Newton Protocol is designed to become “mature” (i.e. increasingly decentralized and permissionless) over time. To support this transition, governance has been structured to evolve alongside the Protocol, gradually shifting decision-making authority from the Magic Newton Foundation to the broader community. This process is intended to balance community empowerment with the continued stability and security of the network.  The following section outlines the governance framework, including the respective roles of key stakeholders and the phased roadmap toward full decentralization.

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Roles and Responsibilities

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Foundation

The Magic Newton Foundation is responsible for overseeing the long-term development of the Newton Protocol and supporting the ecosystem of users, developers, and contributors. Its core functions include maintaining governance processes, managing treasury resources, facilitating integrations, and promoting sustainable protocol growth.

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Community

The community consists of end users, validators, operators, developers, agents, and blockchain infrastructure providers that use and build with the Newton Protocol. The community’s role is to guide the direction and development of the Protocol. The community’s responsibilities are expected to increase as the Protocol becomes more decentralized by voting on proposals, and eventually once the Protocol reaches full maturity and decentralization, the creation and execution of proposals.

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Governance Rollout Phases

The path to decentralization is divided into clearly defined phases, each representing a milestone in community empowerment. While these phases are sequential, they are not tied to a fixed timeline; progress will depend on the Protocol’s maturity, community readiness, and insights gained along the way. These stages are designed to gradually shift governance responsibilities from the Magic Newton Foundation to the broader ecosystem in a responsible and transparent manner.

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Phase 0: Governance Planning

  • Publish governance roadmap and initial documentation
  • No voting or proposals at this stage

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Phase 1: Initial Governance

  • Establish voting infrastructure and community forums
  • Only the Foundation can propose changes to the Protocol—the community engages in discussions and provides feedback
  • The Foundation makes final decisions while incorporating community sentiment

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Phase 2: Basic Governance

  • Community gains voting rights on predefined parameters and subject areas
  • Foundation continues to initiate proposals but leverages community input through community forums
  • Illustrative examples of governance matters:
    • Ecosystem development grants (e.g., funding third-party wallet interfaces, AI agent development)
    • Chain support decisions (e.g., integration with non-EVM chains requiring custom wallet contracts)
  • Governance voting power will be determined by linear staking (unweighted voting power per NEWT stake amount) 

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Phase 3: Scoped Governance

  • Foundation retains proposal privileges but establishes subject-matter expert councils with community input
  • Depending on the growth of the Protocol and then-current needs, councils could oversee aspects of marketing, business development, developer relations, grants, and education
  • Certain proposal types may become executable via governance voting
  • Same voting mechanics as Phase 2

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Phase 4: Full Governance

  • The Protocol reaches full technical maturity, and decentralization extends to validators and voting weight distribution
  • Subject-matter expert councils are responsible for developing and building community support for governance proposals
  • The community gains governance authority over:
    • Staking reward distribution adjustments
    • Fee structure modifications
    • Annual budget approvals and council elections

Core Protocol changes remain outside governance scope, requiring a rollup hard fork for modifications (similar to Ethereum).  Community voting follows a delegation-based model, based on unweighted linear NEWT staking.  While this governance framework reflects the Foundation’s current approach, it remains subject to change as the Protocol matures and in response to community input or changing circumstances.