Foresight News message: The ENS Foundation has become a fully operational organization with a full-time executive director, staff, and a five-member board of directors. The ENS DAO will transfer 1,000,000 ENS tokens to the new foundation in a one-time issuance. The ENS Foundation and ENS Labs are independent legal and operational entities, each with its own leadership and board of directors. The foundation does not own ENS Labs. ENS Labs has no governance rights over the ENS, donation funds, or the ENS held by the DAO, nor over protocols. Its only seat in foundation governance is the founder seat among the five board members, and that seat does not participate in decisions regarding funding for ENS Labs.

ENS Labs continues to lead the core development of the ENS protocol, which is governed by token holders. Token holders also oversee the institutions acting on their behalf, including through their powers to appoint or remove the foundation’s board of directors. The foundation is responsible for supporting the off-chain work required by the protocol, while its board oversees operations and ensures that ecosystem contributors, including ENS Labs, receive sustainable funding support.