Week 06, 2025

Overview

I've looked into how our DRep system is working right now. What I found is interesting - and honestly, a bit concerning. Let me show you what's happening with our voting power and why it matters for everyone in Cardano.

How Much Voting Power Are We Using?

Important: out of all 6.81B ADA in our system, 3.2B ADA is set to "Always Abstain". That's almost half of our total voting power not being used!

Top 20 DReps by Stake

Even among those who are participating, we're seeing some patterns that need our attention. A small number of representatives control most of the voting power. This isn't great for a system that's supposed to be decentralized.

Top 20 DReps by Number of Delegators

Looking at the number of delegators per DRep reveals an interesting pattern. While some DReps have attracted thousands of delegators, there's a sharp drop-off after the top few positions.

How Stake is Distributed

The distribution follows an extreme version of the Pareto principle, where top 20% (159 DReps) control ₳3.25B (90%) of active stake, while the remaining 80% (636 DReps) only hold ₳0.36B (10%). Looking at how the voting power (stake) is distributed, we can see a clear concentration among a small group of DReps.

The top 20 DReps (2.52% of all DReps) control about 60.4% of all active stake, while the remaining 775 DReps share 39.6%. This level of concentration raises questions about the decentralization of voting power.

How Delegators are Distributed

The distribution of delegators tells a different but equally important story. While some DReps in the top 20% have high stake amounts, they might have relatively few delegators. Conversely, some DReps with lower stake have more delegators supporting them.

Main Concerns

• Too many people choosing not to vote
• Big difference between who has the money and who has the voters
• Many DReps with almost no activity
• Risk of a few big players having too much control

The Road Ahead

As a DRep myself, I care about making our governance system being fair and transparent. Yes, we have some challenges, but remember - we're just getting started!

I believe that our community can make this better. That's why I'm going to update this analysis every week, starting today. We need to keep track of how things are changing.

What do you think about all this? I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on X, comment here x.com/bkvpool.

These numbers might look worrying, but I see them as our starting point.