Executive Summary
Livepeer governance consists of both off-chain coordination processes and on-chain execution logic. While voting and parameter enforcement are handled by smart contracts, proposal formation, review, and social consensus-building occur off-chain. This page formalizes the complete governance lifecycle from idea formation to on-chain execution.1. Governance Lifecycle Overview
Governance unfolds in two coordinated domains:- Off-Chain Process Layer (discussion, drafting, signaling)
- On-Chain Execution Layer (proposal submission, voting, execution)
2. Off-Chain Process Layer
2.1 Idea Formation
Governance typically begins with:- Identification of protocol parameter inefficiency
- Security model adjustments
- Economic misalignment
- Treasury allocation needs
- Contract upgrade requirements
2.2 Livepeer Improvement Proposals (LIPs)
A Livepeer Improvement Proposal (LIP) formalizes protocol changes. A LIP generally includes:- Motivation
- Technical specification
- Economic impact analysis
- Security considerations
- Backward compatibility analysis
2.3 Social Signaling and Feedback
Before on-chain submission, proposals typically undergo:- Community discussion
- Technical review
- Risk assessment
- Stakeholder signaling
3. On-Chain Voting Rules
The governance contract enforces explicit voting thresholds to protect against low-participation attacks:3.1 Quorum
At least 33% of all staked LPT must participate in the vote for it to be valid. This requirement ensures that a small cabal cannot push through radical changes without broad community involvement.3.2 Approval Threshold
More than 50% of participating votes must favour the proposal. Simple majority approval balances inclusivity with decisiveness: proposals that split the community evenly cannot pass.3.3 Voting Power
Voting power is proportional to bonded LPT: Delegators exercise governance indirectly by delegating to orchestrators whose values align with their own; orchestrators must publicly declare their positions and can cast votes accordingly.4. On-Chain Execution Layer
4.1 Proposal Submission
A formal governance proposal encodes executable contract actions. Proposal payload may include:- Parameter updates
- Contract implementation upgrades
- Treasury transfers
4.2 Voting Window
Voting occurs via an on-chain smart contract. When a LIP is ready, its hash and parameters are queued, and tokenholders can vote using signature-based messages.How to Vote
Hold Bonded LPT
Only LPT that is bonded (staked) to an orchestrator has governance voting power. If you haven’t bonded yet, start in the Delegation Guide.
Find Active Proposals
Navigate to explorer.livepeer.org/voting. Active proposals are listed with their current vote tally and deadline.
Connect Your Wallet
Connect the wallet that holds your bonded LPT. You must be on the Arbitrum One network.
Cast Your Vote
Select Yes, No, or Abstain. Your voting power equals your proportion of total bonded LPT at the time the proposal was submitted.
4.3 Quorum and Threshold Checks
Proposal must satisfy: And majority condition: Conditions are enforced by governance contracts.4.4 Timelock Queue
Approved proposals enter a timelock period before execution. Timelock properties:- Delay between approval and execution
- Risk mitigation against sudden parameter shifts
- Allows participants to assess consequences
4.5 Execution
If conditions are met and timelock expires:- Encoded actions execute atomically
- Contract state changes
- Treasury transfers occur if included
5. Treasury Coordination
Treasury allocations follow the same governance lifecycle:- Off-chain proposal discussion
- On-chain encoded treasury action
- Voting and quorum
- Timelock
- Execution
6. Livepeer Foundation and Treasury Stewardship
The Livepeer Foundation, incorporated as a neutral nonprofit in 2025, stewards the protocol’s long-term health. It coordinates core development, research and ecosystem growth, but its authority derives from tokenholders via governance. Key responsibilities include:| Responsibility | Description |
|---|---|
| Protocol maintenance | Maintaining and upgrading smart contracts, reference implementations, and SDKs |
| Research and standards | Funding research into verifiable transcoding, zero-knowledge proofs, and new codecs |
| Grant programmes | Managing the community treasury to fund builders, tooling, and documentation |
| Ecosystem advocacy | Representing Livepeer in regulatory discussions and engaging with blockchain communities |
7. Risk Mitigation and Process Safeguards
7.1 Multi-Stage Review
Separation of:- Social review (off-chain)
- Deterministic execution (on-chain)
7.2 Transparency
All votes and execution transactions are publicly verifiable on-chain. Governance is auditable via block explorers.7.3 Parameter Calibration
Quorum and timelock duration are governance-level security parameters. If is too low:- Small coalitions may pass proposals
- Governance stagnation may occur
8. Considerations and Potential Improvements
The choice of a 33% quorum and 50% approval reflects a trade-off between agility and resistance to capture. Some decentralised networks have explored:- Dynamic quorum - where the quorum adjusts based on historical turnout
- Conviction voting - where votes accumulate over time
- Quadratic voting - to amplify minority voices
9. Governance Process Flow Diagram
10. Protocol vs Network Separation
Protocol (On-Chain):- Proposal submission
- Vote casting
- Quorum enforcement
- Timelock queue
- Execution of contract changes
- Discussion forums
- LIP drafting
- Social signaling
- Infrastructure execution