How an amendment turns on

An amendment is a change to the ledger’s rules. It turns on only after more than 80% of trusted validators support it for two weeks. If support drops under 80%, the clock starts over. A feature in the code is not a feature on the live network.

Headlines say a feature “is coming.” Until the amendment is enabled, the live rules are the old ones. Knowing the vote is how you refuse a fake launch.

Validators vote on open amendments about every flag ledger, roughly every fifteen minutes. Only votes from trusted validators count. One server cannot switch a feature on for the whole network.

The bar is a supermajority held over time, not a single poll. More than 80% must keep voting yes for two weeks. Dip below that and the amendment is rejected for now, and the two weeks begin again if support returns. That is why a feature can look close for months and still not be live.

When it does enable, it applies from that flag ledger forward. Old validated ledgers are not rewritten. Servers that do not have the new code become amendment-blocked: they cannot keep up, so operators have to upgrade. An amendment that has been enabled for a long time can later be retired, meaning the pre-change code is removed.

Real example: the amendments docs state the 80% bar, the two-week hold, and the reset if support falls. Source: Amendments.