Aragon Association to Dissolve, Distributing $155 Million in ETH to Token Holders
The Aragon Association, a Swiss non-profit organization that stewards the Aragon open-source project, announced today that they will be dissolving the association and distributing $155 million-worth of Ether (ETH) to their token holders as part of the dissolution process.
The Aragon project is an open-source effort to develop a decentralized platform to create and manage organizations on the Ethereum blockchain. After the announcement, the Aragon Association’s Board of Directors approved the proposal to dissolve the association and distribute its ETH token holdings in a series of distributions over a twelve-month period.
The ETH will be distributed to the holders of Aragon’s native token, ANT, in accordance to their holdings. The platform expects to distribute one-third of the total amount (around 55 million ETH) in the first six months, and the remaining two-thirds over the next six months.
The Aragon Association also stated that the funds will be used to support the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that will replace the association’s role. The Aragon DAO will provide a decentralized governance structure to continue to fund and maintain the Aragon project.
Existing token holders will be allocated a stake in the new DAO, and all decisions will be made by the token holders through an on-chain voting system. It is unclear whether the existing ANT token will remain as a token of use within the DAO.
The Aragon Association’s announcement comes at a time when decentralized organizational platforms are being increasingly utilized by organizations and businesses. The dissolution of the association marks another step in the decentralization of traditional roles that business operations—such as governance and decision-making—have been traditionally rooted to. It could also be seen as a positive example of how crypto-assets can be used to distribute wealth to its stakeholders.