[RFC] Shared vlRSR Proposal Thresholds

Governance & Delegates
1

Summary

This RFC asks vlRSR holders to choose one standard proposal threshold for governance of the three shared vlRSR vaults:

All three are now on Reserve Governor 1.1.0, with a 0.1% proposal threshold.[1][2] The options are 0.1% (no change), 0.5%, 1% and 2%.

Background

The 1.1.0 upgrade added proposal-spam protection: a shared throttle of 3 proposals per account per 12 hours, and a 12-hour average voting-power check for standard proposals.[1][2] It did not change the proposal threshold itself.

After that upgrade passed, three proposals to raise the threshold to 2% were put onchain:

As @ham and @zeb pointed out, 2% was not part of the original RFC, and it is high for today’s governor base. On BSC it would mean about 10.6M vlRSR, an amount only the top 19 delegates hold.[1] This RFC is the separate discussion ham asked for.

What the threshold does

The proposal threshold is the minimum share of vlRSR supply an account needs, from its own stake or from delegations, to create a standard proposal. Under 1.1.0, the account must meet it both at proposal time and on average over the preceding 12 hours.[2]

It does not affect:

  • who can vote, or how much each vote counts;
  • vetoes of optimistic proposals; or
  • quorum.

Routine rebalances use the optimistic path, and only the designated optimistic proposer can create those. The threshold therefore mainly gates holder-initiated proposals, such as governance-parameter changes, holder-proposed basket changes and vault changes.

Scope

The selected value would apply to every governor that votes with a shared vlRSR vault:

What each option means today

Threshold Base: vlRSR needed Base: delegates who could propose (of 20) BSC: vlRSR needed BSC: delegates who could propose (of 49)
0.1% (current) 35k (~$50) 14 532k (~$850) 37
0.5% 177k (~$265) 10 2.66M (~$4,200) 26
1% 354k (~$530) 8 5.32M (~$8,500) 22
2% 707k (~$1,060) 6 10.6M (~$17,000) 19

Figures use supply and delegations as of November 4, 2026, and an RSR price of about $0.00147.

The Ethereum vault holds only 1,001,000 vlRSR today. Its figures become meaningful once ixEdel’s legacy stake, about 3.0M vlRSR, migrates. At that size, 1% would be about 30,000 vlRSR.

Considerations

Participation. The shared vaults pool governance across DTFs. A high threshold makes each DTF’s community depend on a few large delegates to act, and the effect compounds as more DTFs join (ham, #8). On Base, one delegate holds about 57% of voting power, and at 2% only 6 delegates could propose.

Security. A higher threshold raises the stake needed to put a hostile proposal to a vote. This is the “patient capture” concern @sagix.io raised (#6).

At current RSR prices, though, even 2% costs only about $1,000 on Base, so the threshold is not the main defense. The other protections are:

  • the 12-hour average and the throttle;
  • 10% quorum;
  • the 2-day voting delay, 3-day vote and 2-day timelock; and
  • the Guardian’s ability to cancel malicious proposals.

Adjustability. Each governor can change its threshold later through a standard proposal. ham suggested starting with a gradual increase and raising it further if governance attacks continue.

Suggested starting point

ABC Labs suggests 1%:

  • it is at the upper end of ham’s suggested range;
  • it matches the Folio upgrade spell; and
  • it still leaves 8 delegates on Base and 22 on BSC able to propose.

Feedback requested

Please vote below and share your reasoning. In particular, say so if you would prefer different values for the vlRSR vault governors, or different values per chain.

Which standard proposal threshold should the shared vlRSR governors use?
  • 0.1% (no change)
  • 0.5%
  • 1%
  • 2%
0 voters

Sources

[1] [IP] Proposal-spam protection upgrade for vlRSR governance — vlRSR proposal-spam protection upgrade, including replies #6, #8 and #9
[2] reserve-governor/README.md at r1.1.0 · reserve-protocol/reserve-governor · GitHub — Reserve Governor 1.1.0 proposal throttle and eligibility
[3] reserve-index-dtf/contracts/spells/GovernanceSpell_09_18_2026.sol at 2c5497288e462d4c68a3d4476b26bef7811ae3a5 · reserve-protocol/reserve-index-dtf · GitHub — GovernanceSpell_09_18_2026 at 1%

[IP] Proposal-spam protection upgrade for vlRSR governance
2

Appreciate you taking the time to take onboard my pushback onboard and spinning out a new RFC to discuss Proposal Thresholds separately.

Release 1.1.0 is already doing an incredible amount of work to limit against spam attacks. I just felt while an increase to Proposal Threshold was required moving from 0.1% to 2% was quite a leap. Finding the balance between security and participation is difficult, 1% finds that balance for me, being supported by the other protections you mention and quite nicely includes nearly 50% of current governors on both Base and BSC. And like you mention we can always increase the proposal threshold further in time if needed.

Thanks again for considering this.

1 Like
3

I agree with @ham here. 2% seems a bit too aggressive, given how many holders it would exclude. Let’s start with 1% for now.

1 Like