The Qoin Association is an independent membership organization. Australia is closely aligned to and respected by Asia, Europe and North America and has embraced Blockchain in terms of technology support and regulatory oversight.

As the governing entity, the Qoin Association, has been established in Australia to govern the Qoin blockchain, the Qoin Reserve and to coordinate the validator nodes. The Association is governed by the Qoin Association Council “Council”. The Association is necessary to initially establish guidance in terms of which specifications or protocols to adopt and develop.

Two representatives per validator node may serve on the Council. Based on the association’s constitution, the Council makes decisions on the governance of the blockchain network and reserve. The Council initially consists of representatives from the founding members BCI and OLC. All decisions are brought to the Council, and major policy or technical decisions require the consent of two-thirds of the votes, the same supermajority of the network required in the IBFT consensus protocol.

The Qoin Association also governs the Qoin Reserve and hence the growth of the merchant ecosystem can be achieved and funded. The Association oversees the Reserve as the only party able to create (mint) Qoin. New coins are only minted when authorised sales representatives have inducted a new merchant into the expanding merchant ecosystem. These new coins are backed by the new merchants’ acceptance of Qoin as payment for goods & services.

These activities of the association are governed and constrained by a reserve management policy that can only be changed by a supermajority of Qoin Association members.

In the early years of the network, there are additional roles that need to be performed on behalf of the Association:

• Recruitment of founding and ongoing members to serve as validator nodes
• Design and implementation of incentive programs to propel the induction of new merchants and adoption of Qoin
• Design of rewards systems and marketing to buyers and consumers
• Approval of wallets that connect to the Qoin blockchain
• Technical maintenance of the network
• Qoin network management:
  • Define the process for managing the Qoin protocol specification source control repository, including the process for reviewing and accepting changes to the protocol
  • Define the process for managing the Qoin Core implementation of the Qoin protocol, including the process for reviewing and accepting changes to the implementation
  • Release and distribute the Qoin Core software, and support nodes as needed in the installation and maintenance of the Qoin Core software
  • Coordinate security reviews and put products through rigorous security testing
  • Engage with development teams to foster and solicit contributions to the Qoin protocol and Qoin Core, and fund them if necessary
  • Propose or recommend to nodes to upgrade the software they run and coordinate the scheduling of those upgrades
  • Explore permissionless blockchain technologies and recommend to the board and council paths for transition to such technology
  • Ascertain if potential members meet the member eligibility criteria, propose to the Council removal of members that don’t meet these criteria, and propose to the council changes in these criteria.

The Qoin Association plans to achieve increased decentralisation over time. This is important, as it will reduce the reliance of any part of the network on key stakeholders. Ultimate decentralisation will also ensure easier access for developers and node validators to participate in the network and this should improve the Qoin ecosystem’s resilience over the long term.