Our Mission
Railgun Governance exists to give the RAILGUN community genuine, transparent, and privacy-respecting control over one of the most important smart-contract privacy systems in decentralized finance. We believe that protocol governance should be open, auditable, and resistant to coercion — just like the transactions it protects.
Through Railgun Governance, RAIL token holders can stake their tokens to earn voting power, participate in on-chain proposals, and collect governor rewards — all without compromising their financial privacy. Every governance action is recorded on-chain, ensuring full transparency while preserving the pseudonymous nature of Web3 participation.
What is the RAILGUN Privacy System?
RAILGUN is a smart-contract-based privacy system deployed on Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Polygon. It enables users to shield tokens inside a private balance, execute DeFi transactions privately, and unshield back to a public wallet — all enforced by zk-SNARK cryptography and audited smart contracts.
Unlike mixers or chain-hop bridges, RAILGUN keeps assets on the same chain inside a shielded pool. Users retain full custody at every step. The protocol has undergone multiple independent security audits, and all audit reports are publicly available. Railgun Governance governs protocol parameters, fee structures, and upgrade proposals for this system.
Stake RAIL
Lock your RAIL tokens into the Railgun Governance governance contract to earn voting power proportional to your stake amount and duration.
Vote On-Chain
Cast binding votes on protocol proposals directly from your wallet. Every vote is recorded on the blockchain and fully verifiable.
Governor Rewards
Active governors who participate in snapshots and proposals receive a share of protocol fees distributed to the staking contract.
30-Day Unlock
Stakes require a 30-day cooldown before tokens are returned, ensuring governance participants have a long-term commitment to the protocol.
How Railgun Governance Works
The governance cycle is structured around staking intervals and snapshots. At the end of each interval, a snapshot records the voting power of every active staker. This snapshot determines who can vote on proposals that open during the following interval and who is eligible for governor reward distributions.
To participate, connect a Web3 wallet, approve the RAIL token for the governance contract, and stake your desired amount. Once staked, your voting power accumulates. If you wish to withdraw, initiate the 30-day unlock process — during this cooldown period your tokens are not eligible for new rewards but your staked position remains visible in the dashboard.
Proposals are submitted on-chain and require a minimum quorum of voting power to pass. Passed proposals may update protocol fee tiers, add or remove supported tokens, adjust contract parameters, or authorize protocol upgrades through a time-locked multisig process, maintaining decentralization at every step.
Security & Audits
Security is the foundation of everything Railgun Governance and the RAILGUN system is built on. The underlying smart contracts have been independently audited by leading blockchain security firms. All audit reports are published publicly so any developer, researcher, or user can review the findings.
The zk-SNARK circuits powering RAILGUN's shielded pool have undergone formal verification and circuit-specific audits. The governance contracts themselves follow established patterns for secure on-chain voting, including time-locks on proposal execution and quorum thresholds to prevent minority capture.
We encourage the community to review the audit reports available at assets.railgun.org/docs/audits and to raise any security concerns through official community channels.
Community & Transparency
Railgun Governance is governed by its community. Token holders discuss proposals on Discord and Telegram before they go to an on-chain vote, ensuring broad awareness and debate. The RAILGUN Twitter account and Medium publication provide regular updates on protocol developments, new features, and governance outcomes.
All governance transactions are traceable on-chain. There are no privileged admin keys that can unilaterally change the protocol — upgrades require a successful governance vote followed by a time-lock execution period, giving the community ample time to review and respond to any changes.
Join the community on Discord, follow updates on Twitter / @RAILGUN_Project, and explore the codebase on GitHub.