Decentraland DAO ongoing strife over new committee member appointment
Appointing a new committee member has strained the DAO community, brought attention to forgotten figures, and called into question the undue power of whales.
The Decentraland DAO currently votes on a binding governance proposal that, if successful, will lead to Tobik being formally appointed to the DAO Committee by the Security Advisory Board.
Tobik joined Decentraland in 2021 and covers everything that happens within the ecosystem on his blog Unversed. But why has the process been so arduous?
The Initial Proposal
The five candidates for the committee position have all run twice. In the first instance in early January, Tobik was rejected primarily due to the votes of three large whales, one wallet belonging to Beluga, one belonging to the now infamous RobL and District X, and MetaArchs.
Tobik won the pre-proposal primarily due to the support of RobL, who seems to have changed his mind about Tobik’s candidacy for a reason yet to be revealed.
Tobik successfully passed the draft proposal again due to support from RobL and also Beluga, who has similarly changed their mind. And now, in the final stage, with backing from these two large whales, his victory seems assured.
Public Sentiment
RobL’s behavior in this election has reignited probes into his underhanded acquisition of District X, and a proposal that sought to redistribute the land to the original creators was rejected- thanks to RobL’s oversized voting rights truly highlighting the fragility of the process. This has highlighted one of the core weaknesses of ownership equating to voting power and shaken the general crowd’s faith in the democracy of the DAO decision process.
A highly active DAO participant Jar0d commented:
There is no reason for anyone to bother voting on this proposal. The bots and the Whales are on the same page.
Tudamoon similarly weighed in with concerns regarding the process:
From an accountability standpoint, no one is following the correct policy. I will remain voting no because the policy for a “Ranked Vote” was not done. There is no reason to override this policy or create a new precedent. We had this procedure in place and no one is following it. Hence why we are having issues with this in the first place. Just re-do the vote as a “Ranked Voting” system and there wont be any questions.
Web3nit encapsulated the mood with the following comment:
This elections shows that community lacks voting power and all major decisions are done by a small group of whales. Its not bad and not good, this is reality.
The Future
This election has strained the community, brought attention to players who would have exercised undue influence on decisions, and led to more interest in how the DAO distributes voting power and how to handle the impact of whales. All are incredibly healthy for the long-term health of the DAO, but in the short term, painful, and the sentiment of injustice can be felt.
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