Provenance Blockchain: who orders transactions?

Who controls it

Transaction ordering

Public CometBFT proof-of-stake validator set; the official staking API returned 100 bonded validators at review.

Escape hatch

n/a: L1. Positions may still carry issuer controls from Provenance marker assets.

Upgrade authority

On-chain governance can schedule software upgrades. Standard voting runs for 48 hours with a 33.4% quorum, majority approval, and a 33.4% veto threshold.

Halts and outages

No validator controlled 6% of bonded voting power at review, and the ten largest together held about 46%. CometBFT safety still depends on less than one-third of voting power acting faultily or maliciously. The 48-hour governance window is short for an institution that needs time to withdraw.

Ketju assessment

Ketju approves Provenance Blockchain with limits: its consensus is decentralized, but asset administrators hold freeze and force-transfer powers, and governance can act within 48 hours. Validator entry is public, and 100 validators were bonded at review. Ketju found no unilateral foundation key that can rewrite chain state. Provenance was designed for regulated financial assets, and its marker module supports restricted transfer, freeze and force-transfer roles by design. Those roles apply to individual assets, so they are not chain-wide seizure powers. Each position must therefore name the exact marker administrator instead of relying on the chain verdict.

Review triggers

• Fewer than four independent operators control one-third of bonded voting power
• The standard governance voting period is shortened below 48 hours
• A software upgrade bypasses the published governance process
• Finality is unavailable for more than 1 hour

Each trigger names a fact anyone can observe. If one occurs, Ketju will review the assessment again. None is a forecast.

Questions before use

1. Does the client’s thesis require censorship resistance, or primarily low-cost settlement?
2. Can the client withdraw without help from the party that normally orders transactions?
3. Who can upgrade bridges or contracts, and what delay applies?
4. Does the asset introduce an issuer weaker than the chain grade?
5. What evidence will show a halt, censorship event, or governance change?