The Contender Submission phase of the September 2025 Security Council election process has commenced on Tally.
When is the Contender Submission phase?
This phase runs for 7 days, from September 15 until September 22, 2025 (12:00 UTC).
What is the Contender Submission phase?
During this phase, anyone (including individuals and/or entities) interested in serving on the Security Council, can apply to be a candidate in the election.
Candidates should familiarize themselves with what makes a good Security Council member and be able to fulfil the responsibilities of a Security Council member as outlined here: Security Council Members: Duties and Principles.
How to Apply?
Candidates must use a fresh address (EOA) from a new (or newly reset) hardware wallet, to apply on Tally. This hardware wallet and address should only be used for actions related to the Security Council and should not have been used for anything else. It should be funded with enough ETH to pay for a transaction in Arbitrum One.
Those interested in applying should also inform the community via the forum by creating a forum post on the ‘Security Council Elections’ subcategory, using the 'sep-2025-elections’ tag and include details such as background and credentials.
If a candidate is registering as an entity, there are additional non-exhaustive criteria that should be met. These criteria, as well as detailed instructions on how to apply can be found here: How to Register as a Candidate.
What is the Security Council ?
- The Security Council is a committee of 12 members who are signers of multi-sig wallets. They are responsible for combatting any critical risks associated with the Arbitrum protocol by making time-sensitive & emergency response decisions. Accordingly, the Security Council is key to securing the Arbitrum ecosystem.
- Security Council Elections are held every 6 months, and allow the DAO to elect 6 new Security Council members.
- Actively participating in Security Council Elections is one of the most important responsibilities of the ArbitrumDAO.
To find out more about the Security Council and the Security Council elections, please refer to the following resources:
- Tl;dr thread on the Security Council election process
- Security Council Elections 101
- The Security Council section of the ArbitrumDAO Constitution
What about the Security Council Election Process Improvement proposal?
There is an ongoing proposal to improve specific technical aspects of the Security Council election process at the smart contract level. It is worth noting that these changes would only take effect for elections happening in 2026 onwards, however, could impact the duration of the incoming September 2025 cohort. Accordingly, it is important for the community to understand these potential changes, and more importantly, participate in the discussion.
