ENS is decentralizing governance and accepting applications for DAO delegates.

ENS has always been an open public utility that belongs to the community. The core components of ENS are decentralized and self-running (e.g., no one can take away another person’s .ETH name), but there are a few things that require some human discretion. We believe that both ENS and the DAO space have matured enough that now is the time to pass ENS governance over to the community via the creation of a DAO and the $ENS governance token.

Specifically, we wish to have the ENS root multisig pass over control of the existing ENS treasury, its future funds, and control of the .ETH registrar contract that is in charge of the pricing and registration mechanism for .ETH names. The first order of business for the ENS DAO will be to formally request these from the ENS root multisig key holders.

Starting today, people may nominate themselves as ENS governance delegates. $ENS tokens will be opened for claiming a week from today (snapshot was made yesterday). Here is more information about the token distribution.

A Call for Delegates

We expect ENS governance will evolve over time. Learning from Gitcoin’s governance experience, we believe a delegate model is a good place to start. This helps the DAO represent the interests of members who can’t personally consider and vote on each proposal.

While anyone will be welcome to self-delegate and vote independently, we’ll be encouraging token holders to delegate to one of the community leaders who put themselves forward.

In order for this to happen, we need delegates!

We need individuals and groups who are dedicated to the growth and longevity of ENS. If you’re interested in taking an active role in ENS governance, now’s your chance.

If you’re an active member of the ENS ecosystem and want to help direct the future of ENS, follow this link and submit your application to be a delegate.

Time is of the essence: We plan to open the $ENS token claim process one week from today. More details about that will be available then.

Important note: You only need to submit yourself as a delegate if you want to appear in the list of delegates shown when other people claim their tokens. You do not need to submit a delegate profile if you only want to claim your airdrop, or if you only intend to delegate to yourself! There will be no POAP issued for delegates. And delegates are not awarded extra tokens for being delegates.

Best of luck to all delegate candidates.

Let’s build the future of the Internet together.