Rethinking Token Holders' Rights: From Short-Term Incentives to Long-Term Ecosystem Development

【Crypto World】Regarding the rights of token holders, we might have been mistaken. There is a classic governance paradox worth learning from: who should a company serve? The traditional shareholder supremacy view holds that shareholders own the company, but this logic may not be valid—shareholders actually only hold contractual rights, not true ownership. Moreover, practice has shown that overemphasizing shareholder value maximization can lead to short-termism, damaging the long-term health of the enterprise.

This logic also applies to the crypto world. Instead of treating token holders as lofty “owners” with veto power, it’s better to reposition them as “user investors” of the protocol—similar to the investors in infrastructure projects in the 19th century. They have economic interests, but their goal is to ensure the network’s long-term operation, rather than short-term arbitrage.

This approach can actually push for a more pragmatic development direction: protocol teams focus on practicality and ecosystem vitality, rather than being driven by fluctuations in token prices. Less power can lead to greater freedom.