This is a software upgrade governance proposal to upgrade the mainnet at height 5629650 to adopt akash v0.16.x which includes a number of updates and fixes to the Akash DeCloud and upstream SDK. By voting YES to this proposal, you approve of adding these changes.\r \r For instructions on performing the upgrade see https://github.com/ovrclk/docs/blob/master/guides/node/upgrades/akash-3.0.md \r \r

Background\r

\r Since the last v0-14.0

upgrade at height 455200 there have been a number of updates, fixes and new modules added to the Akash, Cosmos SDK, IBC and Tendermint.\r \r This is a proposal to adopt the first release for the v0-16.x upgrade the mainnet.\r \r It contains the following changes:\r \r

• (akash) bump cosmos-sdk to v0.45.1. See CHANGELOG.md for details.\r
• (akash) bump ibc-go module to v2.0.3. See CHANGELOG.md for details.\r
• (akash) chore Akash bug fixes and new features. See v0.16.0 changelog.\r \r

On-Chain Upgrade Process\r

When the network reaches the halt height, the state machine program of the Akash Network will be halted. The classic method for upgrading requires all validators and node operators to manually substitute the existing state machine binary with the new binary. There is also a newer method that relies on Cosmovisor to swap the binaries automatically. Cosmovisor also includes the ability to download the binaries automatically before swapping them. To test a simulated local upgrade please see the local testnet documentation. Because it is an onchain upgrade process, the blockchain will be continued with all the accumulated history with continuous block height.\r \r For full instructions please see https://github.com/ovrclk/docs/blob/master/guides/node/upgrades/akash-3.0.md \r \r### Potential Risk Factors\r \r Although very extensive testing and simulation has taken place there always still exists a risk that the Akash Network might experience problems due to potential bugs or errors from the new features. In the case of serious problems, validators should stop operating the network immediately. Akash Core Contributors will coordinate with validators in the

of the [Akash Network Discord] to create and execute a contingency plan. Likely this will be an emergency release with fixes or the recommendation to consider the upgrade aborted and revert back to the previous release of gaia (v0.14.x).