Solana DEX Jupiter Pauses DAO Votes, Citing Breakdown in Trust

Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Jupiter has announced that it will pause DAO votes until the end of 2025, stating that the structure is not “working as intended.”

Jupiter executive Kash Dhanda explained in an X post that the protocol is in a “critical period” and that the “window to define the future of DeFi is open.”

In order to capitalize on that window, Dhanda said that all DAO votes will be paused and in 2026 governance will return “with a fresh approach that unifies, rather than divides.”

“The current DAO structure isn’t working as intended,” he added. “We hear the complaints. We see the breakdown in trust. We feel the perpetual FUD cycle that grows with every vote. 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.”

The decision mirrors that of Yuga Labs, which earlier this month scrapped its ApeCoin DAO structure due to inefficiency.

From a logistical standpoint, active staking rewards (ASR) will continue at the same rate of 50 million JUP per quarter. However no new DAO-funded Work Groups will be created, thus no additional emissions will be created either.

One investor voiced their concerns to the tweet, saying: “So $JUP in 2025 is useless except staked for ASR?” To which Dhanda replied “stay tuned on that.”

JUP has lost 21.8% of its value over the past 30 days as the wider crypto market struggles to break out of a fairly tight range. The news didn’t have a major impact on prices on Friday, with JUP trading at 40 cents.