Thanks for bringing this proposal forward. Governance data is something we’ve been tracking closely in the Arbitrum ecosystem, and we’d like to add context that may clarify the rationale for adjusting the quorum threshold.
Key observations
- Stable votable supply vs. rising votable ARB.
- The overall votable supply has barely moved—about 353.46 M ARB in Jan 2024 vs. 363.65 M ARB in May 2025.
- Votable ARB (the amount that could be used for voting) keeps edging upward, but the share that is actually delegated and participating has not.
- Result: the quorum bar drifts higher even though real engagement is flat.
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Participation is concentrating, not expanding.
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Average voting power per delegate is climbing, while the number of delegates who vote is falling.
For Voting power cast for both onchain & onchain ( from 1st Jan 2024- 7th May 2025)
For Voting power cast for only onchain ( from 1st Jan 2024- 7th May 2025)
Number of delegate that participate
- Voting power are migrating from smaller voters to larger ones; total voting power cast is not the bottleneck—breadth of participation is.
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Given these observations, we agree that this proposal is necessary. Reducing the constitutional quorum threshold from 5% to 4.5% is a reasonable and timely short-term adjustment that can help ensure well-supported proposals are not blocked due to insufficient participation. However, we believe this should be treated as an interim fix. Because quorum is tied to votable ARB (a figure that continues to grow), with the same problem will re-emerge. A longer-term solution should align quorum with actual participation rather than theoretical capacity.
All in all, we see two potential complementary levers going foward:
1. Adjust governance parameters
- Immediate: adopt the 4.5 % threshold (this proposal).
- Next: research a dynamic quorum that flexes with recent delegate activity or other engagement metrics so it remains realistic as conditions change.
2. Address token-holder & delegate behaviour
Idle, non-delegated ARB is at the heart of the gap between supply and participation. Ways to bring it into play:
Overall, we support lowering the quorum to 4.5 % as a timely step. In parallel, revisiting the quorum calculation itself and launching initiatives that boost genuine participation will help bolster ArbitrumDAO’s long-term governance resilience.