user : Challenge of partipants in governance assistant : ### What specific governance challenge or problem are you observing? Please be as concrete as possible about what's happening and why it matters. user : In most DAOs, it's really hard to see participants in the DAO, who are not part of a governance provider body. assistant : ### What evidence or examples demonstrate this is a real problem? This could include failed proposals, low participation rates, specific incidents, data you've observed, or patterns you've noticed across projects. user : So, yeah, the the thing is most times you try to look at a different DAOs and you notice that and if you look at the numbers of people voting and, you know, the people present in the governance setup, you find out that they are usually more familiar faces like like the same set of people per se are usually present in different ecosystems. And you find out that, okay, it's usually mostly, you know, people who run governance as a service infrastructure that are, like, you know, usually spread out to other places, which it ideally, it's it's not bad, but what what I feel is, you know, this should be, you know, other people and and and all. So that's, like, the pattern that is noticeable. assistant : Would you like to share another governance problem, or should we move on to exploring solutions and who's working on them? user : skip assistant : Great! Let's move to exploring solutions and who's working on them. ### What approaches, tools, or mechanisms could address the governance problems we've discussed? Share any potential solutions you're aware of or have considered - these could be technical tools, process innovations, research directions, or organizational approaches. user : To be fair, I I think we have to look for means aside, you know, incentivizing delegate participants. Because something I want to I I've grown to understand is that most times, people see governance tokens as more of a meme token, not in the actual sense of a meme token, but in the actual sense that, you know, there's really most DAOs don't do value, you know, returning to the token holders. It's it's a lot of them don't do that. So you now find out that holding the governance token means, you know, a lot of money, dropping down and losing money. You know, you're you're you're while you're putting skin in the game, you're actually losing money to the protocol, which shouldn't be so. So I believe, like, founders, you know, the operators should figure out the way of, you know, seeing how how can we make it long term profitable that, okay, people who get skin in the game are rewarded organically and not just having to, you know, wait on, like, they'll get compensation. assistant : ### Which teams, projects, or researchers do you know are actively working on these solutions or related governance innovations? This helps us map who's contributing to solving these challenges. user : No one from what I know. assistant : Would you like to share more solutions or identify additional actors working in this space, or should we move to wrapping up? user : skip assistant : ### Thank you for mapping governance challenges and solutions Here's a summary of your contributions: **Problems Identified:** - Low participation from non-governance-provider participants in DAO governance - the same familiar faces (primarily governance-as-a-service providers) appear across multiple DAOs, while broader community members remain absent **Evidence Provided:** - Observable pattern across different DAOs showing consistently low voting numbers - The same set of people (governance service providers) appearing across multiple ecosystems - Limited diversity in who actually participates in governance decisions **Solutions & Approaches:** - Moving beyond simple delegate incentivization - Addressing the fundamental value proposition of governance tokens - currently they function like "meme tokens" where holders lose money rather than gain value - Creating organic, long-term profitability for token holders who put "skin in the game" - Protocol operators and founders need to design mechanisms where governance participation is rewarded organically, not just through compensation programs **Active Contributors:** - No known teams currently working on these specific solutions Your input will be synthesized with other participants' contributions to help build the gov/acc research roadmap. This will inform the visualization and workshop at EthCC, where we'll work on coordinated solutions to these governance challenges. Does this summary capture your main points accurately, or would you like to clarify or add anything?