Decided by blocks,
not by announcement

Each protocol change carries a numeric id and ships dormant in the node. Producers signal support for an id in the blocks they produce. When 18,000 blocks in a 20,000-block window carry the signal, the feature is approved, and one window later it activates and binds every node.

That is the whole of it. There is no separate proposal process, no quorum of holders, and nothing off-chain that can activate a feature or block one.

Running a node does not give you a vote either. A node that validates and serves the API but never produces a block never signals anything. Influence tracks the share of blocks you produce, which is why running a producer is the only action that changes this.

The fixed supply of 100,000,000 DCC is a governance commitment, not a property of the protocol. Feature 14 turns on block rewards and inflation, it reads VOTING today, and the threshold to activate it is inside one operator's reach.

• Distributed block production. More independent producers means no single party can reach the threshold alone. This is the only thing that turns the mechanism into real governance.
• Nodes on a current release. The public node reports v1.3.5 against a 1.7.0 codebase, so eleven implemented features cannot be voted on at all. Upgrading is what puts them on the ballot.
• Leasing to someone other than the incumbent. Leasing moves block-production weight without moving coins, so it is the one lever a holder has that does not require running hardware.