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Application process for new members

Abstract

This section provides a guidelines for an possible application process to select new members to join a consortial blockchain network.

Motivation

A transparent application process flow provides a clear and transparent overview to the applicant and members. It increases confidence that their application has been scrutinized well before a decision is made and that only eligible and trustworthy organizations are able to join. The process gives equal chances to all eligible applicants and creates more security within the exisiting consortia

Elaboration

The application process must provide workflow processes for applicant organisations to join the consortium. These should be based on the eligibility requirements guidelines. In addition, the process for onboarding is needed as this must be initiated in case of a positive decision.

Also very important are criteria for the evaluation of applicants. Since all applications must be treated fairly and equally.

Of course, the decision-making process plays a central role and this is further regulated in the area of collaboration. For this purpose, the interval for the internal decision or the vote for the decision on the applicant must be determined.

In addition, it is of course also decisive which role the applicant is to be given. This role leads to different rights and nodes for members.

The publication of the decision is also an important point, which is also regulated in the area of collaboration. Further, the question remains whether there should be some kind of rotating committee to increase equality and fairness.

Internal references and dependencies

(Lists of internal references and dependencies)

References to best practice, examples

Sovrin regulates applications process in its Sovrin Business Policy V2 Policy as follows:

Application process for the organization when applying:

  • The Sovrin Foundation Steward application and selection process MUST: Use the Core Principles of the Sovrin Governance Framework as a guide, with special attention to the Decentralization by Design principles. Be publicly documented on the Sovrin Foundation website.
  • To apply, an Organization MUST submit a written application to the Sovrin Governing Body responsible for Steward applications as directed on the Sovrin Foundation website.
  • The Steward application process MUST follow the guidelines for Self-Certification, Certification, or Accreditation as specified by the Sovrin Trust Assurance Framework.
  • In evaluating and prioritizing Steward applications, the Sovrin Foundation MUST take into account: Public contributions of any kind, including but not limited to open source engineering resources, efforts to drive Sovrin adoption, participation in Sovrin governance, marketing efforts, and direct financial contributions, that the prospective Steward has made in the past to the Sovrin Foundation or the Sovrin Community. Public contributions of any kind the prospective Steward commits (in writing in its Steward application) to making to the Sovrin Foundation or the Sovrin Community.
  • Any other specific Practices and Procedures involved in the Steward application process MUST be publicly documented on the Sovrin Foundation website.

Bloxberg defines new member application workflow in its Bloxberg Whitepaper v1.1 as follows:

  • Voting for new bloxberg consortium members. Workflow: Applicant fills out a form on the official (bloxberg.org) website The Iron Throne adds the applicant to the voting dApp Once every 4 weeks members vote for 4 weeks on new applicants The voting is executed on-chain after an off-chain discussion The voting is executed according to the bloxberg decision algorithm, refer to #0020 RFC for more information on decision-making in governance processes) The bloxberg consortium needs a quorum of >50% of all voting power, to execute a valid voting, but a minimum of 3 voting organizations. If > 50%of the valid votes are yes, the new member is accepted. If not, the new member is rejected and can reapply at a later time. After a positive vote the Iron Throne is instructed to add the new member as a authority node to the bloxberg network. ** The new member has to run one Authority node, but can have n non-Authority nodes. The Authority node must be available in the network all the time.

Bibliography of selected references

Sovrin Business Policy V2 Policy Bloxberg Whitepaper v1.1

RFC 0421
Contributing authors: Tina Marquardt, Chinmay Khandekar, David Maas
Status of this document: work in progress
Last day modified: 2021-05-11