Governance Token
A token granting holders voting rights over a protocol's parameters, upgrades, and treasury allocation. On TON, governance tokens are usually implemented as jettons with snapshot-style voting.
Aliases: voting token, dao token
A governance token gives its holders a stake in how a protocol is run. Common decisions decided by token vote:
- changing parameters (e.g. DEX fee tiers, lending interest curves);
- enabling or pausing product modules;
- allocating funds from the DAO treasury;
- approving smart-contract upgrades.
How voting typically works
- A specific block height is chosen as the snapshot; balances at that block become voting weights.
- The proposal opens for a fixed voting window (commonly 3–14 days).
- Each vote is weighted by the holder’s snapshot balance.
- After the window closes, the proposal passes only if quorum and the approval threshold are met.
More detail: snapshot-voting.
On TON
- STON — the governance token of STON.fi DEX, used to vote on pool parameters and rebate distribution.
- Other TON DeFi protocols (EVAA, Tonco, DAOLama) have either launched a governance token or announced one.
Note: governance rights are not the same as profit-sharing. Some governance designs separate the two; others add it via staking or vote-escrow extensions.
Risks
- Low turnout. If quorum is not reached, votes fail and protocol parameters freeze.
- Whale capture. When one or two addresses hold 50%+, governance is decorative.
- Free-floating governance. Attackers can temporarily buy a large stake, push a malicious proposal, then dump.