ArbitrumDAO Elects Six to Security Council as 30,766 ETH Frozen
ArbitrumDAO elected six new members to its 12-person Security Council in an April 12–May 3 vote; incoming signers inherit a 30,766 ETH fund frozen and blocked by a U.S. court.
ArbitrumDAO completed a vote from April 12 through May 3 to elect six members to its 12-person Security Council. The new cohort will fill half the council’s seats, which rotate every six months, and will assume signing authority after a May 21 grace period.
The six winners are Michael Lewellen, DZack23, Yoav.eth, Certora, Bartek.eth and Pablo Sabbatella of OPSEK. Lewellen led the field with 25.19 million weighted votes, followed by DZack23 with 24.01 million, Yoav.eth with 21.75 million, Certora with 21.56 million, Bartek.eth with 21.05 million and Sabbatella with 20.82 million. Eleven candidates passed compliance checks to qualify for the final round after a wider application pool in March.
Voting ran on a 21-day schedule that gave ballots full weight for the first seven days before weights decayed. The election sets the roster that will begin signing multisig transactions once the May 21 period ends and the new members are added to the council’s multisig wallet.
Weeks before voting closed, the outgoing council used emergency powers to freeze 30,766 ETH linked to the KelpDAO exploit. A U.S. court later issued an order blocking any movement of those funds while victims pursue legal claims, leaving the balance in legal limbo for the incoming signers to address.
Council signers approve emergency interventions, execute multisig transactions and participate in governance decisions such as treasury allocations and ARB distributions. Handling the frozen KelpDAO funds and any related payouts will be part of the council’s responsibilities once the new signers begin operations.
ARB traded at about $0.1193, up nearly 5% over the prior 24 hours, as market participants evaluated the change in council membership alongside the ongoing legal and governance matters. Once added to the multisig after May 21, the newly elected members will be able to act on live incident files and treasury requests according to the council’s rules.
