ECB Paper Reveals DeFi Governance Power Concentration

A new working paper from the European Central Bank has exposed significant concentrations of power in the governance structures of major decentralized finance protocols, challenging long-held claims of broad decentralization in the sector.

Published in March 2026, the report analyzed on-chain data from Aave, MakerDAO, Uniswap, and Ampleforth, finding that the top 100 holders control more than 80 percent of governance tokens in each case. This pattern persists despite these protocols having thousands of unique token addresses, indicating that influence remains in the hands of a limited group, including protocol treasuries, founders, early investors, and centralized exchanges like Binance, which holds substantial positions across the platforms.

The concentration extends to voting power, where delegation mechanisms amplify the effect. In Ampleforth, the top 20 voters account for 96 percent of delegated votes, while in MakerDAO the top 10 control 66 percent and in Uniswap the top 18 hold 52 percent. Overall participation rates are low, with only about 5 percent of token holders actively engaging in votes, leaving decisions shaped by a small cadre of delegates. The paper notes that...