A governance proposal is a formally submitted, votable item that requests a change to a decentralised protocol, treasury allocation or organisational parameter, typically within a DAO. It encapsulates a description, an executable payload or off-chain intent, and voting parameters such as quorum and threshold. Token holders or delegates vote on the proposal, and on approval it may be executed automatically by smart contracts.
Overview
- Proposals are the unit of collective decision-making in decentralised organisations, turning community intent into auditable, executable change.
- They progress through lifecycle stages: drafting and discussion, formal submission, a voting window, and execution or rejection based on quorum and threshold.
Key aspects
- Payload: the on-chain transactions or off-chain commitments enacted on approval.
- Voting parameters: quorum, approval threshold, voting period and snapshot block.
- Delegation: token holders may delegate voting power to representatives.
Applications
- Protocol parameter changes such as fees, collateral ratios and upgrades.
- Treasury grants and funding decisions in DAOs.
- Off-chain signalling via Snapshot before binding on-chain execution.