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Delegation

Delegation is a key feature of the Lisk DAO, as it allows token holders to participate in the governance of the Lisk project passively by entrusting a representative with voting on proposals in a way that aligns with their own beliefs and values. By delegating their voting power to a delegate of their choice, token holders can influence that their interests are represented in the decision-making process.

However, token holders give a lot of power to the delegate to make the right decisions on proposals. This is why it is important to choose a delegate that you trust and that you believe will act in the best interest of the Lisk project and the community. We recommend choosing a delegate who is active in the community, has a good reputation, and has a track record of making good decisions.

The following sources might support you in your delegation decision:

  • Lisk Chat: Get in touch with your delegate in the Lisk chat, or ask other users about their experiences with the delegate.
  • Lisk Governance Forum: The Lisk Governance Forum provides a section for delegates to present themselves to the community.
  • Lisk DAO Tally instance: Check the delegate's profile, voting history, and activity on the Lisk DAO Tally instance.

Responsibility of delegates​

Delegates play a crucial role in the governance of the Lisk project. They are the ones who create proposals, vote on behalf of the token holders, and represent the interests of the community as a whole.

Delegates are required to:

  • Follow the processes outlined in the Governance documentation of the Lisk DAO
  • Act in the best interest of the token holders whom they represent
  • Be active in the decision-making process of the DAO, this means specifically:
    • Vote on proposals

Excellent delegates will do even more than that, for example:

  • Create proposals
  • Give feedback on draft proposals
  • Engage actively with the Lisk community online and/or offline

Benefits of being a delegate​

  • Impact:
    • Have influence on the direction of the Lisk project.
    • Ensure that the Lisk DAO acts in the best interest of the Lisk community.
    • Decide directly about fund allocation of the Lisk DAO treasury.
  • Reputation:
    • Gain a trustworthy reputation by being an active delegate.

How to become a delegate 🚀​

Anyone who can accumulate some voting power can become a delegate. All you need to do is to set up a profile on the Lisk DAO Tally instance.

To get some initial voting power, you can either:

  • stake some LSK tokens and then self-delegate or
  • receive delegations from other users on your Tally profile

However, in order to create proposals, a delegate must meet the threshold of at least 300,000 vpLSK.

If you wish to increase your voting power to be able to create your own proposals and/or to have more influence on voting, it is possible to get delegations from other users. There are various ways to do this:

  1. Fill out your delegate profile on Tally. Token holders will be able to see your profile and decide whether to delegate their voting power to you, so make sure to provide a detailed description of yourself and your intentions.
  2. Present yourself to the community in the Lisk Governance Forum. The Lisk Governance Forum provides a category for delegates to present themselves to the community. Here it is also possible for token holders to ask questions and get to know their delegates better. Additionally, it might be beneficial to join the #lisk-dao channel in the Lisk Chat Discord server to get in touch with the community.
  3. Actively participate in the governance process. This includes voting on proposals, creating proposals, and giving feedback on other draft proposals.

How to delegate your voting power 🗳️​

Follow the steps described below to delegate your voting power to a delegate of your choice. The Lisk DAO uses Tally to facilitate delegation.

The process in a nutshell:

  1. Go to Lisk DAO and connect your wallet to Tally.
  2. Navigate to the Lisk DAO delegates page.
  3. Search for the delegate you'd like to delegate your voting power to.
  4. Click the Delegate button on the delegate's profile.
  5. Submit the delegation by clicking the Delegate votes button.
  6. Confirm and sign the transaction via your connected wallet.
tip

Through Tally, you can change or revoke your delegation at any time.

How to delegate your voting power without Tally​

It is crucial that members of the Lisk DAO can interact with the DAO at any point in time, even when Tally, the standard front end for the Lisk DAO, is down. Most importantly, voting and delegating should always be possible by interacting directly with the smart contract. How to delegate manually is described below. For a guide on how to vote manually, see the Voting page.

Prerequisites​

If you want to delegate to someone else's account, you must know their address.

Steps​

  1. Go to the Write proxy tab of the L2VotingPower proxy contract on Blockscout: https://blockscout.lisk.com/address/0x2eE6Eca46d2406454708a1C80356a6E63b57D404?tab=write_proxy
  2. If your wallet is not already connected to Blockscout, click on Connect wallet and follow the instructions to connect your wallet1.
  1. Click on 3. delegate to unfold the form for the delegate function.
  1. Insert the address of the account you want to delegate to into the field delegatee (address)* If you want to self-delegate, insert your address.
  2. Click on the Write button.
  1. Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Footnotes​

  1. At the time of writing, there is an issue with connecting MetaMask to Blockscout on Firefox; you may have to use another browser like Brave or Chrome. ↩