Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the date of the referenced Curve DAO governance proposal and the grant amount.
- Disagreements signal an engaged community and prevent governance apathy, according to Curve Finance founder Dr. Michael Egorov.
- High voter turnout, like the over 80% seen in a revised Curve DAO grant proposal, contrasts with the typical sub-15% participation in most DAOs.
- Legal recognition for DAOs could help resolve common governance disputes over offchain assets like intellectual property and bank accounts.
Disagreements within a decentralized autonomous organization signal a healthy, engaged community rather than dysfunction, according to Curve Finance founder Dr. Michael Egorov. He argues that governance apathy, characterized by low voter turnout, is a more significant threat to a DAO’s vitality.
“If everyone automatically agrees on something, it feels like people just don’t really care,” Egorov told Cointelegraph.
He cited a December 2025 Curve DAO proposal for a $6.8 million grant to developer Swiss Stake AG as an example of productive debate. The initial proposal was submitted to the Curve DAO in December 2025 and was rejected by voters. One week later, an amended version of the proposal, which split the funding into two phases, was put to a vote and passed with over 80% voter turnout.
This high participation contrasts sharply with typical DAO engagement. An analysis by LamprosTech found voter turnout rarely passes 15%.
Meanwhile, a separate governance dispute erupted within the Aave DAO in December 2025 over fees from a CoW Swap integration.
DAO members were critical of fees going to a wallet controlled by Aave Labs. This sparked a debate over intellectual property control, highlighting a common DAO challenge.
Egorov said legal recognition could mitigate such governance disputes. If DAOs could legally own business entities and bank accounts, offchain interactions would be smoother.
However, the current legal system has yet to catch up with this decentralized technology.
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