Aragon Association to Dissolve, Distributing $155 Million in ETH to Token Holders

The Aragon Association, one of the biggest crypto projects building tools to support decentralized governance, has decided to dissolve, distributing most of its assets to tokenholders in the process.

On November 2, the Aragon Association (AA) announced in a blog post that it would be dissolving and, in the process, would distribute most of its assets to tokenholders in a process that includes the distribution of 86,343 Ether (ETH), valued at approximately $155 million, to tokenholders from its Treasury.

This decision comes as the AA grapples with internal challenges, including “bureaucratic complexities, misaligned stakeholders, and failed attempts at modifying governance,” which created tension. As a result, the AA opted for a total reset, aiming to safeguard and advance the project’s mission under a new, more focused leadership.

We have an important update for all stakeholders of the @AragonProject. We passed a resolution to:

– Deploy most of the treasury to allow all ANT holders to redeem their ANT for ETH
– Dissolve the AA
– Continue the mission in a product-focused structurehttps://t.co/S0GjRtzhZJ

— Aragon Association (@AragonAssoc) November 2, 2023

It was also influenced by years of experimentation with different governance initiatives, along with the challenge of balancing the Treasury’s growth and the token’s market cap.

The AA to Redeem ANT Tokens for ETH, Offering Fixed Rate Redemption

The AA is set to send 86,343 Ether (ETH), valued at approximately $155 million, to a redemption contract on the Ethereum network. This deployment allows all ANT token holders to redeem their tokens for ETH at a fixed rate of 0.0025376 ETH per ANT.

The AA’s objective is to redeem all outstanding circulating supplies. Token holders have until November 2, 2024, to participate in the redemption, after which this option will no longer be available.

At the end of the redemption period, the redeemed ANT will be burned, and any remaining ETH will be directed to a new product-focused structure.

Aragon Project To Adopt New Leadership and Product-Focused Structure to Advance Mission in Decentralized Organizations (DAOs)

However, the Aragon project’s mission, centered on creating flexible and secure tools for decentralized organizations (DAOs), will continue under new leadership and a leaner, product-focused structure.

The new structure involves the formation of a Product Council consisting of industry experts who will guide the development and governance of Aragon’s DAO framework. It will be seeded by representatives of the ASF and the Aragon OSx team. In addition, a company composed of the current Aragon OSx team will continue to develop products.

This reorganization is designed to empower those most aligned with the project’s mission—users and partners—to take the lead. The Product Council will advise on product development priorities, allocate funds, and oversee the governance of Aragon OSx.

In 2017, Aragon conducted a successful ANT sale, raising 275,000 ETH (approximately $25 million) to fund its ambitious vision of creating a dispute resolution system within the Aragon Network, a new digital jurisdiction. The project’s grants program, Aragon Nest, was initiated in 2018 and supported various projects within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Earlier this year, the “Risk-Free Value (RFV) Raiders” made a concerted effort to seize control of the Aragon treasury by acquiring ANT tokens and using their voting power to overrule the AA. The AA labeled this daring maneuver as a “51% attack.”

In response to this situation, the AA decided to pull plans to transfer governance power to tokenholders.