Governance Futures

About Governance Futures

Welcome to Governance Futures - a podcast where we explore how governance works (and fails) in Web3 and beyond. Hosted by Eugene Leventhal and Jamilya Kamalova, each episode dives deep into the evolving principles of coordination, accountability, and collective decision-making in decentralized ecosystems. From DAOs to ancient constitutions, Wikipedia mods to protocol politics, we talk with builders, researchers, organizers, and rebels who are shaping how power is distributed - and who gets to decide. Whether you’re deep in governance design or just crypto-curious, this is your space to explore the messy, urgent, and essential future of governance. Subscribe and join us in shaping what comes next.

Publisher

Governance Futures Podcast

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

26 Jun 2025

Latest episode

6 Nov 2025

Latest episodes

20 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Nov 2025

   S.1 Ep.18 Neural Quorum Governance and the Culture of Decentralization with Anke Liu

   In this final episode of Governance Futures Season 1, hosts Jamilya and Eugene speak with Anke Liu, Governance Lead at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), about Neural Quorum Governance — a novel mechanism co-developed with BlockScience to make community funding more equitable, modular, and participatory.As the Ecosystem Growth Lead at the Stellar Development Foundation, Anke Liu (X: anke_g_liu) oversees programs and initiatives catalyzing innovation and expansion of the Stellar Ecosystem, including the Stellar Community Fund and the Stellar Ambassador Program. Her collaboration with BlockScience on the creation of Neural Quorum Governance paves the way for a new standard for reputation-based governance. Anke is driven by a passion for decentralized coordination structures and impactful innovation in Web3. Anke shares how Stellar’s governance evolved from simple community voting into a complex but flexible model balancing reputation, delegation, and trust. The discussion covers privacy vs. transparency, the cultural foundations of decentralization, and what it takes to sustain engagement across bear markets. Anke also reflects on the future of DAO incentives, identity, and the importance of effort and culture in keeping governance systems alive. The episode closes with Anke’s one-word vision for governance: Plural. Some of the materials we mention in the episode: 1. Stellar: https://stellar.org/2. Stellar Community Fund (SCF): https://communityfund.stellar.org/ 3. Stellar Community Fund Handbook: https://stellar.gitbook.io/scf-handbook/governance/neural-quorum-governance 4. Introducing Neural Quorum Governance: https://blog.block.science/introducing-neural-quorum-governance/ 5. The Story Behind Neural Quorum Governance: https://blog.block.science/the-story-behind-neural-quorum-governance/ 6. The Road Ahead — SCF’s Implementation of Neural Quorum Governance: https://medium.com/stellar-community/the-road-ahead-scfs-implementation-of-neural-quorum-governance-4f44d22fa370 7. NQG Voting Report- https://hackmd.io/@blockscience/ryujino3p 8. Metagov Seminar - On Neural Quorum Governance (Liu): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qVfZq8zJKg Timestamps: 00:00 – Cold Start 00:49 – Introduction: Hosts Jamilya and Eugene open the season finale 02:49 – Reflections on Season 1 and setting the stage for Anke’s episode 04:40 – Anke’s story: from COVID community organizing to blockchain governance 06:42 – Spotting red flags and burnout in community building 08:51 – Why genuine communities survive beyond hype cycles 09:47 – Origins of Neural Quorum Governance (NQG) 10:50 – How neural weighting and quorum delegation work 13:11 – Designing NQG with BlockScience and Stellar’s trust-based ethos 15:11 – Comparing governance models across ecosystems 17:06 – Inside the Stellar Community Fund: panels, reviews, and voting cycles 18:48 – The Pathfinder, Navigator, and Pilot system of roles 20:35 – Delegate selection, quarterly nominations, and accountability 22:44 – Delegation cycles, abstaining votes, and participation rules 24:18 – Voting rounds, timing, and flexibility in the SCF process 26:45 – Iteration over two years: evolution and $30M in grants 28:27 – Adding “neurons” and metrics for voting quality 30:20 – Measuring fairness: decentralization and Theil index 32:02 – Improving equity and access for newcomers 34:23 – Reputation, learning, and how new contributors gain voting power 36:15 – Decentralization challenges and trade-offs 38:27 – Privacy vs. transparency: the hardest governance problem 41:17 – Institutional adoption, privacy demands, and zero-knowledge tech 44:35 – Balancing delegate protection and verifiability 47:51 – Enterprise privacy vs. open decision-making 49:43 – Identity, Proof of Humanity, and reputation layers 51:54 – Culture as the heart of governance systems 55:51 – Rethinking decentralization and the end of the foundation era 58:02 – Open infrastructure, transparency, and credible neutrality 59:52 – Dece

2. 

   30 Oct 2025

   S.1 Ep.17 Security, DAOs, and Human Error: Threat Modeling Web3 with Isaac Patka

   In this episode of Governance Futures, hosts Jamilya and Eugene speak with Isaac Patka about the evolving landscape of security in decentralized systems. Isaac Patka is a developer and founder in the Ethereum ecosystem specializing in security and compliance infrastructure. He is the co-founder of Shield3, which conducts incident response training through Wargames exercises for major DeFi and infrastructure protocols, performs operational security audits including multisig configuration and infrastructure reviews, and builds policy and compliance infrastructure specifically for stablecoin projects. Isaac is also a founding member and initiative lead at the Security Alliance (SEAL), an industry group of top researchers, auditors, developers, and lawyers working together to improve the security landscape of web3. Isaac brings a rare mix of technical insight and human awareness to Web3, exploring how culture, design, and attention failures shape the vulnerabilities of DAOs. The conversation dives into topics like proof of inattention, optimistic governance, and the hidden power of dispute resolution. Isaac shares stories from his work in white-hat hacking, DAO roasts, and wargaming—real-world simulations that help protocols identify weak points before hackers do. He also explains why paranoia is healthy in crypto, why multi-sigs often fail from social engineering rather than code, and how simple practices can drastically reduce risk.The episode closes with reflections on AI, security culture, and why the future of governance may look a lot like the past—council-driven, human-centered, and built on trust. Security Alliance (SEAL): https://www.securityalliance.org/SEAL Frameworks: https://www.securityalliance.org/frameworksWargames: https://www.securityalliance.org/wargamesNounsDAO: https://nouns.wtf/Timestamps: 00:00 – Cold start 00:56 – Introduction: Jamilya and Eugene welcome Isaac Patka 03:06 – Why everyone eventually gets phished: real-world hacks and human error 05:23 – The growing attack surface in decentralized ecosystems 07:42 – The birth of DAO Roasts: fact-checking decentralization claims 10:04 – NounsDAO and the challenge of decentralization with veto power12:23 – White-hat hacking: testing governance systems responsibly 14:48 – Defining white-hat vs. gray-hat ethics in crypto 17:07 – How security gray zones blur the line between defense and offense19:24 – The LampDAO experiment: voting to turn a real-world light on and off21:47 – DAO governance meets physical reality and off-chain limits24:07 – “Proof of inattention” as a governance failure mode 26:31 – Delegates, fatigue, and the limits of direct democracy 28:54 – Why most voters copy trusted delegates without understanding proposals31:15 – Guardrails and veto power: trade-offs in optimistic governance33:36 – The real locus of power: dispute resolution and enforcement35:55 – The origins of Security Alliance and the birth of WarGames38:16 – Simulating incidents: chaos drills for DeFi protocols40:42 – Threat modeling: finding vulnerabilities beyond smart contracts43:01 – SEAL-911: the crypto emergency hotline45:17 – Human trust in automated systems: staking and delegation47:39 – Why protocols still underestimate operational risks50:06 – Security culture: humans all the way down52:30 – Paranoia as a governance virtue54:51 – Practical safeguards: how to verify urgent messages and avoid scams56:54 – AI in governance: new attack surfaces and security implications59:19 – Overwarning fatigue and the limits of “Accept risk and sign” popups01:01:35 – Access control and permission boundaries in multisigs01:03:52 – How to stay safe: real-world scams and social engineering examples01:08:34 – Long cons, fake grants, and deepfakes in the crypto world01:12:59 – Vigilance without paranoia: staying human in security01:15:22 – Physical safety, seed phrases, and low-profile best practices01:17:43 – Crypto conferences, travel safety, and not standing out01:19:59 – Security fra

3. 

   23 Oct 2025

   S.1 Ep. 16 Privacy, Solidarity, and the Future of Digital Governance with Dr. Joachim Schwerin

   In this episode of Governance Futures, hosts Jamilya and Eugene speak with Dr. Joachim Schwerin. Joachim Schwerin is PhD economist, blockchain expert and privacy activist with 35 years of experience in academia, the public sector and metapolitical networks. He is also Principal Economist in the unit in charge of Responsible Business Conduct within the Directorate-General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) of the European Commission, where his current focus lies on developing positive framework conditions for DAOs and Web3. In the financial domain, he contributed to the EU’s Digital Finance Strategy, including the MiCA Regulation, and the preparatory work for the Digital Euro. The conversation moves from the historical roots of centralization to the potential of blockchain for rebuilding community-driven governance. Dr. Schwerin reflects on the balance between individual resilience and systemic change, the dangers of policy inertia, and how the digital domain allows people to preserve culture, identity, and solidarity in uncertain times. The episode closes with his message of hope: the future of governance lies in self-organized communities that act, not just talk.Timestamps: 00:00 – Cold Start 00:57 – Hosts Jamilya and Eugene introduce Dr. Joachim Schwerin 02:19 – Solidarity, privacy, and resilience — the themes of the episode 04:20 – How Dr. Schwerin entered blockchain and governance 06:14 – From self-organizing communities to centralized control 08:35 – Blockchain as a societal revolution and tool for liberation 10:56 – Politics, crypto, and the parallels between Web3 and global governance 12:36 – Prussia, identity, and the digital domain as a safe harbor 16:59 – Micronations, Liberland, and the history of experimental governance 19:12 – The rise of digital states and the competition of ideas 21:31 – Privacy and industrial competitiveness: the hidden connection 23:09 – Privacy as a foundation for self-organization and innovation 25:22 – How states misuse privacy narratives for control 27:39 – Why even corporations and governments rely on privacy tech 29:14 – Everyday privacy: practical ways to protect yourself 31:39 – What it means to be a “privacy activist” in daily life 34:02 – Trust, DAOs, and why real governance starts offline 36:22 – Generational change and the slow death of legacy systems 38:42 – Banks, surveillance, and standing your ground 41:17 – Activism through example: living privacy by doing 43:06 – The inner life of “the system” and finding allies in institutions 45:27 – Serving the nation vs. serving power: lessons from Prussian ethics 47:28 – The collapse of old systems and seeds of renewal 49:40 – Hope amid surveillance: resilience in restrictive environments 51:41 – Finding strength in solidarity and the legacy of values 56:05 – What triggers change: crisis, policy, and collective adaptation 58:28 – How every crisis pushes people toward decentralization 01:02:17 – Designing the next governance model: trade-offs and trust 01:04:37 – One person, one vote? Rethinking cooperative governance 01:06:57 – Generational shifts, innovation, and the inevitability of change 01:09:23 – The fear of death, the persistence of power, and legacy systems 01:12:00 – Overcoming division and starting change with one person 01:12:37 – Rapid-fire quiz: philosophy, integrity, and governance lessons 01:14:01 – Pitfalls of delay and the courage to act 01:15:31 – The future of governance: self-organized communities 01:16:10 – Closing thanks and outro

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

108,860

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 28 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

22

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

0