ENS tokenholders approve governance overhaul for $65M endowment

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) tokenholders have approved a governance overhaul that grants the ENS Foundation control over a $65 million endowment. The proposal passed with approximately 70% support and became effective onchain on August 11.

The new structure establishes a formal organization to manage policy, trademarks, funding, and external relationships. The expanded Foundation will be led by a full-time executive director and a five-member board, which includes Alexander Urbelis, Nick Johnson, Kartik Talwar, Brett Sun, and Anthony Leutenegger. The Foundation will also oversee revenue from .eth name registrations and manage off-chain affairs.

Under the new arrangement, ENS Labs will focus on protocol development, including the upcoming ENSv2 upgrade, while the Foundation handles operational responsibilities. To ensure transparency, the Foundation is required to publish budgets, quarterly grant updates, and annual audited financial statements. Additionally, endowment transactions will be subject to a nine-day timelock. While the Foundation manages operations, tokenholders retain control over approximately 54.6% of the total ENS supply and hold the power to appoint or remove Foundation directors.