The On-Chain and Off-Chain Mechanisms of DAO-to-DAO Voting

[2603.00708] The On-Chain and Off-Chain Mechanisms of DAO-to-DAO Voting Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Computer Science > Cryptography and Security arXiv:2603.00708 (cs) [Submitted on 28 Feb 2026 ( v1 ), last revised 25 Aug 2026 (this version, v2)] Title: The On-Chain and Off-Chain Mechanisms of DAO-to-DAO Voting Authors: Thomas Lloyd , Daire Ó Broin , Martin Harrigan View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: Voting is the primary mechanism through which Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) reach decisions. Although transparent, the voting process can be opaque: it can involve many interacting smart contracts. The nexus of the decision-making process can be relocated and the true voter demographic obfuscated. DAOs can also govern other DAOs, a process known as metagovernance. We present a method for identifying DAO-to-DAO metagovernance on the Ethereum blockchain. We focus on the links between DAOs and token contracts. We use a signature-matching algorithm to handle a variety of DAO frameworks and voting schemes. Once we establish token-to-DAO relationships, we gather and process voting data to produce a list of metagovernance relationships. We apply this algorithm to an initial set of sixteen DAOs and we extend the dataset as more DAOs are identified. We produce a metagovernance network with 61 DAOs and 72 metagovernance relationships. We examine three case studies that show metagovernance of various forms: strategic, decisive, and nexus, where a DAO becomes a governance hub for multiple other DAOs. We demonstrate that metagovernance obscures voting context and introduces entities driven by self-interest that can significantly influence governance. We highlight instances of metagovernance between DAOs operating on the Ethereum blockchain where current governance tools fail to reveal such dynamics. Better tools are needed to preserve the transparency-centric ethos of DAOs and mitigate risks associated with metagovernance. Comments: 14 pages, 5 figures Subjects: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) ; Computers and Society (cs.CY) Cite as: arXiv:2603.00708 [cs.CR] (or arXiv:2603.00708v2 [cs.CR] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.00708 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Martin Harrigan [ view email ] [v1] Sat, 28 Feb 2026 15:30:27 UTC (518 KB) [v2] Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:42:06 UTC (636 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: cs.CR < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: cs cs.CY References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from

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