ENS Foundation Gets Legal Standing with Five-Seat Board

ENS DAO has approved and executed a governance proposal to overhaul its foundation. The new structure will give the ENS Foundation legal standing, allowing it to handle daily operations, manage staff, and hold intellectual property directly.

The proposal creates a five-seat board with three independent members, including Alexander Urbelis as executive director. Tokenholders retain control over protocol upgrades, fees, DAO-held tokens, and board appointments.

Under the new setup, the foundation will have control over the ENS endowment, which currently holds approximately $65 million in ETH and stablecoins. The assets will be managed through a nine-day timelock to prevent unauthorized transactions.

The ENS Foundation will also represent .ens in standards talks and pursue formal recognition as a top-level domain with ICANN. This could help determine how blockchain-based names interact with the conventional Domain Name System used by browsers, websites, and email services.