Intro
This report analyzes voting activity, feedback, and rationales using the top 100 delegates as a sample during Season 8. It focuses on how participation unfolded over the course of a relatively calm season, shaped by a more programmatic governance design with broader use of optimistic approvals and fewer direct voting moments than in the previous season.
Rather than framing participation levels through a linear perspective, the analysis is situated within broader questions around governance design and collective decision-making. As Vitalik Buterin noted, DAOs are not meant to vote on everything, but on what truly requires collective coordination. Now the challenge for the collective lies in identifying where that balance is.
Token House roles
- Token House roles went from 42 to 43.
- Season 8 had 43 roles filled by 42 unique individuals
- The number of unique people went from 40 to 42.
- Out of the 64 people who held roles in Season 7, 27 remained in Season 8 (42.2% retention; 57.8% turnover).
- Looking only at Season 8, 27 members carried over and 16 were new (62.8% internal retention; 37.2% rotation).
Note: In practice, there were 42 Token House roles, since one govNERD stepped down and the spot wasn’t filled.
Token House Budget
The following chart shows the distribution of the Token House budget and its allocations across the different roles:
Note: The Budget Board and govNERDs do not receive OP from the Governance Fund; they are funded by Foundation.
For Seasons 8 and 9, the Token House proposed a combined operating budget of 4,457,840 OP. Following the Budget Board’s recommendation, the total was reduced by 17,840 OP and approved at 4,440,000 OP (Season 8 Budget Transparency Report). As this budget was approved jointly for a one-year mandate covering Seasons 8 and 9, all figures below are presented on a per-season basis to allow comparison with Season 7.
Season 8 Operating Budget (% vs Season 7)
- Security Council: +412% vs S7 (1,510,250 OP)
- Milestones & Metrics Council: +189.6% vs S7 (492,350 OP)
- Developer Advisory Board (DAB): +155% vs S7 (484,772 OP)
- Grants Council: +21.4% vs S7 (485,505 OP)
- Total: +181.9% OP vs S7 (2,972,877 OP)
Note: Percentages reflect per-season figures, comparing Season 7 budgets to half of the jointly approved Season 8 and 9 mandate.
The following bar chart shows the progression of budgets for the different councils from Season 3 through 8:
The OP/ETH Lens
Because the OP/ETH rate changed between seasons (1,886 OP/ETH for S7 and 4,580 OP/ETH for S8), the same increase in OP may not be as linear when measured in ETH terms. At the total level, despite +182% in OP, the budget corresponds to a +16% increase in ETH.
As an example, for Grants Council considering the ETH/OP rate of 4580 (as of July 15, 2025), the 73000 OP reviewer stipend equals ~15.94 ETH, almost identical to the ~15.90 ETH received in Season 7, based on that season’s 1886 OP/ETH rate. Also, the Grants Council shows a +21.4% increase in OP, but in ETH terms it is about half of Season 7. More details in the chart below:
Season 8 Participation and Voting Data
Methodology
Data was collected from Agora and the Optimism Governance Forum, focusing on votes, rationales, and forum feedback. Full methodological details are here.
The tracker shows the list of the Top 100 delegates as captured at the start of Season 8, along with how many times they voted, submitted rationales (both on the forum and on Agora), and engaged in forum discussions. It also contains all the charts included in this report.
Top 100 delegate activity
Votes, Feedback & Rationales
- A total of 785 votes, 91 rationales, and 86 forum interactions were recorded (see pie chart below).
Votes
- 22% of Top 100 delegates voted in all 16 standard proposals.
- 50% of delegates voted in more than half of standard votes.
- 35% of Top 100 delegates cast no votes in Season 8 (same as season 7).
- 65% of top 100 delegates voted at least once (same as season 7).
- 7 out of 23 total proposals (30.4%) were optimistic approvals.
- Season 8/9 Operating Budgets received the highest engagement.
- In Season 8, the top 100 delegates cast 785 votes across 16 standard proposals and 7 optimistic approvals, compared to 1,247 votes across 25 standard proposals and 2 optimistic approvals in Season 7, 462 votes less (-37%), while participation in key decisions remained stable.
Forum Feedback & Rationales
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Forum interactions fell by 54%, from 185 in Season 7 to 86 in Season 8, across 16 standard votes (excluding optimistic approvals).
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20% of top 100 delegates interacted with the forum at least once
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80% of top 100 delegates never interacted with the forum
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There were 91 rationales, which is 71% fewer than in Season 7.
- On average:
- each vote received 3.7 feedback/forum interactions
- each vote received 4 rationales
- On average:
Overall participation
- When combining votes, forum feedback, and rationales, overall participation declined by 44.9% compared to Season 7 (1745 vs. 962 total interactions).
Top 100 Delegate participation by Proposal type
- Elections had the highest number of votes, but had almost no feedback.
- Budgets attracted the most feedback, despite receiving fewer votes.
- Ratifications / Amendments sat in between, with high voting and moderate deliberation.
- Upgrades had limited votes but consistent feedback, while Missions and Dissolutions had low-engagement.
Elections are still where most of the voting happens. Feedback and rationales, on the other hand, showed up mostly around budget decisions, rather than ratifications as in the previous season. Across recent seasons, elections and security-related votes continue to be the topics that draw the most interest from delegates.
Top 100 Delegate Participation by Voting Power
To deepen the snapshot of the composition of delegate votes, they were stratified by Voting Power tiers as follows:
- 250k–1M VP tier recorded the highest number of votes in Season 8 (223 votes), slightly below Season 7 levels (272 votes), continuing the same participation pattern in Season 7.
Participation across VP tiers looks balanced. The 1-250k, 250k-1M, and 1-1.5M VP tiers each end up making up roughly a quarter of total votes (26-28%).
Still, participation plays out a bit differently across tiers. As in Season 7, delegates with higher voting power, the whales, tend to vote more often on an individual basis (this makes sense given that there are simply fewer delegates in those tiers). Most of the total voting volume, though, comes from the 250k-1.5M tiers, mainly because that is where a larger share of active delegates sits.
This pattern is consistent with last season. Mid-sized tiers continue to show steady participation and fairly regular voting patterns, and together with a smaller group of very active whale delegates, they continue acting as a stabilizing layer within the collective.
Voting power fluctuations, votable supply and quorum
During this Season, a significant shift was observed in the redistribution of voting power among delegates, as well as in the votable supply and, consequently, in the quorum. An initial reading shows that following the dissolution of the Anti-Capture Commission the quorum decreased by 10M OP. However, this change cannot be explained solely by the dissolution of the ACC. The votable supply declined from around 115M OP at the beginning of the Season to approximately 85M OP toward its end. In parallel, the quorum dropped from 34.8M OP to close to 25M OP.
As shown in the data, several delegations experienced a reduction in VP, which led to their exit from the top 100 delegates. A snapshot taken at the start of the Season on July 31, 2025 differs from another taken on October 15, approximately mid-Season 8. In total, 17 delegates who began the Season within the top 100 were no longer part of it by mid-season.
Snapshot of Participation Metrics
Season 8 wrapped
This season saw the lowest participation levels to date since the launch of the collective, considering forum activity, voting and optimistic approvals, the reduced participation of delegates who had previously been active, and overall engagement levels. This shift in pace aligns with a more programmatic governance model, whose main characteristics include broader use of optimistic approvals and no direct incentives for delegates. After quantifying participation, we conclude that this reflects a structural adjustment in how participation is expressed, rather than a temporary decline in engagement.
Participation volume vs participation capacity
Participation metrics declined, while participation capacity remained stable. Optimistic approvals help explain this dynamic, as they allow the DAO to continue operating with minimal active effort from delegates while preserving oversight through veto power. This mechanism makes it possible for governance to remain functional even when the forum is a lot quieter.
Overall participation measured as the combined total of votes, forum feedback, and rationales declined by 45% during Season 8. Even so, and despite the expanded use of optimistic approvals, the votes that tend to attract the most participation such as elections and operating budgets continued to draw levels of engagement comparable to previous seasons. For example, the Grants Council Election: Final Reviewer vote received 55 votes from the Top 100 delegates in Season 8, compared to 56 votes in Season 7. Similarly, the Security Council Operating Budget Feedback vote in Season 8 attracted 51 Top 100 votes, compared to 48 votes for the Security Council Operating Budget (Onchain) in Season 7.
Another way to confirm this is by focusing exclusively on standard voting proposals and excluding optimistic approvals. When looking at the total vote count, Season 8 recorded 37% fewer votes than Season 7, which at first glance could suggest a significant drop in participation. However, in Season 7 a total of 1247 votes were cast across 25 standard proposals, averaging 49.9 votes per proposal. In Season 8, 785 votes were cast across 16 standard proposals, with an average of 49.1 votes per proposal (just 1.6% less).
And while the forum was quieter since 80% of the top 100 delegates did not post a single reply (this represents 24% lower forum participation than S7), voting participation itself remained almost identical, meaning the DAO’s operational capacity remains intact.
Quorum Recalibration
Quorum dynamics require a more nuanced interpretation. Although declining quorum levels are often associated with increased vulnerability, in this case quorum levels remain high. Rather than signaling a structural shift, this should be read as an early warning if this trend continues. It is also plausible that quorum levels in Season 7 were inflated and that the collective is currently undergoing an adjustment phase. (Let’s remember inflated quorums aren’t necessarily positive).
Changes to delegate incentive programs might also help explain this behavior. With the removal of incentives for voting or participation, a portion of delegates either reduced their activity or lost voting power altogether. When comparing the Top 100 delegates’ voting power between the start of Season 8 and mid-season (October 15th), 17 delegates are no longer part of the Top 100, collectively accounting for 14,584,232 OP less in voting power. While each case has its own specific context, the absence of incentives might provide an explanation for the decline in participation and voting power.
This context is further reinforced by the effects of the chain delegation program. Some chains lost their delegated VP after a review, like Soneium and Mint, which meant about 1.5M less in the votable supply. Seven chains qualified to participate in the program in Season 8, representing 56% fewer than the 16 chains that took part in the previous season. This led the program to reduce delegated OP from 10.5M to 4.25M (−59%), accounting for part of the 6.25M reduction in the votable supply.
Despite the reduction in votable supply, the number of delegates required to reach the 25M OP quorum remained almost the same. At mid-Season 8, only 6 delegates were needed to reach quorum, just one fewer than in Season 7. This indicates that the degree of voting power concentration remains unchanged.
Overall
Season 8 feels different, especially in the forum, but once you look at the numbers most of the collective looks somehow similar to Season 7.
At the Token House level, roles went from 42 to 43, and unique people from 40 to 42, so there’s no real contraction there. On the budget side, despite a +181.9% increase in OP, the total corresponds to only a +16.1% increase in ETH, keeping spending in line with the previous season. Still, it’s worth looking beyond spending in isolation. That calls for a second look, one that pays closer attention to outcomes. From there, the focus naturally shifts toward continuing along the path of transparency and impact evaluation for grants and mission programs, as this is what allows us to understand the balance between spending and long-term growth.
Voting shows the same pattern. 22% of the Top 100 voted in all 16 standard proposals, slightly below 26% in Season 7. At the same time, the overall distribution is identical: 35% of the Top 100 didn’t vote at all, while 65% voted at least once. As before, voting continues to cluster around elections and budgets, and participation remains strongest among the top 100 delegates with 1-250k, 250k-1M, and 1-1.5M OP tiers.
Even with a lower votable supply, the number of whales needed to reach quorum remains at six.
So the drop in forum activity is undeniable. However, and against all expectations, voting metrics remain almost without changes. What did change is where participation shows up, but whether the collective is still present is not put into question.