# Essence DAO A core principle of Essence is its fully decentralized design and minimal dependence on any centralized assets or protocols. The Essence DAO is responsible for utilizing all of the flexible and power features of Essence to continually enhance the protocol in an ever-changing DeFi space. **EssenceDAO is controlled by xZEN holders. (Subject to the Governance Phases)** *** ## Responsibilities Essence's design and implementation minimizes the governance for activities related to peg maintenance. Beyond the inherent need for initial protocol tuning, the Essence DAO is primarily responsible for two things: upgrades and integrations. Parameter tuning and changes that Essence DAO can make: * Grant/Revoke roles * Change PCV allocations * Adjust rewards from the staking pool * Upgrade oracles and other contracts throughout the system *** ## Design The Essence DAO is built on the OpenZepplin Governor and TimelockController. Parameters: * 3% Quorum * .25% proposal threshold * 12 hour voting delay * 36 hour voting period * 24 hour timelock delay * Essence DAO is controlled by xZEN Essence implements a flexible access control system. The Timelock is appointed as a Governor, but it does not have to be the only one, or remain Governor forever. Essence can appoint autonomous Governors to adjust parameters and PCV based on market conditions. Additionally, a tiered governance structure can be implemented where certain changes require higher quorum thresholds and longer times. Ultimately, the Essence DAO (i.e xZEN holders) makes all of these decisions as the protocol evolves. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.essencefinance.io/governance/essence-dao.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.