Hoskinson reviews 11,000 DAOs to reform Cardano governance

On May 23, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson announced a review of governance across more than 11,000 decentralized autonomous organizations. He said the review will inform proposals for changes to Cardano’s constitution and governance technology following a dispute over Input Output Global’s (IOG) treasury funding proposal.

The announcement came as a vote on IOG’s treasury plan trended toward rejection ahead of a June 8 deadline. About 87% of Delegated Representatives were voting against the measure, which would fund Cardano’s 2026 research roadmap, including work on quantum security and scaling architecture. Hoskinson warned IOG would not resubmit the proposal if it fails and said a rejection could lead to layoffs and damage the network’s research-focused identity.

Hoskinson is weighing whether to register as a Delegated Representative to cast a direct vote in Cardano’s on-chain governance system. He also proposed holding a mini-convention before the 2027 governance cycle to align stakeholders around possible constitutional reforms. The 2027 deadline gives limited time to build consensus for changes.

The review will draw on governance models from thousands of DAOs and a decade of governance literature to assess executive functions, roadmap-setting and dispute resolution. Results could inform amendments to the constitution, adoption of new governance tools, or both.

Cardano’s governance uses on-chain voting and a network-funded treasury. Delegated Representatives are elected to vote on proposals for stake pools and the broader community. Any constitutional amendments or governance-tool changes must follow the network’s formal processes and receive community approval.

The initiative follows earlier tensions over how IOG worked with the Cardano Foundation and calls from Hoskinson for structural changes in that organization’s operations. On X, Hoskinson wrote that he had begun a governance review of over 11,000 DAOs and a decade of literature to study executive function, roadmap and strategy setting, and that he will release more details after he synthesizes the research and survey results.