Next Steps for Strengthening Celo Governance

Governance
1

Dear Celo Community,

Following the discussion in Strengthening Celo Governance for the Year Ahead, we are proposing several governance improvements designed to increase efficiency, strengthen oversight, and ensure the Governance Approver set remains active and responsive.

These proposed changes focus on three areas:

  1. Extending the Governance Approver approval window

  2. Streamlining non-executable governance proposals

  3. Refreshing the Governance Approver set

Together, these changes aim to improve the governance experience for both voters and approvers while maintaining the safeguards that help keep the protocol secure and community-driven.

Extending the Approval Window

Today, Governance Approvers have 3 days to review and approve a proposal after it successfully passes on-chain voting.

We propose extending this approval window from 3 days to 7 days.

The additional time will allow Approvers to:

  • Conduct more thorough reviews

  • Coordinate with technical experts when needed

  • Review complex proposals more carefully

  • Reduce the likelihood of rushed approvals

As governance activity continues to grow, a longer review period helps ensure proposals receive appropriate scrutiny before execution.

Streamlining Non-Executable Proposals

We also propose removing the requirement for Governance Approver approval on proposals that do not result in an on-chain state change.

These proposals would continue to require voting and quorum requirements. However, once voting concludes successfully, they would no longer require Governance Approver sign-off.

This change reduces unnecessary overhead, speeds up governance processes, and allows Approvers to focus their attention on proposals that directly impact protocol state and network operations.

Governance Approver Rotation

To ensure the Approver set remains active and responsive, we are also proposing updates to the current Governance Approver roster.

Approvers Rotating Out

We would like to thank the following Approvers for their service and contributions to Celo Governance:
Name
Address
Rob Witoff
0xD6d48412dA0804CF88258bfDf5AaFcBe5FEd7ecC
Kobi Gurkan
0xc85639289d4bbb5f90e380a0f4db6b77a2f777bf

Proposed New Approvers

Name
Address
Javier Cortejoso
0x936e62e72727e47297d218c2f829ef4c36427d9a
Paul Lange
0x0a1c327FB17870488F12555e56A3a517e493cc46
Marcin Majchrzak
0xF7DE62B65768a169279be74b12FaA65a22FB38D3
Pavel Hornak
0x8eF439ee8F6905bfd2343668039d39eB2B77706e

These additions will help ensure the Approver set remains engaged, responsive, and representative of active contributors across the ecosystem.

Why These Changes Matter

Governance remains one of Celo’s most important coordination mechanisms. As the ecosystem continues to evolve, governance processes should evolve alongside it.

By extending review timelines, removing unnecessary approval requirements for non-executable proposals, and maintaining an active Approver set, these changes aim to improve governance efficiency while preserving the safeguards that help keep the protocol secure.

We welcome feedback from the community and look forward to continuing to strengthen Celo Governance together.

Celo Core Co.

5 Likes
Celo Governance Call #91 | Jun 18th, 2026
2

Fully support having technical contributors on the Approvers list.

Who are the remaining Approvers and how do we contact the group collectively? (In a perfect world we wouldn’t need to contact them, and I’m sure they all want it that way too.)

The 7 day period will go a long way to resolving most of the rushing and failed proposals issues, but is there a mechanism to have some visibility into the approval process?

Even just a status page or addition to Mondo would be fantastic.

  • “At least one Approver has seen this proposal”
  • “At least one Approver is reviewing this proposal”
  • [Already exists on Mondo] “1/3 have signed”

I know we have the signature counts in Mondo already, but there’s no way to know they’re going to sign it, or even know of a proposal’s existence, which results in stress and costly (for everyone) out-of-band communication as proposers ping everyone on Telegram, Discord, whatever.