The Ethereum Name Service DAO opened a temperature-check proposal on Friday that would shift control of the treasury, grants administration, and long-term capital strategy to an expanded ENS Foundation. Under the plan, tokenholders would keep authority over protocol-layer decisions and retain the power to remove foundation directors.
What the proposal changes
The proposal marks a significant restructuring of how the ENS DAO manages its finances and strategic direction. Currently, the DAO's treasury and grant programs are handled through a combination of community votes and working groups. The new framework would consolidate these functions under the ENS Foundation, a legal entity that already exists but would be expanded to take on additional responsibilities.
Katherine Wu, a current board member of the ENS Foundation, is named in the proposal as part of the existing governance structure. The proposal does not specify which individuals would join the expanded board, but it outlines that directors would be subject to removal by tokenholders.
Tokenholder safeguards remain
While the foundation would gain control over treasury operations and grants, the proposal explicitly preserves protocol-layer authority for the DAO. That means tokenholders would still vote on changes to the core ENS protocol, including smart contract upgrades and parameter adjustments. The power to remove foundation directors also stays with the DAO, providing a check on the foundation's actions.
The proposal describes this as a way to streamline decision-making for treasury and grants, which often require faster execution than the DAO's voting cycles allow. By handing these functions to a foundation, the DAO aims to reduce friction in funding projects and managing its multi-million dollar treasury.
Next steps for the DAO
This is just a temperature-check — the first stage in ENS DAO's governance process. If the proposal garners enough support during this informal polling phase, it will move to a formal snapshot vote and eventually an on-chain proposal. There's no set deadline for the temperature-check phase, but the DAO typically allows a week or two for community discussion before moving forward.
For now, the community is weighing the trade-offs. Critics may worry about centralizing too much power in a foundation, while supporters see it as a necessary step to operate more like a professional organization. The answer will come in the votes.
