Solana has formally activated its on-chain governance system, shifting protocol decision-making directly to token holders and validators through the newly introduced Solana Governance Proposals framework.
Validators holding a delegated stake of at least 100,000 SOL can now submit an SGP. To move forward, a proposal must first secure support from 15% of the network's total staked SOL before advancing to a formal, stake-weighted vote.
This system operates alongside the existing Solana Improvement Documents process. While SIMDs focus on the technical review of protocol upgrades by core developers, SGPs determine whether the broader ecosystem wants a proposal to proceed. This structure is designed to preserve development efficiency.
A critical feature of the new system is delegator sovereignty. If a validator votes against a delegator's preference, or abstains, the delegator can directly cast their vote using their own stake weight via Solana's governance portal. The voting process is secured by Merkle proofs, which verify participant stakes against an on-chain consensus snapshot.