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Algorand Specifications

The Algorand Foundation governs the development and maintenance of the Algorand protocol.

Protocol updates SHALL be executed through the following process:

The Algorand Foundation SHALL publish the official protocol specification in the public specifications’ repository.

Each protocol version SHALL be uniquely identified by the URL of the corresponding git release commit. This URL MUST include the cryptographic hash of the commit.

A protocol update SHALL become effective only if it is approved on-chain by a supermajority of block proposers. Each block proposer signals support for a protocol update by including the identifier of the proposed protocol version as the next protocol version.

A protocol update SHALL be accepted if, for an interval of δdδd consecutive rounds, at least ττ of the finalized blocks reference the same next protocol version.

Upon acceptance, node operators SHALL be granted an additional δxδx rounds to update their node software in accordance with the new specification.

Upon completion of the grace period, the updated protocol specification SHALL take effect. From that point forward, blocks MUST be produced exclusively under the updated protocol rules.

The values of the upgrade parameters are defined in the Ledger Parameters Specification.