foundation, described the launch as a major milestone, saying Solana now operates what he believes is the most advanced decentralized governance system in operation.

Michael Hubbard, CEO of SOL Strategies, said previous governance votes relied on manually issuing voting tokens and tallying results, calling the new system a significant improvement. He added that enabling validators to represent the stake entrusted to them strengthens the long-term health and safety of the network and ecosystem.

Michael Repetný, Co-Founder and CEO of Marinade Labs, said that protocol decisions that previously occurred through Discord discussions and private conversations can now be proposed, voted on, and verified directly onchain, allowing anyone to independently verify the outcome rather than relying on others.

Why Solana Changed Its Governance Model

The introduction of Solana Governance Proposals comes after SIMD-0228, a proposal that would have reduced $SOL inflation, failed to pass last year. The vote sparked criticism of Solana’s governance process because only validators could participate directly, even though tokenomics affect every $SOL holder.

Critics argued that validators had a financial incentive to oppose the proposal because inflation increases staking rewards, raising concerns that validators' interests and the broader community's were not always aligned. The new SGP framework addresses part of that criticism by allowing delegators to override their validator’s vote or vote when their validator abstains.

The timing is significant because Solana is preparing to consider some of the largest economic policy proposals since SIMD-0228. These include SIMD-0550, a new disinflation proposal that revisits changes to $SOL’s issuance model, and SIMD-0553, which proposes an additional base fee on transactions that is eventually burned. According to estimates, SIMD-0553 could burn up to 9,000 $SOL per day.

The governance launch also arrives as the Solana Foundation Delegation Program continues to represent a smaller share of the network's total stake.

According to Blockworks data, the Foundation Delegation Program accounted for 4.92% of the total staked $SOL during Q2 2026, representing approximately $1.6 billion in delegated $SOL.

That marks the program's lowest quarterly share on record, indicating that a growing portion of staking power now sits with the broader validator and staking community as Solana's new governance framework takes effect.

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