TL;DR

In Arbitrum, governance is moving toward more flexible and continuous processes, with a proposal to turn the Code of Conduct into a living document, while the Security Council elections enter the nominee-selection phase, with 16 candidates.

In Everclear, a renewed Governance Task Force is proposed with reduced costs and a shift in funding strategy, while in Starknet, a new upgrade framework introduces faster “Minor” upgrades alongside existing governance paths.

Elsewhere, Lisk is preparing a migration away from Tally, with a test vote on a new platform; Polygon is discussing validator sustainability through a base-reward mechanism; and Scroll is advancing both builder security funding and low-cost user-acquisition experiments.

Active Vote

Optimism: 1 Vote

• Maintenance Upgrade: 18a - ends on March 25 at 19:28 UTC. (Optimistic vote)

Arbitrum

Updating the Code of Conduct & DAO Procedures to Become Living Documents

Entropy proposed transitioning Arbitrum DAO’s Code of Conduct and Procedures from a trial-based framework into permanent “living documents” managed by OpCo. Instead of periodic renewals, the documents would remain continuously active and be updated through an optimistic amendment process, where changes take effect unless challenged by delegates. The proposal also keeps the Code of Conduct outside the Constitution to preserve flexibility and reduce friction for future updates.

Additional changes include making shielded voting optional rather than mandatory, transferring conflict-resolution responsibilities from the Foundation to OpCo, and updating governance procedures to reflect the adoption of the DVP quorum. Overall, the proposal formalizes governance processes while introducing a more adaptable structure for future iterations.

March 2026 Security Council Election: Nominee Selection

Arbitrum has entered the Nominee Selection phase for its March 2026 Security Council elections, running from March 22 to March 29. During this stage, delegates must nominate candidates by pledging votes, with each candidate must receive at least 0.2% of the voteable supply (~9.8M ARB) to advance to the final election round. Delegates can distribute their voting power across multiple candidates. A total of 16 candidates are participating in this phase for this election cycle.

L2BEAT’s take

We’re going through each application carefully and taking the time to understand who’s behind them. Given how critical the Security Council is, we want to make sure we’re backing candidates that we genuinely trust to handle that responsibility well.

Everclear

[RFC] Governance Task Force 3.0 - H1 2026

SEEDGov proposed a 6-month renewal of the Governance Task Force (GTF), requesting $18k in ETH, representing a 40% reduction in compensation compared to previous terms. The GTF has been responsible for core DAO operations over the past ~1.5 years, including treasury management, financial reporting, governance coordination, and delegate engagement.

For the upcoming term, the team plans to continue supporting DAO operations while reducing costs and avoiding additional sell pressure on CLEAR by sourcing compensation from idle ETH. Key priorities include executing pending payments, maintaining reporting, completing clawbacks, and advancing governance initiatives such as the redelegation strategy and constitutional vote.

Starknet

Updated Voting Process: Introducing Minor Upgrades

Starknet introduced an update to its governance process by adding a new “Minor Upgrade” path alongside the existing Major and Emergency flows. The change aims to improve flexibility and speed while maintaining transparency, with all upgrades still tied to SNIPs and voted as part of versioned releases linked to specific commit hashes.

Under the new framework, Major upgrades follow a longer process with full community review and Security Council involvement, while Minor upgrades allow for faster iteration with shorter timelines and no Security Council requirement. Emergency upgrades remain reserved for critical fixes, bypassing voting but requiring post-mortem reporting. Overall, the update formalizes clearer upgrade pathways, balancing faster execution with governance oversight.

Lisk

Test proposal #2: a new voting platform

Mona from the Lisk team introduced a test proposal to evaluate a potential migration from Tally to Degov.ai, following Tally’s announced shutdown by the end of March 2026. The proposal carries no financial or governance implications and is intended solely to test the new platform’s UI/UX and ensure continuity in DAO operations.

The test includes a mock vote and execution (a 0 LSK transfer) to verify contract interactions and the user experience. Community members are encouraged to participate and provide feedback, while alternative platform suggestions remain open, as the DAO prepares for a permanent transition.

Polygon

Pre-PIP: Base Reward for Priority Fee Distribution

Just Hopmans and LEGEND Nodes have proposed introducing a base reward for Polygon validators, ensuring that all active validators can cover the minimum infrastructure costs before distributing the remaining priority fees proportionally. The proposal highlights that, under the current model, a majority of validators earn less than estimated operating costs, while a small group captures a large share of fees.

The proposed mechanism would allocate a fixed baseline reward (pegged to ~$929/month) to all validators that meet performance requirements, with the remaining fees distributed according to stake. This aims to improve validator sustainability and reduce concentration within the validator set, while preserving proportional incentives for larger operators.

Scroll

Security Subsidy Program for Scroll Builders Update

SEEDGov shared an update on Scroll’s Security Subsidy Program, which supports builders with audit costs, one of the main barriers for early-stage projects. After delays due to organizational changes, the program is resuming with improved coordination, including Areta’s involvement in routing audit providers and the Operations Committee’s management of treasury allocations.

The update also includes recent disbursements, such as a $31.5k audit for Polystream in 2025 and a ~$41k audit for SynthOS in 2026, a cross-chain yield protocol preparing for mainnet launch.

ChatterPay Ambassador Referral Program

ChatterPay proposed a 3-month ambassador referral program requesting $2,000/month from the Scroll DAO to scale user acquisition. The team previously ran a pilot campaign funded with its own resources, growing wallets from ~1.6k to over 6.1k, with an average cost of ~$0.50 per new address. The model relies on ambassador-driven referrals, where users create wallets as part of the onboarding funnel.

The proposal emphasizes cost efficiency compared to typical L2 acquisition strategies and includes performance-based milestones, on-chain tracking, and monthly reporting. Continued funding would depend on meeting growth targets, with a review triggered if results fall below expectations.

Quiet Corner

Some ecosystems saw no meaningful governance developments this week.

• Optimism
• ZKsync
• Hop
• Uniswap
• Wormhole

As always, if we missed something important, feel free to reach out. We’re happy to dig deeper.

Upcoming Events

Arbitrum

• Entropy Advisors - biweekly office hours - on 24.03 at 17:15 UTC.
• Stylus Sprint Demo Day #3 - on 26.03 at 13:00 UTC.

Everclear

• Everclear Delegates Call - on 26.03 at 14:00 UTC.

Scroll

• Weekly DAO & Governance Call - on 25.03 at 14:00 UTC.

Uniswap

• DEF Community Call - on 24.03 at 17:00 UTC.

Discuss with L2BEAT

Join us every Friday at 3 pm UTC for our weekly Governance Office Hours to discuss proposals, ecosystem direction, and high-level governance strategy.