A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) associated with Aragon has opted to take legal action against the project’s founding team. The decision stems from the team’s recent move to dissolve the Aragon Association, disbanding its governing body and redistributing a significant portion of its assets to tokenholders.
On November 2, the Aragon team announced its intention to dissolve the Aragon Association, citing various reasons for the decision. The move involved deploying the organization’s treasury to allow ANT tokenholders to redeem Ether (ETH) in exchange for their tokens, totaling around $155 million in digital assets to be returned to stakeholders. However, the decision to shut down the ANT token and dissolve the governing body without consulting the DAO sparked discontent within the community.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the unilateral decision, the Aragon DAO voted on November 21 to allocate $300,000 in USDC to Patagon Management, a Delaware-based company owned by Diogenes Casares. Patagon Management is tasked with leading negotiations and legal action against the Aragon team.
The primary objective of the legal action is to ensure that a fair portion of the “dead token funds” is returned to those who redeemed pro-rata, without being unjustly taken away from former tokenholders. The passed proposal also grants Patagon the ability to maintain confidentiality to protect the legal process and decide on a legal strategy. However, all financial transactions related to the case will be publicly reported, and funds will be stored in a separate wallet address and bank account, distinct from Patagon’s business accounts.
The legal action initiated by the Aragon DAO marks a unique instance in the decentralized ecosystem where a DAO community actively pursues legal recourse against its own founding team. This development adds a layer of complexity to the evolving dynamics between decentralized governance and legal frameworks within the crypto space.