Jupiter DAO Pauses Voting After Backlash Over Teams Voting Power

Jupiter DAO has halted voting for the remainder of the year following controversy over team members using their outsized voting power to influence outcomes

The Jupiter decentralized exchange (DEX) has paused governance voting through the end of the year, citing a “perpetual FUD cycle that grows with every vote.”

“The current DAO structure isnt working as intended. We hear the complaints. We see the breakdown in trust… Instead of the DAO, holders, and team working in cohesion to push the product, platform and community forward, we are stuck in a negative feedback loop,” said Kash Dhanda, “cat-herder” of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that governs Jupiter.

Pointing to new products like Jupiter Lend and the new Jupiter Mobile onboarding new users, Dhanda said, “We must be laser-focused on growth.”

The most recent FUD, meaning fear, uncertainty and doubt, stems from concerns over the Jupiter development teams use of their large token allocations for voting on governance proposals.

It has been alleged that their sizable voting power is being used to unfairly influence votes, thereby undermining the decentralization of the DAO that governs Jupiter.

“I‘m not against [the] team having allocation, they’ve worked hard all these years and [built Jupiter] from scratch, but the problem is their stake is comparatively great in terms of influencing the DAO,” said pseudonymous DAO participant BuddyChaddi in the Jupiter governance forum on June 6.

The Jupiter team was allocated 20% of the 10 billion JUP tokens.

The Solana-based DEX has a market capitalization of $1.2 billion, down 37% from a monthly high of $1.9 billion on May 27.

Taking a Pause

The pause in DAO voting will give the team, the community, token holders, and contributors time to get aligned, Dhanda said.

“In 2026, we will return to governance with a fresh approach that unifies, rather than divides,” he added. “The focus will be on creating a more acceptable way of leveraging capital to grow the Jupiverse to draw in talent, ensure accountability, and move the space forward.”

There will also be a pause in JUP spending on new working groups, Dhanda said, noting that existing ones will continue as planned.

The Community Reserve will remain untouched until DAO voting resumes, with the Jupiter team funding any community growth projects from its own operational treasury.

Active staking rewards of 50 million JUP per quarter will continue and be extended through the fourth quarter, although no new JUP emissions will occur, Dhanda said

“We believe that the gains from this change – renewed product focus, speed of execution on community growth, and a fresh approach to the DAO – will be massive,” he said.

In January, Jupiter distributed a $550 million Jupuary airdrop.