Analyzing Voting Power in Decentralized Governance: Who controls DAOs?
Robin Fritsch, Marino M\"uller, Roger Wattenhofer

TL;DR
This paper empirically investigates voting power distribution in three major Ethereum-based DAOs, revealing insights into how governance influence is held and exercised by token holders and delegates.
Contribution
It provides a detailed empirical analysis of voting power distribution in prominent DAOs, highlighting the actual influence of different stakeholders.
Findings
Voting power is concentrated among large token holders.
Delegates play a significant role in decision-making.
Distribution of voting rights varies across DAOs.
Abstract
We empirically study the state of three prominent DAO governance systems on the Ethereum blockchain: Compound, Uniswap and ENS. In particular, we examine how the voting power is distributed in these systems. Using a comprehensive dataset of all governance token holders, delegates, proposals and votes, we analyze who holds the voting rights and how they are used to influence governance decisions.
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Taxonomy
TopicsBlockchain Technology Applications and Security · FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance · Auction Theory and Applications
