August 2026 Update
Key Insights
- Routine Governance Operations. MIP-E02 corrected the interest rate model for the USDC and USDT markets on Ethereum mainnet, and MIP-X65, the monthly automated liquidity incentive proposal, rebalanced reward speeds across Base and Ethereum.
- Post-Sunset Consolidation. August was the first full month following the Moonbeam sunset (completed July 31st), and Anthias’ weekly coverage narrowed to Base, Ethereum, and OP Mainnet. Ethereum mainnet markets continue to mature, with stablecoin utilization climbing from the mid-20% range in early July into the 60-80% range by mid-August.
- Healthy Voter Turnout Amidst Low Proposal Velocity. While August had relatively few onchain proposals, the community remained engaged; all proposals easily passed quorum. Governance activity picked up in the final days of the month, corresponding with incident response measures.
Primer
The monthly governance recap serves as a compendium of key governance updates for the preceding month. This update covers Moonwell governance activities for August 2026.
Key Metrics
- 3 onchain proposals
- 0 Snapshot proposal
- 11 forum posts
The number of active voters for onchain proposals averaged 174, with a minimum of 140 and a maximum of 203.
Voting data was obtained from @Jor-el’s Moonwell Dashboard.
This month, there were no Snapshot signal votes.
At 310 voters, the USDS proposal in January 2025 received the highest number of votes for a Moonwell Snapshot proposal.
Success Insights:
- Onchain: The onchain proposals in August had a 66.6% success rate.
- Offchain: N/A
Browse all of the proposals here.
Other Governance Metrics
Proposal Participation
Source: @Jor-el’s dashboard
August had a monthly average of 174 onchain voters. July had 182, June had 194, May had 220, April had 245, March had 300. Proposal volume dropped from July’s seven to three this month, reflecting a consolidation month after the wind-down-driven velocity of July. Average per-proposal “For” support across August’s executed proposals was approximately ~122M WELL (July: ~165M WELL, with an average support rate of 58.8% (July: 99.2%). These drops are largely due to the failure of MIP-B60 to pass its voting period.
Top Delegate Voting Power & Concentration
Source: @Jor-el’s dashboard
As of the end of August, the dashboard reports 1.68B WELL of total delegated voting power across 13.8K delegates (July: 1.75B WELL across 13.8K delegates), with 375.95M WELL (~22.4%) self-delegated (a slight increase from July’s 21.14% self-delegation rate). The two largest delegates control roughly 13.45% of total voting power between them (0xa2ee…87d6 with 10.47% and 0xec12…509f with 2.98%). The next eight delegates comprising the remainder of the top-10 concentration each hold between 0.90% and 1.94%. Total all-time onchain votes cast across the protocol now stands at 67.8K (July: 67.5K).
Among Super Delegates, the highest lifetime participation rates are held by Coolhorsegirl, PGov, Chidi, and Jor-el (all above 80%). Coolhorsegirl remains the leader by absolute vote count; Coolhorsegirl and Fechuky also have the longest-running voting record as members of the Moonwell community.
Main Governance Initiatives in August
Reward Speeds and Ethereum Mainnet Operations
MIP-E02, created at the end of July with execution overlapping into August, adjusted the interest rate model (IRM) curve for the USDC and USDT markets on Ethereum mainnet, correcting the multiplier parameter to 0.067. August’s monthly automated liquidity incentive proposal, MIP-X65, went onchain on August 10th, rebalancing reward speeds across Base and Ethereum. The rebalance broadly decreased WELL supply-side APRs while increasing borrow-side APRs on the major markets (ETH and USDC on both chains), increased both sides for AERO, and decreased both sides for cbBTC, LBTC, VIRTUAL, and cbXRP. Through August, the Ethereum deployment continued to experience organic two-sided demand. Stablecoin utilization climbed from the mid-20% range at the start of July into the 60-80% range by mid-August. August also marked the first full month following the completion of the Moonbeam sunset on July 31st. Anthias’ weekly market coverage narrowed to Base, Ethereum, and OP Mainnet.
Risk Recommendations & Governance Security
On August 20th, Anthias published their risk parameter recommendations for the month of September. On Base, the wrsETH collateral factor was recommended to be decreased to 44% (continuing its gradual deprecation), along with the rETH borrow cap to 0.01. On OP Mainnet, the wrsETH collateral factor was likewise recommended to be decreased to 44%, the cbETH collateral factor to 0%, and the VELO borrow cap to 4M. These recommendations were adjusted when MIP-X66 went onchain on the final day of the month (its execution carrying over into early September); it also incorporated their reserve recommendations. Following the 08/27/2026 MAMO market incident on Base, this time-sensitive proposal included three categories of changes: (1) risk parameter updates for markets with limited liquidity, elevated oracle risk, or ongoing deprecation; (2) interest rate model updates on Base to reduce excessive interest accrual on outstanding bad debt; and (3) the withdrawal of available protocol reserves on Base and OP Mainnet for conversion to USDC and recapitalization of the USDC market. The changes reduced additional exposure in higher-risk markets, continued the orderly deprecation of selected assets, materially reduced expected interest accrual on bad debt, and put available protocol reserves toward recapitalizing the USDC market.
Also submitted near the end of August, MIP-B60 sought to temporarily extend the unstaking cooldown period for Moonwell’s Safety Module (stkWELL) on Base from 7 days to 30 days. It additionally sought to update the pause Guardian on Base to the new security council multisig to match mainnet Ethereum. This was meant to preserve the Safety Module’s ability to serve as a long-term protocol backstop while giving governance additional time to evaluate protocol risk and any related governance actions. It did not pass its voting period.
Delegate Digest
Super Delegates
| Delegate | Delegation Pitch | Delegation Page | Delegated Amount | Proposals Created | Completed their role’s minimum requirements this month? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolhorsegirl | Link | Link | 2.8K WELL | 20 | Yes |
| PGov | Link | Link | 1M WELL | 1 | Yes |
| Jor-el | Link | Link | 1M WELL | 1 | Yes |
| Chidi | Link | Link | 1M WELL | 1 | Yes |
| Fechuky | Link | Link | 1.19M WELL | 10 | Yes |
Mid-Tier Delegates
| Delegate | Delegation Pitch | Delegation Page | Delegated Amount | Proposals Created | Completed their role’s minimum requirements this month? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimchiblock | Link | Link | 715 WELL | 0 | No |
| DAOplomats | Link | Link | 16 WELL | 0 | No |
| Maylosan | Link | Link | 10.8K WELL | 0 | No |
| FranklinDAO | Link | Link | 386 WELL | 0 | No |
Junior Delegates
| Delegate | Delegation Pitch | Delegation Page | Delegated Amount | Proposals Created | Completed their role’s minimum requirements this month? |
|---|
Delegate Voting Rate
| Delegate | Number of Proposals Voted On | This Month’s Voting Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Coolhorsegirl | 3/3 | 100%  |
| PGov | 3/3 | 100% |
| Jor-el | 3/3 | 100% |
| Chidi | 2/3 | 67% |
| Fechuky | 3/3 | 100% |
| Kimchiblock | 0/3 | 0% |
| DAOplomats | 1/3 | 33% |
| Maylosan | 0/3 | 0% |
| FranklinDAO | 0/3 | 0% |
You can read more about the requirements to join each delegate tier and each tier’s contribution minimums here.
Delegate Highlights
- Chidi and PGov continue to regularly update their delegate pitches with rationale for their voting behavior.
- Four Super Delegates had a 100% voting rate this month.
Community Overview
| Social Channel | Data |
|---|---|
| Main X account | 54.9K Followers (-0.18%) |
| Governance X account | 1450 Followers (-0.21%) |
| Discord | 12,307 Members (-0.13%) |
| Announcements Telegram | 565 Members (-1.40%) |
| Chat Telegram | 6,483 Members (-2.82%) |
Community Trends
For the majority of the month, August was operationally the quietest portion of the summer in terms of governance, containing three onchain proposals versus July’s seven. This largely reflects a consolidation period after the Moonbeam and Moonriver wind-downs. Of the month’s three onchain proposals, MIP-E02 and MIP-X65 were passed by the community, both achieving 1.3-1.8x quorum, both receiving 99.2%+ support.
Closing Notes
August’s Governance Call has been postponed. Its rescheduled date will be announced across the forums, Discord, and X.