Glossary
Short definitions of the terms used in Cardano governance, each linking to the guides and live data where the concept shows up. Looking for step-by-step instructions instead? See the help guides.
Roles and bodies
- DRep A DRep (delegated representative) is a registered participant in Cardano governance who votes on governance actions with the voting power that ada holders delegate to them.
- SPO An SPO (stake pool operator) runs a Cardano stake pool that produces blocks, and votes as one of the three governance bodies on certain kinds of governance actions.
- Constitutional Committee The Constitutional Committee is the Cardano governance body that checks whether proposed governance actions conform to the Cardano Constitution.
- Proposer The proposer of a Cardano governance action is whoever submitted it on-chain, identified by the reward address that receives the action deposit back.
Voting and delegation
- Delegation Delegation in Cardano governance is handing your ada's voting power to a DRep who votes on governance actions on your behalf; it is separate from staking to a pool.
- Voting power Voting power is the ada-weighted influence a participant has in Cardano governance votes; a DRep's voting power is the sum of all stake delegated to them.
- Abstain Abstain is a vote option and a predefined delegation choice in Cardano governance: abstained stake records no position and is excluded from ratification percentages.
- Vote rationale A vote rationale is the written explanation a voter attaches to a Cardano governance vote as on-chain metadata, telling delegators why they voted the way they did.
Governance action types
- Governance action A governance action is an on-chain proposal in Cardano governance that DReps, SPOs, and the Constitutional Committee vote on within a fixed voting window.
- Motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence is a Cardano governance action declaring that the community no longer trusts the current Constitutional Committee; if ratified, the committee is dissolved.
- Update the constitutional committee This Cardano governance action adds or removes Constitutional Committee members or changes the signing threshold the committee needs to approve actions.
- New constitution or guardrails script This Cardano governance action adopts a new constitution document or updates the on-chain guardrails script that constrains protocol parameter changes.
- Hard fork initiation A hard fork initiation is the Cardano governance action that moves the network to a new protocol major version; DReps, SPOs, and the Constitutional Committee must all approve it.
- Protocol parameter change A protocol parameter change is a Cardano governance action that adjusts on-chain parameters such as fees, block sizes, or governance thresholds.
- Treasury withdrawal A treasury withdrawal is a Cardano governance action that moves ada from the on-chain treasury to a stake address, typically to fund budgets, projects, or grants.
- Info action An info action is a non-binding Cardano governance action that records an on-chain opinion or signal without changing any ledger state.