The State of DAO Delegate Compensation Today

Introduction Three years ago, delegate compensation felt like part of DAO governance’s natural progression. Protocols were launching DAOs, tokenholders needed representation, and delegates were emerging as the people willing to do the work. Since then, the picture has changed. Many DAOs reduced governance scope, cut delegate programs, or centralized decision-making back to core teams. The first wave of DAO governance exposed real problems: low participation, unclear accountability, performati...