DGI Weekly: The Delegate Engagement Crisis — DGI Drops to 5.90 as Participation Hollows Out
DGI Composite: 5.90 (↓ -0.08 from last week)
The DAO Governance Index continues its downward slide, dropping from 6.6 a month ago to 5.90 this week. The 35 qualifying DAOs now sit firmly in "average" territory — and the trend line isn't encouraging.
But the headline number hides the real story. This isn't a broad deterioration across all governance dimensions. It's a very specific collapse in one metric: Delegate Engagement.
Category Indices
- Infrastructure: 6.15 — leads the ecosystem, carried by Optimism (7.1) and Stargate/LayerZero (6.8)
- DeFi: 5.97 — the largest category, stable but unremarkable
- Public Goods: 5.65 — Gitcoin (6.1) and KlimaDAO (6.2) hold the line
- Social: 5.33 — trails all categories despite Aavegotchi's strong 7.9 at #1 overall
The category gap between Infrastructure (6.15) and Social (5.33) is notable. Infrastructure DAOs benefit from more structured governance processes — dedicated delegates, formal proposal frameworks, and active forum cultures. Social DAOs tend to have more organic, less formalised governance, which shows up in the scores.
The Delegate Engagement Crisis
Here's the pattern that defines this week — and honestly, the past month:
Human Participation Rates are near-perfect. 47 of 53 tracked DAOs score 9.9 or 10.0 on HPR. People are showing up.
Delegate Engagement is collapsing. The median DEI across all DAOs is 1.8 — an F grade. Even top-ranked DAOs like Lido (DEI: 8.2) and Parallel (DEI: 8.6) are the exception, not the rule. Most DAOs sit below 2.0.
What does this mean in practice? Governance structures exist. Token holders delegate their voting power. Proposals get created. But the delegates entrusted with that power aren't actively engaging — they're not voting consistently, not participating across proposal types, not demonstrating the engagement their delegated stake implies.
This is the governance equivalent of having a parliament where members show up for roll call but leave before the vote.
Top 10 DAOs
| # | DAO | Category | GVS | HPR | DEI | PDI | GPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aavegotchi | Social | 7.9 | 10.0 | 6.2 | 7.0 | 7.4 |
| 2 | Redbelly Network | DeFi | 7.5 | 10.0 | 6.9 | 5.1 | 6.5 |
| 3 | Lido | DeFi | 7.3 | 10.0 | 8.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| 4 | Optimism | Infrastructure | 7.1 | 9.9 | 6.4 | 4.7 | 5.6 |
| 5 | Balancer | DeFi | 7.0 | 9.5 | 6.1 | 4.0 | 7.1 |
| 6 | Parallel | DeFi | 7.0 | 10.0 | 8.6 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| 7 | ShapeShift | DeFi | 6.9 | 10.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 4.8 |
| 8 | Wormhole | DeFi | 6.9 | 10.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 4.6 |
| 9 | Gearbox | DeFi | 6.8 | 10.0 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 4.5 |
| 10 | Stargate/LayerZero | Infrastructure | 6.8 | 9.7 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
What do the top performers have in common? DEI scores above 5.0. That's the dividing line. Every DAO in the top 10 maintains meaningful delegate engagement. Below the top 10, DEI scores fall off rapidly — most sitting between 0.2 and 2.8.
Biggest Movers — Last 30 Days
Gainers
| DAO | Category | Change | Current GVS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wormhole | DeFi | +3.69 | 6.9 |
| Euler Finance | DeFi | +2.82 | 5.8 |
| Bancor | DeFi | +2.62 | 6.0 |
Wormhole is the standout story. A +3.69 jump in 30 days is the largest movement we've recorded. This was driven by a surge in delegate engagement following their governance restructuring. Worth watching whether this sustains or reverts.
Decliners
| DAO | Category | Change | Current GVS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radiant Capital | DeFi | -2.14 | 5.6 |
| Frax Finance | DeFi | -2.06 | 6.3 |
| Alchemix | DeFi | -2.04 | 5.5 |
Radiant Capital's fall is particularly notable — they were #1 overall just weeks ago with an 8.6. The decline from 7.7 to 5.6 is driven by a DEI collapse from 10.0 to 0.2. When delegate engagement disappears, the score follows fast.
This is exactly the kind of rapid governance deterioration that a future Governance Attack Monitor would flag as an early warning signal.
What We're Watching
The DEI floor. With median DEI at 1.8, we're approaching a systemic issue. If the majority of DAOs can't sustain delegate engagement above 2.0, it raises questions about whether the current delegation model works at all — or whether it needs fundamental redesign.
Wormhole's sustainability. A +3.69 jump is impressive, but governance improvements that come from one-time events (restructuring, large proposals) tend to revert. We'll track whether Wormhole holds above 6.5 next week.
The Gearbox spike. A +0.15 week-over-week move in an otherwise flat ecosystem. Small, but it suggests renewed proposal activity.
Methodology Note
The DGI Composite is an equal-weighted average of Governance Vitality Scores across all qualifying DAOs (minimum data completeness threshold). Individual GVS scores are composed of four weighted components: Human Participation Rate (35%), Delegate Engagement Index (25%), Power Dynamics Index (20%), and Grassroots Participation Index (20%). Scores range from 0–10.
Full methodology: chainsights.one/methodology Full matrix with all 53 DAOs: chainsights.one/dao-matrix Free governance health check: chainsights.one/check
Data updated March 22, 2026. 53 DAOs tracked, 35 qualifying for DGI inclusion.