Original - Odaily

Author - 0xAyA

On November 2, DAO solution provider Aragon officially announced its dissolution.

Aragon will provide 86,000 ETH to holders of its token ANT (Aragon Network Token) to exchange for ANT. The exchange price is 0.0025376 ETH / ANT (about 4.55 USDT, about the same as the current market price), and the remaining funds will be for product development.

Aragon, one of the earliest DAO projects in the Ethereum ecosystem, successfully held an ICO in May 2017 and raised 275,000 ETH, which was the fourth largest ICO in history at the time. Aragon provides templates so users can successfully launch their own DAOs in minutes and further customize the DAOs using modular applications.

Aragon administrator Aragon Association said that due to legal restrictions, especially regulatory risks caused by token speculation and market manipulation, the decision to disband could not be submitted to a public vote, but the opinions of the Aragon Governance Forum were taken into consideration. Nonetheless, Aragons disbandment was foreshadowed.

Financial opacity sparks controversy

Just last month, Aragon DAO members launched a proposal requiring the project to update and disclose $160 million in financials or face lawsuits.

Tensions between investors and Aragon Association date back to June 2022. At the time, Aragon investors voted to hand over control of the project’s $160 million in funding to a voting DAO by November 2022. However, the funds have never been transferred, and the Aragon Association has stopped publishing transparency reports that provide information on fiscal expenditures. Aragon DAO members say they are frustrated by the lack of transparency from the Aragon Association and are demanding answers from the organization.

This is not the first time that Aragon has been criticized for financial opacity - in January 2021, Jorge Izquierdo, CEO of Aragons parent company, announced his resignation and said on Twitter: I resigned as CEO of Aragon One. I am sad about the problems that have arisen in the team. , considering that our proposals will not be implemented, I don’t think I can continue to do better”.

A week before Jorges departure, 12 people, including John Light, who was responsible for the projects autonomous business, announced their departure from the team. John posted an open letter on Githup, asking the Aragon Association to disclose financial and meeting records for outside supervision. Additionally, he called for ANT holders to participate in community governance.

Cancellation of token voting rights creates hidden dangers

In May of this year, the Aragon Association issued a document stating that Aragon DAO was attacked by a coordinated group known as risk-free value (RFV) attackers with a 51% attack rate, which was related to the dissolution and liquidation of Rook DAO. The group includes a large asset manager, Arca Capital Management. There is evidence that Arcas involvement was for the purpose of obtaining financial benefit from Aragon and thereforeThe Aragon Association will remove voting rights from ANT token holders in response to a “51% attack” launched against it by investors such as Arca.

In response to this, Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer of cryptocurrency hedge fund Arca, responded in a blog post: “The 51% attack narrative is factually incorrect, we are token holders and we want to use our tokens to participate in governance. Arca staking tokens drive active participation from token holders.”

In addition, in response to Aragon Associations claim that gang such as Arca has destroyed many DAOs and their communities, Arca stated that it did not try to dissolve Aragon, and Arca did not invest in Invictus, Rook, Rome or Temple. Among them, the Fei Labs team itself proposed dissolution, and the Rook team The spin-off of the Incubator DAO was originally proposed, and these are token holders fighting for the best outcome.

No matter what the facts are,It is an indisputable fact that Aragon has removed the voting rights of ANT token holders, and the relationship between the community and the team has become increasingly tense.

Sell ​​or dissolve

Aragon considered selling itself to an undisclosed bidder in June for an unknown price, according to screenshots of conversations between an employee at investment house Arca and other activists.

Screenshots from June 12 of this year show that the proposed acquisition is expected to take several weeks and be priced at a premium to book value. If the deal doesnt go through, Aragon plans to re-evaluate the activists proposal. The screenshot comes from a 24-page investigative report on the Aragon Association written by crypto trading firm Patagon Management LLC. The report accuses the Aragon Association of years of missteps, including squandering $180 million worth of crypto assets, and questions whether the organization complied with Swiss non-compliance regulations. For-profit laws.

The report did not detail the status of any sale talks but suggested activists had explored a variety of mechanisms to handle ANT redemptions.

However, Aragon ultimately chose to disband and use treasury funds to redeem ANT tokens. This was the end of one of the earliest DAO attempts.

For the current market, the DAO narrative seems to have long been forgotten. And the controversial issue was raised again:Do people need a warrior who is truly decentralized and autonomous in the community, or a dragon who has highly centralized decision-making power and sells dogs on their own?