Towards a systematic understanding of blockchain governance in proposal voting: A dash case study

• Published in: Blockchain. Research and applications Online Vol. 3; no. 3; p. 100085
• Main Authors: Mosley, Lawrence, Pham, Hieu, Guo, Xiaoshi, Bansal, Yogesh, Hare, Eric, Antony, Nadia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2022; Elsevier
• Subjects: Blockchain; Data mining; Decentralized governance; Network analysis; Voting systems; Data mining; Network analysis; Blockchain; Voting systems; Decentralized governance
• ISSN: 2096-7209; 2666-9536
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bcra.2022.100085

The transparent and immutable nature of blockchain provides incentives for organizations wishing to create and implement an open, decentralized governance structure. As members exercise their voting rights, a fault-tolerant record accumulates on the blockchain that can be analyzed to diagnose and intercept potential threats to the governing body. To date, there has not been a systematic study of on-chain governance with respect to voting. In this paper, we provide an analysis of blockchain governance through a case study of the first cryptocurrency to adopt on-chain voting, Dash. Our analysis introduces the key characteristics of blockchain governance, steps through a data-driven exploration of Dash's on-chain voting system, and highlights exploitable attack vectors and vulnerabilities for the subversion of Dash's on-chain voting system via a novel network analysis methodology. We then conclude with guidelines for other organizations looking to implement similar blockchain governance solutions while maintaining integrity in their operations.