@inproceedings{a7a1a7cb019646c39d482c457e91f994,
title = "The Governance of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: A Study of Contributors{\textquoteright} Influence, Networks, and Shifts in Voting Power: A Study of Contributors{\textquoteright} Influence, Networks, and Shifts in Voting Power",
abstract = "We present a study analyzing the voting behavior of contributors, or vested users, in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). We evaluate their involvement in decision-making processes, discovering that in at least 7.54\% of all DAOs, contributors, on average, held the necessary majority to control governance decisions. Furthermore, contributors have singularly decided at least one proposal in 20.41\% of DAOs. Notably, contributors tend to be centrally positioned within the DAO governance ecosystem, suggesting the presence of inner power circles. Additionally, we observed a tendency for shifts in governance token ownership shortly before governance polls take place in 1202 (14.81\%) of 8116 evaluated proposals. Our findings highlight the central role of contributors across a spectrum of DAOs, including Decentralized Finance protocols. Our research also offers important empirical insights pertinent to ongoing regulatory activities aimed at increasing transparency to DAO governance frameworks.",
keywords = "DAO, Governance, Ethereum, Networks, Blockchain, Voting",
author = "Stefan Kitzler and Stefano Balietti and Pietro Saggese and Haslhofer Bernhard and Markus Strohmaier",
year = "2025",
month = feb,
day = "16",
doi = "10.1007/978-3-031-78679-2\_17",
language = "English",
isbn = "978-3-031-78678-5",
volume = "14745",
series = "Lecture Notes In Computer Science",
pages = "313--330",
editor = "J Clark and E Shi",
booktitle = "Financial Cryptography And Data Security, Fc 2024, Pt Ii",
}