Governance Participation and Power Imbalance in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

Abstract

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) aim to enable collective decision-making without centralized authority. Despite rapid growth, many DAOs experience governance inefficiencies and participation imbalance. This study examines voting records and proposal archives from 25 large DAOs operating in decentralized finance and digital content sectors. Participation rates, proposal acceptance patterns, and token concentration levels were analyzed over a two-year period. Findings show that fewer than 12% of token holders regularly participate in governance processes, while high-concentration wallets exert disproportionate influence on key decisions. Several alternative voting schemes, including quadratic and delegated voting, were evaluated through simulation.