Tezos holders vote in favor of implementing Carthage upgrade

Tezos holders voted overwhelmingly in favor of implementing the Carthage 2.0 upgrade. The Carthage proposal was a joint effort by crypto research outfits Nomadic Labs and Cryptium Labs to help add some code optimizations and fix a few "small issues." In particular, the upgrade will increase the gas limit for each block and operation by 30%, which allows developers to run more complex applications. Carthage also aims to improve the accuracy and security of calculating baking rewards (especially concerning endorsement rewards). On the security front, the more robust design could hinder selfish-mining like attacks from non-cooperative bakers, which a former Harvard researcher previously revealed as a possible attack vector on Tezos.

Why it matters:

• Voter turnout is a critical metric for on-chain governance systems. Low participation rates in coin-weighted voting systems (whether tightly or loosely coupled) can delegitimize the vote or make it susceptible to manipulation by a token holder with heavy bags. While the participation rates for major Tezos upgrades remain high, this last poll experienced a significant decrease in participation compared to previous voting periods.

• One explanation for this decrease in participation rate could be the rise in staking-as-a-service providers, especially among exchanges. These services allow users to effortless stake and collect yield on their holdings without having to engage with or contribute to the network personally. Furthermore, exchanges like Coinbase and Binance didn't participate in the Carthage vote, suggesting these services don't give users the option to vote. Due to the convenience offered by exchanges, participation rates in on-chain governance system could continue to decrease unless an exchange develops a viable voting solution.