ENS DAO tokenholders voted to hand administrative control of a roughly $65 million endowment to a newly established ENS Foundation, a legally recognized entity based in the Cayman Islands that will now manage grants, intellectual property, and policy engagement on behalf of the protocol. What the vote actually changesThe proposal, titled “Next Era of ENS DAO: Empowering the ENS Foundation,” passed on August 11, 2026. The DAO keeps its leverageTokenholders retain direct control over roughly 54.6 million ENS tokens, which represents the protocol’s core treasury and governance authority. The Foundation does receive a one-time transfer of 1 million ENS tokens, but those come with strings attached. They’re earmarked exclusively for employee compensation and cannot be used to vote on governance proposals or otherwise influence DAO decision-making.