Quorum (governance)

Quorum measures how much participation a proposal needs to be valid. In OpenZeppelin, the GovernorVotesQuorumFraction extension computes it as supply times numerator divided by denominator, measured at the proposal's snapshot timepoint. By default the denominator is 100, so quorum is expressed as a percentage and a numerator of 10 equals 10% of supply. The denominator is customizable for finer precision, for instance 1000 to work in tenths. The quorum value is checkpointed, so each proposal is evaluated against the quorum in force at its snapshot.

It stops an apathetic minority or a low-participation actor from approving substantial changes. It is the classic lever in the tension between security and governability: a high quorum adds legitimacy but raises the risk of paralysis when holders do not vote. In GovernorCountingSimple, abstain votes usually count toward quorum but not toward the majority.

In practice, Compound requires on the order of 4% of COMP supply voting to reach quorum, and Uniswap works with a threshold on the order of 4% of UNI. These figures are best treated as governable parameters, subject to change by proposal, and worth re-verifying before citing as fixed. For a team designing a DAO, calibrating quorum well is a governance decision as consequential as a company's bylaws.