XII. Governance & DAO Structure — Decentralized by Design

12.1 Overview

Aurion is governed by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) built to balance efficiency, transparency, and community ownership.

Every AUR holder shapes the protocol’s evolution — from economic parameters to grants and treasury decisions. Governance is executed on-chain via OpenZeppelin Governor and TimelockController, and secured by a 3-of-5 Gnosis Safe multisig for all critical operations.

This hybrid model blends community decentralization with institutional-grade protection.

---

12.2 Governance Architecture

Core Contracts

Layer	Contract	Function
Voting Logic	Governor.sol	Manages proposals, quorum thresholds, and voting periods
Execution Control	TimelockController.sol	Enforces a 48 h delay before approved proposals execute
Treasury Custody	GnosisSafe Multisig	Safeguards DAO funds and signs treasury transfers
Token Interface	AurionToken.sol	Provides ERC20Votes + EIP-2612 Permit for gasless voting

Together, these modules establish a secure, auditable flow from proposal → voting → execution.

---

12.3 DAO Participation

• Eligibility: Any wallet holding ≥ 1 AUR may vote.

• Proposal Threshold: ≥ 1 % of total supply required to submit.

• Delegation: Voting power can be delegated to representatives or sub-DAOs.

Proposal Lifecycle

Stage	Duration	Description
Creation	Immediate	Proposal submitted on-chain with encoded actions
Voting Period	7 days	Token holders vote For / Against / Abstain
Timelock Delay	48 h	Safeguard for review & emergency veto
Execution	—	Governor triggers smart-contract execution

---

12.4 Governance Powers

DAO proposals may authorize:

• Parameter updates (APY, fee ratios, emission caps)

• Grant approvals and ecosystem funding

• Listing of new sub-projects (e.g., Compute, Pay)

• Treasury allocations for community initiatives

• Strategic partnerships or cross-chain deployments

• Emergency contract upgrades (subject to multisig sign-off)

Each action emits an on-chain event for full transparency and auditability.

---

12.5 Treasury Management

Aurion’s treasury consists of:

1. Core DAO Treasury — Holds ecosystem fees, staking penalties, and unallocated tokens.

2. Operational Wallet — Funds marketing and grant execution.

3. Reserve Vaults — Liquidity and strategic holdings.

Security Protocols

• 3-of-5 hardware-wallet multisig

• Geographically distributed signers

• Daily withdrawal caps & transaction limits

• Real-time transparency dashboard (GitBook + DAO portal)

All inflows/outflows are verifiable on-chain.

---

12.6 DAO Committees

Specialized committees streamline operations while maintaining accountability.

Committee	Primary Role
Grants Committee	Evaluates builder & research proposals; manages Aurion Grants allocations
Security Council	Oversees audits, incident response, and emergency actions
Ecosystem Council	Coordinates Compute, Pay, DePIN, and RWA integration priorities
Community Council	Leads marketing, partnerships, and education initiatives

Each committee operates under a DAO-approved mandate and reports quarterly to the community.

---

12.7 DAO Revenue Distribution

Ecosystem revenues are distributed monthly (“epochs”) to sustain long-term growth.

Allocation	%	Destination
Staking Rewards	40 %	Reward pool for long-term stakers
DAO Treasury	25 %	Governance budget & development fund
Ecosystem Grants	20 %	Builders, research, and community growth
Buy-Back / Burn Pool	10 %	Market stabilization & deflationary pressure
Security Reserve	5 %	Audits and risk management fund

Revenue flows continuously back into the ecosystem, aligning community and network incentives.

---

12.8 DAO Transparency & Reporting

• 📊 Quarterly Reports: Treasury balances, audits, grant disbursements.

• 🌐 Public Dashboards: Real-time on-chain metrics on the Aurion Docs Portal.

• 🗃️ Snapshot Archive: Full record of past proposals and votes.

• 🔍 Open-Source Verification: All governance contracts verified on Etherscan/BSCScan.

Transparency builds trust and institutional readiness.

---

12.9 Emergency Governance

If a critical event occurs (exploit, oracle failure, governance attack), the Security Council may invoke an Emergency Pause to freeze protocol actions.

Reactivation requires:

1. Multisig consensus (≥ 4 signers)

2. DAO confirmation vote within 72 hours

Ensures rapid response without compromising decentralization.

---

12.10 Long-Term Governance Evolution

Aurion’s governance roadmap unfolds in three phases:

Phase	Model	Description
Phase 1	Semi-Decentralized	Multisig + Timelock oversight with DAO advisory voting
Phase 2	Hybrid DAO	Full on-chain proposal system; committees manage budgets
Phase 3	Autonomous DAO	Self-governing treasury and cross-chain governance integration

Ultimately, Aurion aims to operate as a fully autonomous DAO, where funding, innovation, and governance emerge organically from its community.