Power Balance Shifts in ENS DAO: $65 Million Fund Moves to Foundation’s Administrative Control with 70% Support

ENS token holders have approved a governance proposal enabling the ENS Foundation to transform into a fully operational entity and gain administrative control over an Endowment worth approximately $65 million.

The “Next Era of ENS DAO” proposal, voted on by the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) community, took effect on-chain on August 11 and was passed with approximately 70% support. As a result, the Foundation has moved to a new structure that will operate with a full-time executive director, staff, and a five-member board of directors.

Under the new arrangement, the Foundation will take over non-protocol policy processes, brand and trademark protection, and corporate relations. ENS Labs, on the other hand, will focus on core protocol development and technical work, including the ENSv2 upgrade.

ENS Foundation to Manage $65 Million Fund

The Foundation will assume administrative control of the approximately $65 million Endowment, funded by .eth domain name registration fees. It will also take on the responsibility for managing protocol revenues. Additionally, the ENS DAO will send a one-time payment of 1 million ENS tokens to the Foundation to cover employee salaries.

The DAO will continue to hold approximately 54.6% of the total ENS supply. Token holders will have the authority to appoint or remove Foundation directors. The initial board of directors will include Alexander Urbelis, Nick Johnson, Kartik Talwar, Brett Sun and Anthony Leutenegger.

A nine-day timelock will be applied to Endowment transactions, and the Security Council will be able to cancel these transactions. The Foundation will also publish annual independent audit reports and quarterly grant updates. The decision follows disputes in June between ENS Labs and community members that were characterized as a governance attack.