[Glossary] DAOs & Governance Terms

CryptoKas

Below is a concise glossary of key terms you’ll encounter in DAOs & Governance discussions. Definitions are clear and actionable—ideal for anyone participating in or building decentralized organizations.

Core DAO Concepts

DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization): A community-run entity governed by code and token-weighted votes, not a central authority.
Token Holder: Someone who owns a DAO’s governance tokens and can vote on proposals.
Proposal: A formal suggestion submitted for the DAO to vote on (e.g., budget spend, protocol upgrade).
Quorum: The minimum number or percentage of votes required for a proposal to be valid.
Snapshot: A record of token balances at a specific block used to calculate voting power.

️ Voting & Decision-Making

On-Chain Vote: A vote executed directly on the blockchain, where results are immutable.
Off-Chain Vote: A vote conducted through an external system (e.g., Snapshot) whose results are later enacted on-chain.
Voting Power: The weight of your vote, typically proportional to the number of tokens you hold or lock.
Delegation: Assigning your voting power to another address or representative (delegate) to vote on your behalf.
Proposal Threshold: Minimum token balance required to submit or sponsor a proposal.

Treasury & Economics

Treasury: The DAO’s on-chain wallet holding funds (token reserves, ETH, stablecoins) for operations and grants.
Multisig Wallet: A wallet requiring multiple signatures (e.g., 3-of-5) to execute transactions—adds security to treasury management.
Budget Allocation: Distribution of treasury funds to initiatives, grants, or operational expenses.
Emission Schedule: The planned release timeline of governance tokens into circulation.
Staking & Vesting: Locking tokens for a set period to earn staking rewards or vesting team allocations.

Tools & Frameworks

Snapshot: A popular off-chain voting interface used by many DAOs for gas-free governance.
Gnosis Safe: A multisig wallet platform for secure treasury and transaction management.
Aragon: A modular DAO framework offering governance, finance, and tooling plugins.
Colony: A platform for managing DAOs with reputation-based voting and task bounties.
Tally: An analytics and governance dashboard aggregating proposals, votes, and forum discussion.

️ Security & On-Chain Governance

Governance Attack: Malicious actor accumulates voting power to push harmful proposals.
Time Lock: A delay mechanism that holds approved proposals for a set period before execution, allowing community review.
Guardians & Admin Keys: Special privileged addresses or contracts that can halt or veto proposals in emergencies.
Upgradeability Pattern: Smart-contract design allowing contract logic to be updated via governance (e.g., proxy pattern).
Audited Contracts: Governance and treasury contracts reviewed by security firms to minimize vulnerabilities.

Community & Engagement

Forum Discussion: The off-chain forum (e.g., Discourse) where proposals are debated before formal voting.
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Live session with core contributors or founders to field community questions.
Working Group: A sub-team focused on a specific area (e.g., grants, tech) that drafts proposals for the larger DAO.
Bounty: A task posted by the DAO with a reward for completion (e.g., code feature, content creation).
Transparency Report: Regular summary of treasury moves, proposal outcomes, and key metrics shared with the community.

Pin this thread as your go-to reference for all things DAO governance. Spot a missing term or need examples? Drop a comment below!