The ArbitrumDAO community has elected six new members to its Security Council, with Michael Lewellen topping the vote tally at 25.19 million weighted votes. The election, which ran from April 12 through May 3, 2026, filled six of the council's 12 seats that rotate every six months under the network's security framework.
How the election worked
Eleven candidates made it through compliance checks to the final round after applications opened in March. Voting carried full weight for the first seven days of the 21-day window, then decayed to encourage early participation. Besides Lewellen, the winners include DZack23 (24.01 million votes), Yoav.eth (21.75 million), Certora (21.56 million), Bartek.eth (21.05 million), and Pablo Sabbatella (20.82 million). A grace period ends May 21, after which the new cohort starts signing for the multisig.
A pending exploit case awaits
Weeks before the vote closed, the outgoing council froze 30,766 ETH tied to the KelpDAO exploit. A US court has since blocked movement of those funds while victims pursue claims, leaving the recovery effort in legal limbo. The new council will inherit that case along with ongoing treasury decisions tied to ARB allocations.
Market reaction
ARB, the network's native token, traded at $0.1193 as of writing, up nearly 5% over 24 hours. The price bump came as the election results rolled in, though traders are watching how the new council handles the frozen ETH and other pending tasks.
The May 21 grace period gives the six outgoing members a brief overlap to brief their replacements. What remains unresolved is whether the court will allow the frozen ETH to be returned to victims or if it will be tied up in litigation for months.
