# DAO Power Concentrates in Emergency Roles

After governance attacks and slow crisis responses, decentralized protocols keep transferring discretionary control to small councils and steward committees, so the decisive question in DeFi risk shifts from what the code permits to who is authorized to halt it.

- Conviction: 26 / 100 (weakening)
- 7-day move: -14
- Horizon: Emerging (watchlist)
- Tracking since: 2026-09-07T00:00:00.000Z
- Last updated: 2026-09-14T14:04:09.447Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/trends/dao-governance-recentralizes
- Publisher: Polylog
- Affected regions: Global

## Recent score history

- 2026-09-13: 28
- 2026-09-14: 26

## Recent evidence

- [confirms] Aave Votes to Give Risk Stewards Powers That Can Freeze Markets but Not Restart Them (2026-09-07): Aave token holders voted to grant Risk Stewards emergency powers that can freeze markets but not restart them, and the functions cannot even be called by the current software release — the authority is being assigned ahead of the code that implements it. DeFi's largest lending market pre-authorizing a small committee to halt markets moves the decisive risk question from what the code permits to who may pull the brake.