ENS DAO vote stirs decentralization debate after 3.26 million votes block council renewal

ENS DAO’s governance dispute escalated after ENS community member and Ethereum developer Christoph Jentzsch proposed dissolving or winding down the DAO over 6 to 18 months, burning the ENSv2 Universal Router key, stripping administrative powers from smart contracts, and distributing or transferring remaining funds to an outside steward such as the Ethereum Foundation or Eth Labs. The proposal followed ENS co-founder Nick Johnson’s vote against renewing the DAO’s Security Council, using roughly 3.26 million ENS, about 80% of votes cast and around half of all delegated voting power, after an earlier off-chain Snapshot vote had supported renewal. Johnson said he supported renewing the council in principle but not with the current lineup, arguing some members might use its veto authority too broadly. He backed an alternative proposal for a new eight-member council that would raise the threshold for reversing DAO votes to 5-of-8 from 4-of-8. At the same time, a separate restructuring plan from ENS Labs COO Katherine Wu would move day-to-day treasury management, grants, endowment oversight and other operations to the ENS Foundation, while tokenholders would retain protocol voting and the ability to remove Foundation directors. The fight has sharpened concerns over governance concentration and control of the ENS treasury. Critics including Lefteris Karapetsas and Spengrah.eth said Johnson’s voting power and ENS Labs’ expanding role risk centralizing the protocol. Figures cited in the debate valued the treasury at about $350 million in total, or roughly $88 million excluding ENS tokens held by the DAO itself, while some commenters put it near $500 million. Jentzsch acknowledged his shutdown plan had some "technical gaps" but said the broader concept merited consideration.