In this episode, hosts Meltem Demirors and Jill Carlson cover the nebulous and thorny topic of crypto governance mechanisms and the merging of politics and finance in the form of on-chain governance via token voting and staking. We draw from the history of politics, going all the way back to the romans, and fast forward to the drama and intrigue of the bitcoin block-size wars and the results of these early governance experiments. We end with some thoughts on how staking as a service and speculative participation in governance could thwart the goals of good governance, and what this might mean for the $4B of network value dependent on on-chain governance today. You can find our previous episode on crypto governance, "Boaty McBoatface," here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4viuD5SJJdcB0p7OpCv5Fh?si=eM3gPPbjT_ijdFiWapc5AA Find our extended show notes on Medium: https://medium.com/what-grinds-my-gears/episode-6-crypto-cartels-201d7a7f300f ----- If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friends, rate, review, and subscribe. This podcast is presented by BlockWorks Group. For exclusive content and events that provide insights into the crypto and blockchain space, visit them at: https://www.blockworksgroup.io