What Is the Risk of a “51% Attack” in a Governance Token System?

A "51% attack" in a governance token system is a scenario where a single entity or coordinated group acquires more than 50% of the circulating governance tokens, allowing them to unilaterally control the voting outcome of all proposals. This control could be used maliciously, such as approving proposals that drain the protocol's treasury, change critical smart contract parameters to favor the attacker, or halt the protocol entirely.

This risk is a major security and trust vulnerability in decentralized governance.