ENS token holders have approved a governance overhaul, establishing the ENS Foundation as a fully operational entity managing $65 million in assets.
Token holders of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) have voted to initiate a major governance transformation, transitioning the ENS Foundation into a fully operational entity with a dedicated CEO, staff, and a five-member board.
Introducing the evolved ENS Foundation.
ENS tokenholders have approved and executed a proposal establishing the Foundation as a fully operational organization.
Here’s what changes, what stays the same, and how tokenholders remain in control. 🧵
— ens.eth (@ensdomains) August 11, 2026
The initiative, dubbed "Next Era of ENS DAO," received overwhelming support with 1.2 million tokens in favor and 480,690 against, completing the vote on August 11.
Under the new structure, the foundation will manage off-chain policies, branding, and operations, while ENS Labs will concentrate on protocol advancements, particularly the upcoming ENSv2 update.
Significantly, the ENS Foundation will take administrative control of approximately $65 million in capital, primarily held in Ethereum and stablecoins, generated from .eth domain registrations. The foundation will also oversee the protocol's revenue streams.
As part of this transition, the DAO will allocate 1 million ENS tokens to the foundation for employee compensation, with about 55% of the total token supply (approximately 54.6 million ENS) remaining in the hands of token holders.
Token holders will retain the authority to appoint and remove the foundation's board members, which includes:
- Executive Director Alexander Urbelis;
- ENS Founder Nick Johnson;
- Independent directors — Kartik Talwar, Brett Sun, and Anthony Leuthenegger.
A new EndowmentTimelock contract, featuring a nine-day delay for transactions, has replaced the previous DAO mechanism, with only the foundation's multisig wallet permitted to queue transactions. The Security Council can cancel queued transactions, but its power to block transfers will expire on August 7, 2028.
Background and Responses
The governance shift sparked controversy earlier in June when ENS Labs' COO, Catherine Wu, presented the proposal to hand over operational control and capital management to the foundation. Some community members expressed concerns, with co-founder Alex van de Sande warning that it could jeopardize the DAO's control over its wallet, as existing policies are not enforced in code.
Analysts from Curia raised issues regarding the lengthy process of removing directors under Cayman Islands law compared to the rapid execution of transactions. Developers from Blockful confirmed the contracts' validity but noted that the nine-day delay does not apply to certain existing modules.
In response to the backlash, Wu clarified that the proposal was revised after community input, emphasizing that DAO tokens remain with holders and the operational wallet has not been altered. Additionally, transactions involving target capital now include a time lock and an independent cancellation mechanism.
It's also notable that earlier this year, ENS Labs shifted its focus from developing the L2 network Namechain back to Ethereum.
