Hey Concordium Community!
This summer, Concordium will hold the 2026 Governance Committee election, where three community representatives will be elected to the committee. To ensure that the election remains private, secure, and decentralized, we are once again inviting members of the community to participate as Guardians.
If you want to take part in one of the most important governance processes on Concordium — and earn some CCD along the way — this is your chance.
What Is a Guardian?
Guardians play a critical role in Concordium's on-chain voting protocol. Their task is to help run the cryptographic process that keeps votes private during the election and ensures that the final result can be verified.
Using specialized software called the Guardian application, Guardians generate cryptographic keys that are used to encrypt and later decrypt voting ballots. The votes remain encrypted throughout the election and are only decrypted collaboratively once voting has ended.
Because the decryption key is distributed among multiple Guardians, no single party can access the votes or manipulate the election outcome. This ensures that the election remains transparent, secure, and decentralized.
In short, Guardians act as a community-driven election commission helping to safeguard the integrity of Concordium governance.
What's Required to Be a Guardian
Participating as a Guardian is straightforward, but it does require availability during several phases of the election process.
- Have a laptop or desktop computer with a reliable internet connection
- Be able to install and run the Guardian application provided by Concordium
- Have a Concordium Mainnet and Testnet account accessible via the browser wallet
- Have about ~100 CCD on your account balance to pay transaction fees
- Be available to participate in the scheduled election phases listed below
Running the Guardian software typically takes only a few minutes per step, but Guardians may need to check in periodically over several days depending on coordination with the other participants.
For the 2026 election, 11 Guardians will be selected from community volunteers. Anyone from the Concordium community may apply, provided they are not running as a candidate in the election.
Selected Guardians who successfully complete all required steps will receive $100 worth of CCD.
Election Timeline
- Guardian Registration (April 16 – April 24): Community members can apply to become Guardians by submitting the signup form.
- Guardian Selection (April 24 – April 28): Selected Guardians will be contacted and provided with further instructions.
- Testnet Dry-Run (May 2 – May 22): The Testnet dry-run is a practice run of the election protocol on Testnet. Guardians generate keys and participate in the voting and tally processes to ensure that everything works correctly before the Mainnet election.
- Mainnet Election Setup (May 30 – June 5): Guardians generate the cryptographic keys that will be used for the live election.
- Mainnet Voting (June 6 – June 19): Community members cast their votes through the voting dApp.
- Mainnet Tally Decryption (June 23 – June 26): Guardians jointly decrypt the final vote tally and publish the election results.
Why Become a Guardian?
Contribute directly to Concordium's decentralized governance Help ensure that the election remains secure and transparent Gain hands-on experience with Concordium's on-chain voting protocol Earn $100 worth of CCD for your participation
Most importantly, you'll help demonstrate how community-driven governance can operate securely on-chain.
How to Apply
Applying is simple. Just complete the signup form with your contact details and Concordium account information.
If selected, we will guide you through the process and provide instructions for installing and running the Guardian application.
Sign up here: Form
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