Recently, the Aragon Association, a decentralized governance-focused cryptocurrency project, found itself in a head-spinning governance conundrum, contemplated selling the project in June. The deliberations came after enduring intense pressure for months from activist investors, keen on the Aragon’s hefty $180 million treasury.
Fascinatingly, the Swiss-based Aragon has been mulling over “selling the project” to an undeclared buyer for an undisclosed price. An anonymous Ethereum address sent a detailed 24-page investigative report on Aragon Association to Aragon’s Head of Ecosystem, Ivan Furtunov, indicting the Aragon Association of several missteps, such as inefficient management of its extensive $180 million treasury of various crypto assets and potential violation of Swiss non-profit law.
Activist investors involved in crypto’s “risk-free value” trading have been aggressively accumulating ANT governance tokens. Their primary objective is to hold sway over Aragon’s governance, including crucial decisions related to the management of the project’s treasury.
In an interesting shift from conventional cryptocurrency traders who speculate on price action, these RFV traders seek hefty paydays from projects like Aragon, where the native tokens have slumped below the value of its treasury. They usually call for token buybacks and sometimes even for liquidations.
In response to the growing influence of such activists, Aragon surprisingly retracted plans to hand over control of its treasury to token holders in May. Furthermore, public documents were purged while many activist investors were expelled from Discord.
According to CEO of Patagon, Mr. Diogenes Caseres, the report was compiled in the aftermath of the expulsion of these activist investors. Although both sides have been mum about the whole situation, the Aragon Association is apparently continuing the negotiations.
So what does this mean, selling a nominally decentralized project, particularly like Aragon? Now, that’s a puzzle. But what’s clear is that the transaction, if true, is valued higher than the book value as per the Arca employee.
Adding to the mystery, Aragon’s leader, Leades Arus, seemingly demanded a media blackout as ground rules for the negotiations. Accusations flared about one-sided, unfair reporting paid for by unknown parties, but they were vehemently denied by CoinDesk. The representative from the Aragon Association kept tight-lipped about these developments.
To add to the intrigue, the report received by Furtunov came from a newly created crypto wallet. Responding to the allegations, he dismissed some of the report’s claims as “a joke,” acknowledging only the hustle of sending on-chain messages.
Given Aragon’s complicated standing and all the dark clouds hovering, let’s wait to see how this dramatic narrative of power, wealth, and influence inside the world of decentralized governance unfolds!
Source: Coindesk
