Ouch!
Referendum 627 is currently sitting at ~98% Nays. That’s… not great.
The opposition appears to come primarily from ChaosDAO, so let me start there. Thank you for the work you do for this ecosystem. Voting on nearly every referendum, running internal deliberation, doing investigative work that benefits everyone — that takes real commitment, and I respect it. I also understand you deliberate internally rather than debating publicly. That approach has real advantages: less drama, more focus, coordinated action.
I’ll be doing the exact opposite. Everything I do will be here, on this forum. No direct messages, only public discourse. If I’m wrong, I want to be corrected in the open. If there’s disagreement, I want to understand it. I think Kusama needs more of this — not because ChaosDAO’s approach is wrong, but because building in public attracts likeminded builders.
Now, I’ll be honest: I’m new here. I was on the sidelines for a while before stepping into governance, and I completely understand that people may not trust me yet. That’s fine — trust is earned. But I’d ask that we remember what matters in this ecosystem: less trust, more truth. Judge this proposal on its merits, not on who wrote it. If it has flaws, point them out. I’ve already corrected errors publicly when they were caught. I’m not here to defend my ego — I’m here to build something that works.
Here’s the thing: ChaosDAO has significant voting power, but still less than 1% of total stake. This referendum has 8 days left, and the outcome isn’t sealed. It depends on whether other large stakeholders show up.
So this is my call to the broader community: if you hold significant KSM, please vote. Aye or Nay — I genuinely don’t mind which. What matters is that governance reflects actual community sentiment, not just who happened to participate. If this proposal has flaws I’m not seeing, I’d rather learn that now. If there’s support that hasn’t voted, now’s the time.
And if the verdict is that this approach is fundamentally wrong? That’s useful information. I’m happy to take the feedback, work on a better version, and try again. The goal was never to win a vote — it was to build sustainable tokenomics for Kusama.
A few questions I’m sitting with: Is there something fundamentally broken here that I’m missing? Are other stakeholders waiting to see how this plays out? Is @olanod’s complementary proposal facing similar headwinds?
I’m not asking ChaosDAO to change how they operate. I’m asking the rest of you: what do you think?