Aragon Association to dissolve, will disburse $155M in assets to token holders

The governing body for the aragonOS software will dissolve, distributing most of its assets to token holders in the process, according to a Nov. 2 blog post. The body, called the Aragon Association (AA), will distribute 86,343 Ether (ETH), approximately $155 million at the current price, from its treasury to token holders as it unwinds.

We have an important update for all stakeholders of the @AragonProject. We passed a resolution to:

– Deploy most of the treasury to allow all ANT holders to redeem their ANT for ETH
– Dissolve the AA
– Continue the mission in a product-focused structurehttps://t.co/S0GjRtzhZJ

— Aragon Association (@AragonAssoc) November 2, 2023

The funds will be distributed through a smart contract on the Ethereum network. Each Aragon (ANT) token holder will receive 0.0025376 ETH ($4.57 at the current price) per ANT they send into the redemption contract. After all redemptions have been made, the body will burn all ANT held in the contract and dissolve. ANT will no longer have utility after this point, the post stated.

$11 million from the treasury will be transferred to the Aragon Shield Foundation and held to “cover outstanding obligations and mitigate against regulatory uncertainty.” The team will reorganize as a “company” that will continue to develop Aragon products. A “Product Council” will also be created to help guide decisions about product development.

Aragon is the developer of aragonOS, a set of developer tools that can be used to create decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). It also developed the Aragon App, which allows developers to create DAOs without needing to write code.

In deciding to unwind, the AA cited “bureaucratic complexity, misaligned stakeholders, and failed attempts at modifying the governance increased tensions within the project,” stating that it could find no way to continue the association while facing these challenges. The organization tried to save itself through a “rushed attempt to vest control of the treasury directly in the hands of ANT holders.” But it found that “a volatile gap […] Between the value of the treasury and the token market cap” prevented this attempt from being successful. As a result, it decided to return funds to investors and dissolve the association.

In May, a group called “Risk Free Value (RFV) Raiders” attempted to take control of the Aragon treasury by purchasing ANT tokens and outvoting the association. The association referred to this as a “51% attack.” In response, it scrapped plans to transfer power to token holders. The team launched a Base network version of its DAO creation tools on Aug. 9.