Arbitrum poses new governance proposals after community furor

The Arbitrum Foundation has released a raft of new improvement proposals following the fracas that ensued after its first failed attempt at governance.

On April 5, Ethereum layer-2 solutions provider Arbitrum posted new Arbitrum Improvement Proposals (AIPs) for the governance of the network.

The new proposals include AIP-1.1, which covers a smart contract lockup schedule, spending, budget and transparency. The other, AIP-1.2, tackles amendments to current founding documents and lowers the proposal threshold from 5 million Arbitrum (ARB) tokens to 1 million ARB “to make governance more accessible.”

In an April 5 tweet, it confirmed the Arbitrum DAO came to a consensus against its first proposal, AIP-1.

1/10 With the ArbitrumDAO reaching consensus against AIP-1, it’s now time to incorporate community feedback, and move forward with new AIPs and documentation that address key areas of concern.

Details below

— Arbitrum (,) (@arbitrum) April 5, 2023

On April 2, the Arbitrum Foundation stated AIP-1 “likely will not pass” due to community backlash. Tokenholders objected to the proposal, arguing that it encompassed too many topics, and decried granting around $1 billion worth of ARB tokens to the foundation.

The foundation then backtracked, stating in an April 5 tweet that it would not take control of the tokens:

“The Foundation will not move any of the remaining 700M tokens in the Administrative Budget Wallet until an acceptable budget and smart contract lockup schedule have been approved by the DAO.”

The foundation also issued a transparency report that “describes actions taken to get the DAO up and running.”

“We have heard the feedback,” it stated, before adding that it has “worked diligently to address it and make sure the Foundation can represent, and serve the DAO’s best interests with their support.”

The two new AIPs were posted on the Arbitrum community forum and will be available for feedback for at least 72 hours before a planned week-long snapshot vote.

Related: Arbitrum to break up governance votes after community backlash

ARB prices have dropped 4% over the past 24 hours, falling to $1.22. The layer-2 token was dumped heavily following its airdrop on March 23 and is down 86% from its peak price of over $8.50 on that day.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom