> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.areal.finance/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Decision Market

> How Areal Finance is governed — futarchy via MetaDAO, decision markets, and the on-chain treasury

**Areal Finance is governed by its community through futarchy**, powered by the
[MetaDAO](https://metadao.fi) engine. Instead of a team or a committee deciding the protocol's
direction, key decisions are **priced by markets**: the option a market expects to create the most
value wins.

Governance runs on **ARL**, the protocol's governance token.

<a href="/governance/arl" className="rwt-card">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/areal/oyoG1A8Yr2ri84Mb/images/arl.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=oyoG1A8Yr2ri84Mb&q=85&s=db304a00377eb14b88a6a54c6b24baf4" alt="ARL" className="rwt-card-logo" width="512" height="512" data-path="images/arl.png" />

  <div>
    <div className="rwt-card-title">ARL — the governance token</div>
    <div className="rwt-card-desc">Contract, supply, and how ARL steers the protocol through futarchy.</div>
  </div>
</a>

## Futarchy in one line

> Vote on **values**, bet on **beliefs**.

The community agrees on a goal (a measurable success metric), and **decision markets** determine
which action best achieves it. Each proposal spins up markets that forecast the outcome under
"adopt" vs. "reject"; the market's verdict decides the result. This replaces opinion-based voting
with skin-in-the-game price discovery.

## What the community governs

Every meaningful protocol parameter is a governance decision, not a hard-coded constant:

| Decision                | Examples                                                                                                  |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Asset listings**      | Which real-world assets enter the [RWA Basket](/how-it-works/rwa-basket).                                 |
| **Income distribution** | The split model (currently **40 / 30 / 20 / 10** — compounding / stRWT / liquidity / ARL buyback & burn). |
| **Fees**                | The mint fee and other protocol fees.                                                                     |
| **Treasury deployment** | How DAO funds are spent, allocated, or reinvested.                                                        |

These are **parameters**: the community can change any of them through governance to keep the
protocol at maximum efficiency.

## The DAO treasury

The protocol's treasury is held **on-chain in a multisig** controlled by the DAO, so funds can only
move the way governance permits:

* **No unilateral access.** The treasury's configuration authority is the futarchy program — no
  single party can pull funds. Treasury actions require a passing proposal.
* **Spending limits for operations.** Recurring operational budgets can be granted as bounded,
  on-chain **spending limits** (capped per period, optionally to allow-listed destinations), so the
  team can cover day-to-day costs without a full proposal for every payment — while large or novel
  spending still goes through futarchy.
* **Fully verifiable.** Every balance, limit, and transfer is on-chain and auditable.

## Why futarchy

* **Market-priced, not committee-decided.** Decisions reflect forecasted value, not the loudest voice.
* **Transparent.** Proposals, markets, and outcomes are all on-chain.
* **Aligned.** Participants put capital behind their beliefs, so good information is rewarded and
  cheap talk is filtered out.

<Note>
  Governance is live from day one via MetaDAO. As proposals are created and decided, the protocol's
  parameters and treasury evolve according to what the markets price as most valuable.
</Note>