I’ve been looking at a protocol’s governance votes again recently, and the more I look, the more it feels like a “delegated voting contest”… They say decentralization out loud, but in practice they dump their votes all at once into the hands of a few familiar addresses. At the end of the day, it’s those few people “speaking for everyone.” So who does governance tokens actually govern? Maybe what they govern is just the little sense of participation that ordinary people have.

What’s even more awkward is that many people don’t even take a serious look at who they’re delegating their votes to. Wallet signatures are basically a blind confirmation. Now that hardware wallets are out of stock and phishing links are flying everywhere, everyone’s suddenly on high alert about security—but governance seems even more casual. Anyway, I’m focusing on permissions first and on fund flows; I’d rather vote less than delegate blindly… Don’t treat your wallet like a wishing well.