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DReps & Vote Delegation

Governance participation starts with the two operations on this page: registering a DRep, the credential votes are cast with, and delegating voting power to one. The SDK snippets assume the same provider and wallet setup as staking: an Evolution client, or a Mesh provider and wallet with a fresh MeshTxBuilder per transaction. Each operation also has a cardano-cli tab with the key-based flow; the deeper cli ceremonies (script and Plutus DReps) continue beneath the relevant sections.

Register as a DRep​

Becoming a DRep is a registration certificate with a refundable deposit (drepDeposit, currently 500 ADA) and an optional anchor describing who you are (CIP-119 metadata).

import { Anchor, Credential } from "@evolution-sdk/evolution"

declare const drepCredential: Credential.Credential
declare const anchor: Anchor.Anchor

// Register (add `anchor` to attach metadata)
const tx = await client.newTx().registerDRep({ drepCredential, anchor }).build()
const signed = await tx.sign()
await signed.submit()

Update metadata with updateDRep({ drepCredential, anchor }) and step down with deregisterDRep({ drepCredential }) (the deposit is refunded). The deposit is fetched from protocol parameters automatically.

Script-based and Plutus DReps​

A DRep credential can also be a script hash instead of a key hash. The flow mirrors the key-based path, but the DRep ID is the hash of the script and the transaction carries a witness (multisig) or a redeemer (Plutus) instead of a plain DRep key signature.

For a simple-script (multisig) DRep, write a native script (for example type: atLeast over the members' DRep key hashes), hash it for the DRep ID, and register against that script hash:

cardano-cli hash script --script-file drep-multisig.json --out-file drep-multisig.id

cardano-cli latest governance drep registration-certificate \
  --drep-script-hash "$(< drep-multisig.id)" \
  --key-reg-deposit-amt 500000000 \
  --out-file drep-multisig-reg.cert

Build with --certificate-script-file drep-multisig.json, then collect one transaction witness per member and combine them with transaction assemble. A Plutus-script DRep registers the same way (--drep-script-hash from cardano-cli hash script on the .plutus file), but the transaction supplies collateral and a redeemer rather than script witnesses:

cardano-cli latest transaction build \
  --tx-in $(cardano-cli query utxo --address $(< payment.addr) --output-json | jq -r 'keys[0]') \
  --tx-in-collateral $(cardano-cli query utxo --address $(< payment.addr) --output-json | jq -r 'keys[0]') \
  --certificate-file drep.cert \
  --certificate-script-file drep.plutus \
  --certificate-redeemer-value {} \
  --change-address $(< payment.addr) \
  --out-file tx.raw

Only the payment key signs; script validity comes from the redeemer, not a DRep key signature.

Delegate your vote​

Voting power delegation is separate from and independent of stake delegation. You can delegate stake to one pool and your vote to a different DRep, and change either without affecting the other. There are also two built-in options for holders who don't want to pick a DRep: Abstain (not counted) and No Confidence (counts against the committee). In the Conway era, staking rewards keep accruing, but you cannot withdraw them until your stake credential has delegated its vote, to a DRep or to a predefined option (Abstain or No Confidence).

Both delegations attach to your stake credential, the part of your address separate from the payment credential. See Addresses for how the two combine.

import { Credential, DRep } from "@evolution-sdk/evolution"

declare const stakeCredential: Credential.Credential
declare const drepKeyHash: any

// Delegate to a specific DRep
const tx = await client
  .newTx()
  .delegateToDRep({ stakeCredential, drep: DRep.fromKeyHash(drepKeyHash) })
  .build()

// Or a built-in option:
//   drep: DRep.alwaysAbstain()
//   drep: DRep.alwaysNoConfidence()

To register stake and delegate the vote in one step, use registerAndDelegateTo({ stakeCredential, drep }); to do stake + vote together, see Manage stake.

Next steps​

  • Vote & propose: cast votes with the DRep you registered, and put actions on-chain