Aragon Cancels Planned Community Control of $200M Treasury Amid Battle With Activist Investors

The Swiss organization alleged investors including Arca were mounting a 51% attack.

AccessTimeIconMay 9, 2023 at 8:33 p.m. UTC
Updated May 10, 2023 at 5:06 p.m. UTC
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The Aragon Association on Tuesday canceled its plans for holders of its ANT token to wield broad voting powers over everything from strategic direction to a $200 million treasury, dealing a major blow to the DAO-focused Ethereum startup’s own transition to a decentralized autonomous organization.

The Association, a Swiss entity that oversees Aragon, said it “acted on its fiduciary duty to secure its treasury and mission by repurposing the Aragon DAO as part of a new grants program” after undergoing a “51% attack” from activist investors betting on the price of ANT.

“The Aragon treasury was established with the explicit mission of supporting builders to advance decentralized governance infrastructure. Based on Swiss regulations that mandate the use of Aragon’s treasury for its stated social purpose, fiduciary duty compels Aragon Association to secure these funds from those seeking to access them for their own financial gains. There is clear evidence that the entities involved in Aragon’s attack are pursuing that end.”

Edited by Nick Baker.

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Danny Nelson

Danny is CoinDesk's Managing Editor for Data & Tokens. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL.


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