Should DReps Be Compensated?
About a month ago, my friend visited while I was deep in a DRep budget workshop. She rolled her eyes and asked, “Is that one of your blockchain things again?”
“Yep,” I replied.
“So, what are you all up to this time? Trying to build a voting app for penguins or something?”
I laughed. “No, we’re reviewing proposals. People are requesting funding for different projects and we’re trying to make sense of them.”
“Nice. So what… do they pay you?”
I told her it was voluntary. We don’t get paid.
She blinked. “Hold on. You’re reading through budget proposals of people asking for money… what is that… millions of dollars I see in there… and you’re doing all that… for free?”
Then she burst out laughing.
“Girl, you’re in the wrong proposal. You should be writing one.”
I laughed too. Because when you put it that way, it does sound kind of wild.
But behind the humor was a real point. And it got me thinking about a question that keeps floating around in Cardano governance circles. Sometimes it’s whispered in Telegram chats and twitter spaces. Sometimes it pops up in calls and gets awkwardly brushed aside. And every now and then, someone dares to ask it out loud.
Should DReps be compensated?
It’s one of those sticky, uncomfortable questions that touches everything: values, fairness, decentralization, sustainability, and what kind of ecosystem we’re really trying to build. So let’s talk about it. Not to make a case one way or another, but to open up honest dialogue.
The Reality of Unpaid Governance
Here’s what being a DRep actually looks like: hours of reading complex proposals involving cryptography, business models, UI/UX design, and community impact. It’s listening to debates, voting with intention, showing up to meetings at crazy hours across time zones. It’s talking to project teams and trying to represent the values of people who trusted you with their votes, even when those values aren’t always clear.
It’s governance. And governance takes time and energy.
Think about it this way: imagine volunteers were asked to judge a high-stakes international cooking competition, but they weren’t trained chefs, didn’t get paid, and had to buy their own forks. Meanwhile, the contestants walked away with prize money and Michelin-star dreams. That’s kind of what it feels like.
Some people are fine doing this work for free. I am, for now. I recently started my own stake pool, Yam Pool, hoping it becomes a sustainable side hustle so I can keep contributing. But not everyone can do that. Not everyone has the flexibility or financial cushion to take on unpaid roles.
And if we don’t talk about that honestly, we risk building a governance system that only works for people who can afford to show up without support.
What Other Ecosystems Are Doing
Other chains have faced this same question. On Optimism, they pay delegates, but with accountability measures, transparency reports, and engagement requirements. MakerDAO pays contributors based on roles and responsibility. In Polkadot, participation is encouraged with direct rewards. These ecosystems are trying to make governance sustainable without making it exploitable.
Meanwhile, Cardano has taken a community-first approach. Most governance actors are volunteers. That’s beautiful in a way because it means people are contributing because they care. But it also raises real questions about longevity, inclusion, and who gets to contribute versus who has to step back.
The Case Against Payment
Let’s be honest about the risks. People say, “If you pay DReps, you’ll attract the wrong kind of people.” Opportunists. ADA farmers. Ghost voters. They’re right to worry. Right now, becoming a DRep is just creating a wallet and clicking a few buttons. There’s no identity layer, no friction. That’s great for decentralization, but it opens the door to abuse. One person could create multiple DReps and, if compensation were introduced, get paid several times for the same work.
There’s also no real accountability system. Who’s tracking whether DReps are showing up, reading proposals, making thoughtful decisions? We have dashboards, but no formal process for verifying contribution or performance.
Adding money without structure might attract people who aren’t here for the right reasons. That could shift our culture and dilute the values we’ve worked to uphold.
Maybe There’s a Middle Ground
Compensation opens the door to good and bad actors alike. But so does not compensating. Because then only people with time, money, and privilege can afford to participate. What happens to voices from small communities, from developing countries, from people who care but also need to survive? If we want diverse and dedicated representation, we have to think about sustainability.
We can’t pretend this role is “just clicking buttons.” If we keep saying that about DReps, that’s all it will eventually become, even for people who take it seriously now.
The answer might not be yes or no. Maybe it’s “not yet” or “not like this.”
We could explore optional compensation tied to clear metrics like participation, transparency, or community engagement. We could create recognition systems that reward trust and reputation instead of just tokens.
What matters is that we don’t ignore the question.
Where I Stand
I’m not going anywhere if we don’t get paid. I’ll keep doing the work because I believe in Cardano’s governance journey and that community-led innovation can work, even when it’s messy. But not everyone can afford to do that. Some amazing community members want to serve but can’t afford to. They’ve got jobs, families, rent to pay. Passion doesn’t erase economic reality.
And that should matter to us.
Because the kind of people we want shaping governance, the thoughtful, diverse, global voices, often don’t come from easy circumstances. If we want a decentralized future, we have to build systems that include, not exclude.
This isn’t a proposal or a manifesto. It’s a conversation starter. One I hope we can have with honesty, empathy, and open minds. Because if Cardano governance is going to grow into what it could be, we need to talk about the hard things.
This is one of them.
Questions for the Community
Would compensation improve the quality of DRep decisions, or would it compromise the integrity we’ve worked so hard to build? If we do introduce payment, how do we ensure it doesn’t create a governance elite? What model could work best for our unique ecosystem? And maybe most importantly: how do we build a governance system that’s both sustainable for participants and true to Cardano’s values?
Let’s talk.