Managing Delegation and Submitting a Delegate Statement (Guide)

🗳️ Meta-Governance MetaGov Discussion
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Managing Delegation and Submitting a Delegate Statement

ENS DAO Delegation Overview

Delegation in ENS DAO governance allows $ENS token holders to assign their voting power to delegates or retain it through self-delegation. Delegation ensures governance participation without requiring active involvement, allowing individuals to delegate to others who do participate.

Delegates and self-delegated token holders influence the ENS ecosystem by reviewing proposals, providing feedback, and voting on protocol changes and treasury allocations.

This guide outlines how to delegate $ENS tokens and submit a delegate statement for those seeking delegation.

What is a Delegate?

A delegate controls an Ethereum address to which $ENS tokens have been assigned. Delegates participate in ENS governance by submitting and voting on proposals according to the submission threshold.

Many delegates publicly announce their participation by posting in the ENS DAO Governance forum and setting the eth.ens.delegate text record on their ENS name using the ENS Manager app. While optional, this practice enhances transparency and helps token holders make informed delegation decisions.

Key Aspects of Delegation

  • Not Staking – You retain full control and can transfer or sell tokens anytime.
  • Delegation Ends if Tokens Move – Transferring or trading tokens revokes delegation.
  • Governance Participation – Delegation grants voting power to yourself or a delegate.
  • Delegation Options:
    • Self-delegate or assign to another Ethereum address.
    • Delegation remains in effect until modified or tokens are transferred.
    • All tokens in a wallet must be delegated to one address; partial delegation is not supported yet.
    • Only self-custodied $ENS tokens can be delegated—exchange-held tokens are ineligible.

How to Delegate Voting Power

  1. Use one of the following platforms:

    For this guide, we reference ENS Agora.

  2. Connect Your Wallet: Use a self-custodied Ethereum wallet holding $ENS tokens.

  3. Select a Delegate: Click ‘Voters’ and search for a community member by ENS name.

  4. Review Their Delegate Statement: Ensure their governance priorities align with yours.

  5. Confirm Delegation: Click ‘Delegate’ to assign voting power. Delegation on Agora is gas-free, thanks to ENS DAO.

Tracking Delegated Tokens

Monitor how your delegated tokens are used via ENS Agora.

  1. Access ENS Agora: Visit agora.ensdao.org.
  2. Explore Proposals: Browse active and past governance proposals.
  3. Review Voting Activity: Check how delegates vote and their voting power.
  4. Assess Delegate Engagement: Evaluate if your delegate aligns with your governance stance.
  5. Reassign Delegation if Needed: Repeat the delegation process to select a new delegate.

Submitting a Delegate Statement

A delegate statement communicates governance priorities, helping token holders decide whom to delegate to.

Steps to Submit a Delegate Statement

  1. Write Your Statement
    • Background and expertise
    • Vision for ENS governance
    • Key values and priorities
    • Why token holders should delegate to you
  2. Publish Your Statement
    • Post in the ENS DAO Delegate Applications Forum
    • Include a link to your ENS text record (e.g., ens.app/estmcmxci.eth)
    • Alternatively, you may edit and publish your statement directly on Agora. However, all statements entered via the Agora UI are stored off-chain and are NOT pulled from eth.ens.delegate.
  3. Set Your Delegate Text Record
    • Visit the ENS Manager App
    • Connect your wallet
    • To edit Text Records, go to your Profile, click Records, and select Edit Records.
    • Set eth.ens.delegate to link to your statement (forum post or personal webpage)
  4. Share Your Statement
    • Use platforms like X (Twitter) or Discord to engage with the ENS community.

Conclusion

Delegation in ENS DAO governance ensures active participation and thoughtful decision-making. Whether you’re delegating your tokens or becoming a delegate, these steps empower you to contribute meaningfully to the ENS ecosystem.

For more information, visit the ENS DAO Governance Basics.

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Note: This guide uses Agora as an example for delegating ENS. However, delegate statements from the ENS text record will not reflect on either platform mentioned in the guide (Agora or Tally).

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does it also change delegate statement on Tally?

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I think before publishing instructions it would be a good idea to make sure, that everything works properly and system actually makes sense.

For example for me this instruction doesn’t work because it’s pulling delegate statement from Nov 2021 at a time of token generation event and plugging it into Tally. I don’t want to have different statements all over the place, if anything it should be pulling updated statements from the thread.

I tried to update the records manually, by changing the ens delegate field on the .eth name and creating new entry in the thread and it doesn’t do anything.

For “new applicants” who created a post after the TGE, it doesn’t create anything on Tally at all.

On top of that thread contains template (the one asking about constitution) which is outdated and misleading. Despite the fact that these “requirements” no longer apply as they were put together specifically for TGE, people like @PGov.eth for example still used it to create delegate statement in late 2024.

To be honest I don’t know how else to explain that current system of delegate statements is broken and needs a complete refresh. @estmcmxci I would suggest that it’s bad idea to create instructions, which create even more confusion for prospective delegates.

What we need is a clear system with as low barriers to entry as possible, to encourage as many active delegates as we can to entry the scene. On a practical level this starts with delegate statement system, which everyone can understand and which treats all of the delegates equally.

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Thanks for the feedback, Spike. I agree that delegate statements from the text record should be reflected in governance UIs like Tally and Agora, and that we should encourage those platforms to adopt the use of text records.

I updated the wiki to note that the guide specifically pertains to the Agora UI as an example and that delegate statements from the text record will not be reflected on their platform.