ENS token holders have approved a governance proposal to remake the ENS Foundation as a full-time operating body with an executive director, staff and a five-member board. The move gives the Ethereum Name Service ecosystem a formal structure for work that the DAO alone has struggled to carry out outside the chain.

Under the new arrangement, the foundation is expected to handle contracts, hiring, trademarks, intellectual property and engagement with regulators and policymakers. ENS said the change is meant to address the practical limits of a DAO when dealing with off-chain administration and representation.

A clearer division of roles

The restructuring sets out a more defined split between the organizations working around ENS. ENS Labs will continue to focus on protocol and product development, while the foundation will take responsibility for external policy matters and day-to-day operational functions.

That includes formally representing ENS before standards and internet governance bodies such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the Internet Engineering Task Force and the World Wide Web Consortium. The foundation will also oversee grant operations in addition to staffing and legal-administrative work.

Why the DAO backed the change

According to ENS, the DAO model on its own has limitations when it comes to tasks that require a recognized legal or organizational entity. The source article points to signing contracts, employing staff, protecting trademarks and taking part in regulatory discussions as areas where a more conventional structure was needed.

The approved proposal is designed to create that structure without shifting ultimate control of the protocol away from token holders. The operational expansion therefore sits alongside explicit limits on what the new foundation will control.

Token control and financial safeguards

ENS said governance over the protocol and key assets will remain with ENS token holders. The DAO will continue to hold 54.6% of the total ENS supply, preserving its central role in protocol-level decision-making.

At the same time, 1 million ENS will be transferred to the foundation on a one-time basis for employee compensation. The foundation's handling of assets is also subject to safeguards: transactions involving funds generated from .eth registration fees will be subject to a nine-day waiting period, and the ENS Security Council will have authority to cancel transactions that fall outside the foundation's mandate.

Initial leadership and next step

The inaugural board will include Executive Director Alexander Urbelis, ENS founder Nick Johnson, Kartik Talwar, Brett Sun and Anthony Leutenegger.

With the proposal now approved, the next confirmed step is the establishment of the foundation in its expanded role. From there, ENS Labs and the foundation are expected to operate with a clearer separation, with the foundation taking on representation, hiring and other off-chain responsibilities while token holders retain authority over the protocol itself.

Source: en.bloomingbit.io