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A governance token is an ERC-20 token that grants its holder the right to participate in a DAO's decisions.

It converts ownership into voting power, aligning influence with stake in the organization.

In the simplest model, one token equals one vote. A holder of 1,000 tokens has ten times the weight of a holder of 100.

This ties decision-making to economic exposure to the protocol.

OpenZeppelin provides ERC20Votes, which adds vote tracking to a standard token.

It records historical balances so votes can be counted at a specific block, preventing double-voting by moving tokens.

To vote fairly, the system records a snapshot of balances at the block a proposal was created.

This checkpoint stops someone from buying tokens after a proposal starts just to swing the result.

Holders can delegate their voting power to themselves or to another address (a trusted expert).

Crucially, in many systems you must delegate even to yourself before your tokens count as votes.

Delegation combats voter apathy. Passive holders can hand their power to active, informed delegates.

It concentrates expertise without forcing every holder to research every proposal.

How tokens are distributed shapes governance health:

• Concentrated — a few whales dominate (plutocracy)
• Broad — many small holders, more decentralized

Airdrops and vesting schedules are used to spread ownership.

A quorum is the minimum total voting power that must participate for a vote to be valid.

Without a quorum requirement, a tiny minority could pass proposals during periods of low turnout.

Some DAOs use alternative models to curb whale dominance:

• Quadratic voting — cost grows with the square of votes
• Reputation-based — non-transferable influence
• Conviction voting — power grows with time committed

Protocols like Curve use vote-escrow (veToken) models: lock tokens longer to gain more voting power.

This rewards long-term commitment and discourages short-term governance attacks.

Governance tokens turn ownership into voting power, tracked via snapshots and made flexible through delegation. Quorums and alternative models keep governance fair and resistant to manipulation.

Next we build proposals and voting with Governor contracts.

Test your governance token knowledge.

You learned that:

• Governance tokens grant voting power (often 1 token = 1 vote)
• ERC20Votes tracks historical balances via snapshots
• Delegation lets holders assign their power
• Quorum ensures enough participation
• Alternatives like quadratic and veToken models curb whales

Next: proposals and voting.