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Polkadot Launch:
Enabling Governance and Removing Sudo Phase

Now that the chain was running well with a large validator set, the Sudo key enabled the suite of governance modules in Polkadot, e.g. the Council, Technical Committee, and public referenda. Once the Council and governance tools were in place, the public could effect changes in the system and Sudo was removed. Without Sudo, the chain was no longer a candidate but a live, decentralized network.

Diagram showing how governance works

The DOT Holders, the Council, and the Technical Committee are the three bodies of on-chain governance in Polkadot.

In Polkadot governance, public referenda can be proposed and voted on by any DOT holder in the system as long as they provide a bond. Anyone in the community can also submit their candidacy for joining the council or vote for councillors. The council is an elected body of on-chain accounts that are intended to represent the passive stakeholders of Polkadot.

Polkadot launch: Governance phase

For more details on the governance system,
please see the Polkadot wiki.

Elect Council Members

Moving to the next phase

With a Council and Technical Committee in place, and Sudo functionality removed from the chain, one of the first features enabled was token transfers with a runtime upgrade.

See All Phases

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