The First Vision Governance Vote Has Concluded

What was decided, what we learned, and what comes next

The first-ever Vision Governance Vote has concluded.

For us, this was an important milestone. Not because the process was perfect, but because it was the first real step toward giving VSN holders a direct role in shaping economic decisions inside the Vision ecosystem.

The proposal to reduce emissions has passed.

The new yearly emission rate target of approximately 2.5% and the resulting staking APY target of around 5% was implemented today, with the start of the new staking cycle.

The final result

In total, 2,788,439,222 VSN were included in the vote. The final result by voting power was:

For: 1,722,179,617 VSN, 61.78%

Against: 466,350,080 VSN, 16.72%

Abstain: 599,909,525 VSN, 21.49%

This means a clear majority of voting power supported the proposal.

Looking beyond the total result, the active voter sentiment was also clearly in favour of the proposal.

By number of voters, the result was:

Onchain voters

For: 73.23%

Against: 23.32%

Abstain: 3.45%

Bitpanda voters

For: 74.98%

Against: 23.41%

Abstain: 1.61%

Looking at voting power, the split was:

Onchain voting power: 116,236,940 VSN

For: 76,919,977 VSN, 66.17%

Against: 38,380,814 VSN, 33.02%

Abstain: 936,149 VSN, 0.81%

Bitpanda submitted voting power: 2,672,202,282 VSN

For: 1,645,140,781 VSN, 61.59%

Against: 427,879,560 VSN, 16.01%

Abstain: 598,914,633 VSN, 22.39%

The higher abstain share on Bitpanda is mainly a technical result of how broker voting had to be handled. To make voting possible for Bitpanda users, eligible balances had to be delegated before the vote started. Balances from users who did not actively vote were therefore submitted as abstain.

Looking only at users who actively voted on Bitpanda, the distribution by voting power was:

For: 1,645,140,781 VSN, 78.95%

Against: 427,879,560 VSN, 20.53%

Abstain: 10,836,427 VSN, 0.52%

The cleaned-up final result, excluding the inactive Bitpanda balances that were technically submitted as abstain, is therefore: 78.27% For, 21.19% Against, and 0.54% Abstain, based on a total active voting power of 2,200,093,708 VSN.

What changes now

With the proposal approved, the emission rate target is reduced from 5% to approximately 2.5% per year.

This also means the staking APY target moves to around 5%.

We understand that this may be a tough pill to swallow for some holders. Lower emissions also mean lower baseline staking rewards. But we believe this was a step that needed to happen.

Given the current market environment and where the product roadmap is heading, doing it now gives us a healthier foundation for the next phase.

The goal is not to reduce rewards for the sake of it. The goal is to move away from a model that depends too heavily on emissions and toward one where rewards and token support are increasingly backed by real product activity and revenue.

Why this matters

The original emissions model was built for an earlier phase of the ecosystem. It helped bootstrap activity and participation.

But as Vision matures, the model has to mature as well.

The long-term direction is clear: less artificial supply pressure, more focus on product usage, revenue, buybacks, burns, and community-led decisions around how value flows back into the ecosystem.

This vote was an important step in that direction.

It also showed something important about our community. A majority of voting power and voters chose the longer-term health of the ecosystem over short-term reward optimisation.

That matters.

Extra APY and upcoming buybacks

The move to roughly 5% APY is not meant to be the final form of staking rewards forever.

We expect to be able to pay out additional APY from collected ecosystem revenues still this year, should the community choose that path.

Once the first buybacks from product revenues happen, the community will be able to decide what happens with the VSN acquired from the market.

Possible options include burning the tokens, distributing them as additional staking rewards over the next quarter, allocating them toward an ecosystem grant programme, or using them for other ecosystem growth initiatives.

This is the next step toward making governance a recurring part of Vision rather than a one-off event. As the process matures, holders will have a growing role in the economic decisions that shape the ecosystem.

What we learned from the first vote

This was our first governance vote, and we learned a lot.

We have already seen constructive feedback from the community, including points around the lead-up time before voting started being too short, the wording of the proposal and voting question, the voting window being too short, the governance section on Bitpanda being too hidden, the vote being available on Bitpanda mobile only, and the communication around abstain votes and delegated broker balances.

This feedback is fair.

All in all, we still consider this a successful first run. But successful does not mean perfect.

We are collecting the feedback and will use it to create a more rounded process for the next vote.

Building the governance process

Together with community representative Lukas Kurzmann, we are working on a broader governance framework.

This should provide clearer guidance on questions like how governance topics are selected, how the community can suggest topics, how often topics can be put up for vote, how regularly governance votes should happen, which topics qualify for community governance, and which topics should remain operational or Foundation-level decisions.

The goal is to build a process that is open enough for meaningful community participation, but structured enough to actually work.

Looking ahead

We are positive about what comes next.

The emission reduction is now implemented, the first governance vote is complete, and the groundwork for more shared decision-making is in place.

Now the focus shifts back to execution.

We will continue shipping Wallet features, improving the product experience, and building the revenue streams that can support the ecosystem over time, with Vision Chain as the most important long-term driver. The updated tokenomics give us a stronger foundation for these efforts to have a meaningful impact.

We will also take the feedback from this first vote and use it to improve the next governance process: clearer communication, better visibility, more lead time, and a smoother voting experience.

Thank you to everyone who voted, challenged the proposal, provided feedback, or followed the process closely.

The first vote is done. Now we keep building on it.

Disclaimer

This crypto-asset marketing communication has not been reviewed or approved by any competent authority in any Member State of the European Union. The issuer and the offeror of the crypto-asset are responsible for the content of this crypto-asset marketing communication. Crypto-assets are volatile and carry a risk of total loss. 

Vision Chain is an Ethereum Layer 2 rollup blockchain built using the Optimism OP Stack. The Vision Chain and the Vision Token (VSN) are issued by the Vision Web3 Foundation which is an independent and unregulated Swiss Foundation. Use of the Vision Chain may be subject to your local laws and regulations. Not an offer or solicitation to acquire VSN. 

For full details on VSN, see the official white paper under: https://www.bitpanda.com/en/legal/vsn-white-paper