Reserve Protocol now has its first group of Guardians, with six delegates now in place, and the majority of core voting power has been pushed out of the founding entities and into their hands.

ABC Labs and Confusion Capital have delegated 60% of their staked RSR voting power across four live Yield DTFs: eUSD, ETH+, bsdETH, and USD3. The move reduces direct control from the core collaborators and places it with a group of independent but accountable participants.

The program began on April 1 and will run for three months through June 30 as an initial test.

The delegates are already assigned, and each one covers two Yield DTFs (formerly RTokens), with three delegates watching every DTF. That overlap creates redundancy where governance has historically been thin. If one delegate misses something, the other two are still in the room.

The names are known participants - 0xd15co, Braden, Eureka, Ham, R72, and Zeb - now operating with a defined scope and visible responsibility. Their job is straightforward: read proposals, vote, and explain themselves in public.

That last requirement is non-negotiable: every vote must include a written rationale posted in the delegate’s forum thread.

Participation is tracked, with a 90% voting coverage target across all proposals. Miss it once, and the system flags it. Miss it twice, and they’re out. The role is voluntary and not permanent, but participation is required.

Delegates receive $250 per month in RSR, which is enough to formalize the role, but not enough to compete over. The expectation is that these are already engaged participants, not applicants chasing yield.

On eUSD, roughly 239.6 million stRSR has been distributed across delegates. ETH+ accounts for another 47.5 million. USD3 and bsdETH follow with smaller allocations. Across each product, a measurable share of governance has been moved out of the hands of its largest stakeholders.

In effect, delegates now sit between passive stakers and live governance in a layer that did not exist before. Previously, proposals often relied on a mix of core contributors and sporadic community attention. Now, specific people are expected to show up every time.

The system is still open, with no hard barrier to becoming a delegate and no restriction on who can receive delegated voting power. The six names announced this week are the starting point, and others can enter if they can attract a delegation and maintain the same level of participation.

Read more: Reserve Forums