ENS DAO is considering a temp check proposal to redefine governance, operations, grants, and treasury assets.
The proposal was published on June 19 on the ENS governance forum. It was authored by Katherine Eth and outlines a shift of day-to-day management from token voters to the ENS Foundation.
The plan would leave token holders in charge of protocol-level decisions, while the Foundation would oversee registration revenue, treasury management, grant distribution, and coordination among working groups.
ENS DAO Proposal Targets Governance Strain
The proposal argues that the DAO model has placed too many operational decisions before delegates and token voters. It says the structure has created delegate fatigue, weak strategic focus, limited accountability, slow coordination, and poor long-term treasury execution.
“The root of the current dysfunction within the ENS DAO comes from the gap between what the DAO was meant to do (steward credibly neutral infrastructure) and what it actually does day to day (act as a budget committee for an organization),” the proposal states.
According to the proposal, stewards and delegates face a growing queue of votes on matters they may not be equipped to assess. It also says voting capacity is often spent on routine operational issues while strategic matters receive less attention.
ENS Foundation Role Would Expand
Under the proposed framework, the ENS Foundation would receive more authority over operations, grants, and capital stewardship. The proposal says the Foundation is better placed to provide continuity, professional execution, and institutional counterparty capacity for long-term asset management.
Token holders would retain two powers described as non-negotiable. They would continue to control ENS protocol changes and would keep the authority to remove Foundation directors.
ENS DAO announced the temp check on X on June 19, saying the proposal would “evolve the ENS DAO by expanding the Foundation’s role in operations, grants, and long-term capital stewardship.”
The proposal notes that an earlier version attempted to address coordination problems by adding a budget-allocating board above the DAO structure. The latest version argues that adding more bodies to the current system would not solve the underlying issue.
DAO Restructuring Trend Frames ENS Debate
The proposal also places ENS within a broader industry shift. Several protocols that launched DAOs around the same period have moved away from similar models, consolidated authority, converted tokens back to equity, or folded DAO legal entities into lab teams.
ENS differs because ENS Labs is largely self-sustaining and not venture-backed. The organization was supported by an initial $1 million Ethereum Foundation grant and ongoing .eth registration revenue.
ENS traded at $4.79 on June 20, down more than 94% from its $85.69 all-time high in November 2021. CoinMarketCap data showed a circulating supply of 40.4 million ENS from 100 million total tokens.
