Lately I’ve been itching to go and click through a governance vote—let’s be honest, it’s a bit of a fear of “if I’m absent, I’ll be represented,” especially with airdrop season going on right now, when everyone is doing tasks and racking up points like clocking in at work. I also catch myself thinking, “Since everyone is competing, if I don’t participate, am I the one taking a loss?”

But the more I look, the stranger it feels: delegated voting was originally supposed to be convenient, yet somehow it gradually turns into a situation where a few people end up holding a huge stack of votes. No matter how nice a proposal looks, in the end it still comes down to who can get big holders and/or representatives to line up with them. So—governance tokens are governing exactly who? Sometimes it feels more like it’s governing retail investors’ attention.

Anyway, before I vote now, I first break down the transaction path and the delegation link. At least then I know who I’m actually sending my vote to, and I make a note of the risk.