[Constitutional] AIP: Constitutional Quorum Threshold Reduction

Abstract

This AIP proposes a reduction of the constitutional quorum threshold by 0.5%, lowering it from 5% to 4.5% of the total Arbitrum votable tokens. The goal is to ensure that well-supported proposals can successfully conclude by aligning quorum requirements with current levels of voter participation, reducing the risk of legitimate initiatives failing due to quorum thresholds not being met.

For non-constitutional proposals, the existing 3% quorum threshold will remain unchanged.

Motivation

Over the past year, the 5% quorum threshold for constitutional proposals within the ArbitrumDAO has been challenging, despite support from a broad range of delegates. As the circulating supply of $ARB continues to grow and voter turnout remains relatively flat, quorum requirements are becoming increasingly difficult to meet. ARDC research on governance risks analysis suggest that quorum on constitutional proposals could reach 300M (in base case) in about a year, while participation rate as % of votable supply has gone down from 8% in early 2024 to 4-5% in early 2025. Reducing the constitutional quorum threshold by 0.5% provides a short-term adjustment that enables critical governance to move forward while longer-term reforms are considered and developed.

Rationale

ArbitrumDAO is governed by the principles of decentralization, participation, and credible neutrality. This proposal balances those principles by modestly reducing the constitutional quorum threshold to better reflect the current governance environment without undermining the legitimacy of approved proposals. This proposal also would not require any upgrades to existing smart contracts, helping maintain community trust and operational simplicity.

The 0.5% reduction was selected as a conservative adjustment that is expected to meaningfully improve the likelihood of well-supported proposals reaching quorum, while still maintaining a high enough threshold to deter governance attacks.

Key Terms

• Constitutional Proposal: A type of proposal within the ArbitrumDAO that modifies governance structures outlined in the ArbitrumDAO Constitution. These require higher quorum thresholds than non-Constitutional proposals.
• Quorum: The minimum number of tokens required to participate in voting for a proposal to be valid and eligible to pass. In this context, it is calculated as a percentage of the total $ARB votable tokens.

Specifications

This proposal updates the constitutional quorum threshold from 5% of the total votable tokens to 4.5%.

As of April 2025, with ~4.3B ARB in votable tokens (formula is total supply of ARB token, which is 10B, minus the amount delegated to the exclude address), the quorum reduction would decrease the requirement by approximately 25 million ARB tokens, bringing the effective quorum from ~215M to ~190M ARB.

No upgrades to core governance smart contracts are required. Instead, this proposal will include an action contract that uses existing functionality to modify the quorum constant used in the calculation of constitutional quorum thresholds. The action contract has been audited, here.

The 0.5% reduction represents a minimal-risk, fast-to-implement interim solution, while other long-term solutions can be considered, such as flexible quorum, or franchiser contract.

Steps to Implement

The proposal will follow these steps:

1. Forum discussion: This AIP is posted to the ArbitrumDAO forum for discussion and feedback from the community. [DONE]
2. Temperature Check: An informal offchain vote is conducted on Snapshot to gauge community support. [DONE]
3. On-Chain Vote: A formal Constitutional AIP and call-to-vote is proposed to Tally for the on-chain vote. This proposal itself will be subject to the existing 5% quorum to pass. [ON-GOING]
4. Update Governance Parameters: If passed, the new 4.5% quorum requirement would take effect immediately for all future constitutional proposals.

No smart contract changes or audits are required, which reduces implementation complexity and cost.

Overall Cost

This AIP does not request any grant or budget allocation. It introduces no operational, technical, or recurring costs and does not require smart contract upgrades or audits. Governance configuration changes are handled via on-chain proposal execution and incur only the standard gas costs associated with DAO transactions.

https://tally.xyz/gov/arbitrum/proposal/94423886836435773843507976898262621297544156552971145658873213763398017341229