Polygon proposes 13-member 'protocol council' to supervise smart contract upgrades

Polygon MATIC -2.29% Labs has introduced a new governance improvement proposal, designated as PIP-29, which seeks to form a Protocol Council to steer changes made to its core smart contracts.

The Protocol Council is set to consist of 13 members charged with supervising modifications to Polygon’s system-level smart contracts. The proposal identifies several influential individuals and organizations slated to join the Protocol Council.

Given the importance of upgradeability in smart contracts for Polygon’s system architecture, the Protocol Council is expected to play a crucial role in ensuring both security and the ability for smooth transitions to updated versions.

The list of proposed council members includes on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, Polygon chief information security officer Mudit Gupta, Coinbase’s protocol operations lead Viktor Bunin, Sommelier Finance founder Zaki Manian, The Daily Gwei host Anthony Sassano, Ethereum Foundation Researcher Justin Drake, Polygon zkEVM co-founder Jordi Baylina, Ethereum France president Jerome de Tychey, security consultant Least Authority's CEO Liz Steininger, on-chain risk auditor Gauntlet, data provider L2Beat and others.

The role of the Protocol Council 

The council will supervise time-locked alterations to these smart contracts on the Ethereum network, pertinent to both current and future Polygon 2.0 protocols. For Polygon 2.0 upgrade, expected in the first half of 2024, the core team is developing a decentralized network of multiple ZK-based Layer 2 chains.

A regular change to Polygon’s smart contracts will require 7/13 consensus signatures from the Protocol Council members with a 10-day timelock. This consensus will be used for all ordinary configuration changes in the contract. In case of an emergency, a change would require a 10/13 consensus from the Protocol Council but with no timelock, according to the proposal.

Changes affecting Polygon’s infrastructure will be carried out via a Gnosis Safe contract. The procedures for such changes will adhere to the framework outlined in the Polygon improvement proposals and will be transparent, as per an official statement.

It’s worth noting that this governance mechanism will operate independently of the existing community-led governance, which is determined through on-chain voting.