Original source: Odaily Odaily
Original author: 0xAyA
On November 2, DAO solution provider Aragon officially announced its dissolution.
Aragon will provide 86,000 ETH to holders of its token ANT (Aragon Network Token) to exchange for ANT. The exchange price is 0.0025376 ETH / ANT (about 4.55 USDT, about the same as the current market price), and the remaining funds will be for product development.
Aragon is one of the earliest DAO projects in the Ethereum ecosystem. It successfully held an ICO in May 2017 and raised 275,000 ETH, which was the fourth largest ICO in history at the time. Aragon provides templates so that users can successfully launch their own DAO in a few minutes and further customize the DAO using modular applications.
Aragon administrator Aragon Association said that due to legal restrictions, especially regulatory risks caused by token speculation and market manipulation, the decision to disband could not be submitted to a public vote, but the opinions of the Aragon Governance Forum were taken into consideration. Nonetheless, Aragon's disbandment was foreshadowed.
Financial opacity sparks controversy
Just last month, Aragon DAO members launched a proposal requiring the project to update and disclose $160 million in financial status or face lawsuits.
Tensions between investors and Aragon Association date back to June 2022. Aragon investors voted at the time to hand over control of the project's $160 million in funding to a voting DAO by November 2022. However, the funds have never been transferred, and the Aragon Association has stopped publishing transparency reports that provide information on fiscal expenditures. Aragon DAO members say they are frustrated by the lack of transparency from the Aragon Association and are demanding answers from the organization.
This is not the first time that Aragon has been criticized for financial opacity - in January 2021, Jorge Izquierdo, CEO of Aragon's parent company, announced his resignation and said on Twitter: "I resigned as CEO of Aragon One. I am sad about the problems that have arisen in the team. , considering that our proposals will not be implemented, I don’t think I can continue to do better.”
A week before Jorge's departure, 12 people, including John Light, who was responsible for the autonomous business, announced their departure from the team. John published an open letter on Githup, demanding that the Aragon Association disclose financial and meeting records for external supervision. In addition, he also called for ANT holders to participate in community governance.
Cancellation of token voting rights creates hidden dangers
In May of this year, the Aragon Association issued a document stating that Aragon DAO was attacked by a coordinated group called "Risk-Free Value (RFV) attacker" with a 51% attack rate, which was related to the dissolution and liquidation of Rook DAO. The group includes a large asset manager, Arca Capital Management. There is evidence that Arca's participation is to obtain financial benefits from Aragon , so the Aragon Association will cancel the voting rights of ANT token holders in response to the "51% attack" launched by Arca and other investors.
In response to this, Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer of cryptocurrency hedge fund Arca, responded in a blog post: "The narrative of the 51% attack is actually incorrect. We are token holders and we want to use our tokens. Participate in governance. Arca staking tokens drive active participation from token holders. ”
In addition, in response to Aragon Association's claim that "gang" such as Arca has destroyed many DAOs and their communities, Arca stated that it has not attempted to dissolve Aragon, and Arca has not invested in Invictus, Rook, Rome or Temple. Among them, the Fei Labs team itself proposed dissolution, and Rook The team initially proposed the spin-off of "Incubator DAO", which is the best outcome for token holders.
Regardless of the facts, it is an indisputable fact that Aragon has canceled the voting rights of ANT token holders, and the relationship between the community and the team has become increasingly tense.
Sell or dissolve
Aragon considered selling itself to an undisclosed bidder in June for an unknown price, according to screenshots of conversations between an employee at investment firm Arca and other activists.
A screenshot from June 12 this year shows that the proposed acquisition is expected to take several weeks and the transaction price will be higher than the book value. If the deal doesn't go through, Aragon plans to re-evaluate the activists' proposal. The screenshot comes from a 24-page investigative report on the Aragon Association written by crypto trading firm Patagon Management LLC. The report accuses the Aragon Association of years of missteps, including squandering $180 million worth of crypto assets, and questions whether the organization complied with Swiss non-compliance regulations. Profit law.
The report did not detail the status of any sale negotiations, but suggested activists had explored a variety of mechanisms to handle ANT redemptions.
However, Aragon finally chose to disband on the spot and used treasury funds to redeem ANT tokens. This was the end of one of the earliest DAO attempts.
For the current market, the DAO narrative seems to have long been forgotten. And the ever-debating question has been raised again: Do people need a truly decentralized and autonomous "warrior", or a "dragon" with highly centralized decision-making power who sells dogs on their own?
(The above content is excerpted and reprinted with the authorization of partner MarsBit , original text link | Source: Odaily Odaily )
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