Following @ihateoranges_'s insightful post, I want to continue the conversation: If the DAO is truly ours, the tools to shape it must be open and accessible to all. Right now, it’s clear that we’re far from that.
The concept of “decentralized governance” at Jupiter feels more like decoration than real empowerment. Proposals and decisions come from the team, and the community is just left to vote on what’s presented.
Jupiter’s DAO has structure.
It has votes.
It even has working groups.
But according to @ihateoranges_, what it lacks is true community agency.
His latest essay asks:
DAO or Decoration?
Continuing the discussion from DAO or Decoration? Rethinking Community Power in the Jupiter Ecosystem:
Let’s unpack it 
The DAO looks decentralized:
- JUP stakers vote on proposals
- The team says the community controls the DAO treasury
- Governance actions require community approval
But dig deeper — and the picture gets blurrier.
While the team can propose things and put them up for a vote…
community members must go through internal groups like CAWG to even begin that journey.
There’s no public-facing pipeline or tooling that allows any JUP staker to initiate a proposal.
That’s the key issue:
You can stake
You can vote
You can’t freely propose
Without an open proposal system, the DAO isn’t driven by collective vision — it’s curated by a gatekeeping process.
So what would real DAO empowerment look like?
@ihateoranges_ suggests:
Public proposal pipeline (forum → vote threshold → on-chain)
DAO tooling
Clear team vs DAO boundaries
Funding for community-led initiatives
Transparent roadmap for governance evolution
This is not about hostility toward the team.
It’s about aligning the process with the values Jupiter promotes:
– Shared ownership
– Decentralization
– Builder community
Because right now, participation is high — but agency is low.
And the people most invested — the stakers, voters, builders — are left asking:
“Are we stakeholders or spectators?”
If Jupiter is serious about being a leader in Web3, it must empower its DAO not just to vote — but to initiate.
The vibe is strong.
The tools are polished.
The community is ready.
All that’s missing is the mechanism to match the mission.
thank you for the well written article. I don’t think our way of seeing things will get any traction. The team is not interested in making any changes or sharing the power, and in the same time, majority of the community and DAO members are just the casino junkies