ENS DAO Establishes Foundation to Strengthen Decentralized Governance

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) DAO has officially established the ENS Foundation through a proposal that was voted on and executed online. This move marks a new era in governance for the ENS ecosystem, which has grown significantly over the past decade to become an essential infrastructure within the Ethereum network.

According to the proposal, the ENS Foundation will be a fully operational organization with a full-time executive director, professional team, and a 5-member board of directors. It will be responsible for institutionalizing work related to legal, policy-making, standard-setting, and brand protection.

The ENS DAO has grown significantly over the past decade, with hundreds of millions of registered domain names and widespread integration across various wallets, applications, and Layer 2 networks. However, the DAO itself lacked a legal entity status, hindering its ability to participate in internet governance discussions, sign institutional cooperation agreements, hire full-time staff, or engage in regulatory dialogue.

The ENS Foundation aims to fill this gap by representing ENS in various standard organizations such as ICANN, IETF, and W3C for the recognition and management of the '.ens' top-level domain. It will also participate in policy discussions, communicate with regulatory bodies, protect brand rights, and serve as a formal cooperation partner between traditional institutions and the ENS ecosystem.