Every ada holder on Cardano has voting power in the governance system. If you do not want to vote yourself, you can hand that power to a DRep (delegated representative) who will vote on your behalf. This guide explains how delegation works, how to choose a DRep, and what your options are if you prefer not to delegate to a specific person.
What delegating voting power means
When you delegate your voting power, your ada stays in your wallet the entire time. You are not sending your ada anywhere and you do not lock it up. The only thing you are delegating is the right to cast governance votes with your stake weight.
Delegating voting power is also completely separate from staking your ada to a stake pool for rewards. You can do both at the same time: keep your ada staked to a stake pool and simultaneously delegate your governance vote to a DRep. Changing one does not affect the other.
Your delegation is proportional to your stake. If you hold a larger balance, your delegation carries more weight in the governance system.
Choosing a DRep
Browse the DRep directory to find someone whose views align with yours. Each DRep profile shows their name, a bio describing their governance philosophy, and their activity: which actions they voted on and what rationales they published.
A few things worth checking before you delegate:
- Activity. Has this DRep voted recently? Missed votes reduce their effectiveness as your representative.
- Rationales. Do they explain their votes? Published rationales let you judge whether their reasoning matches your own values.
- Profile completeness. A well-maintained profile is a good signal that the DRep is engaged.
There is no lock-in. You can switch to a different DRep or change your delegation at any time.
How to delegate
You can delegate directly on DRepTalk, or from inside your wallet. Both paths end the same way: your wallet signs and submits a delegation certificate, and once it confirms on-chain your voting power is delegated. There is no deposit; you pay only a small network fee, similar to a standard Cardano transaction.
On DRepTalk:
- Open the profile of the DRep you chose in the DRep directory.
- Click Delegate and connect your wallet.
- Review the delegation in your wallet and confirm. The wallet shows the exact cost before anything is sent; DRepTalk never sees your keys.
In your wallet:
- Open the governance or voting section of your wallet (Lace, Eternl, and Typhon all have one).
- Find the DRep you want to delegate to. You can search by DRep ID, which you can copy from their profile on the DRep directory.
- Select the DRep and confirm the delegation transaction.
Abstain and No Confidence
Besides delegating to a specific DRep, two special options exist:
Always Abstain registers your stake as participating in governance but counts your weight on neither the Yes nor the No side of any action. Use this if you want to signal that you are an active participant but you prefer not to take a position on current proposals. Abstaining stake is recorded as active participation but counts for neither side, so it does not push an action toward or away from its approval threshold.
No Confidence signals that you do not recognize the current governance structure as legitimate. Your stake is counted toward the “no confidence” pool of DRep voting power: it supports motions of no confidence and counts against other actions that need DRep approval. Use this if you want your stake to reflect a consistent no-confidence stance without delegating to a specific DRep.
Both options are selected from the same delegation flow in your wallet, in place of a specific DRep.
Switching or changing later
You can re-delegate at any time. Submit a new delegation transaction to a different DRep (or to Abstain, or No Confidence), and the latest delegation wins. There is nothing to withdraw or cancel first; the new transaction simply replaces the old one.
The only cost is the small network fee for each delegation transaction.
After you delegate: follow what your DRep does
Delegation is not the end of the story. You can sign in to DRepTalk as a delegator (a free, read-only message signature) to see your DRep’s votes and rationales on your start page, spot open actions they have not voted on yet, and get notified when they act. See Tracking your delegation.