ENS Foundation Retains Director Following DAO Vote Over Controversial Tweet

The vote to remove Brantly Millegan saw 1.4 million votes cast to retain the director versus 1.2 million in favor of his departure

article-image

Source: ensdomains.substack.com

share
  • The vote follows a month of debate and consideration by the community over whether to boot Brantley Millegan for comments made in 2015
  • ENS founder Nick Johnson abstained from the vote

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) director of operations Brantly Millegan has been reinstated at the DAO following a month of debating by the community over controversial comments he made in 2015.

According to a snapshot vote by delegate members ended Sunday, Millegan has won the right to retain his seat as head of operations by a margin of 5.88%. The vote to remove Millegan saw 1.4 million votes cast to retain the director versus 1.2 million in favor of his departure.

The DAO vote was based on one vote per token and not one vote per individual. Millegan, who holds the majority of the DAO’s native token ENS, was able to vote against his ousting while ENS founder Nick Johnson abstained from the vote.

“Through this Social Proposal, the DAO shall decide whether Brantly Millegan is deemed capable, or otherwise, of continuing his role as the Director of the Foundation Company, and to appoint a suitable replacement if he is deemed incapable,” a section of the Snapshot vote reads.

Johnson initially took to Twitter to defend Millegan and assisted the director in getting his message across to his audience following a ban against him by the social media platform.

The ENS founder eventually conceded to public outcry and moved to terminate the contract of Millegan at True Names Limited — the nonprofit that funds and organizes development on ENS.

Last month, controversy erupted within ENS’ community after a more than 5-year-old tweet by Millegan resurfaced. Millegan was removed from his role as community steward shortly after, though the vote over his directorship had hung over his head for more than a month.

Blockworks attempted to contact Millegan but did not receive a response by press time.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

HIP-3 is scaling Hyperliquid beyond crypto, with TradFi instruments now 31% of venue volume and daily notional above $5B. Silver is the most important of these flows, and last Friday’s violent move gives a stress test of HIP-3 market health. Using high-frequency trade/quote/order-book data and benchmarking against CME/COMEX Micro Silver futures, we find that for smaller, retail-weighted clips HIP-3 Silver delivered tighter pre-crash spreads and better execution. Finally, we present a novel 24/7 use case: positioning and pricing into the Sunday reopening auction.

article-image

BTC finished the week up 1.6%, while L2s, RWAs and the treasury trade continued to grind lower

article-image

DTCC moves DTC-custodied Treasuries onchain via Canton, while Lighter’s LIT launches trading at a fees multiple in Hyperliquid territory

article-image

In the 90s, rapt audiences worldwide watched a coffee pot — will that fascination ever turn to crypto?

article-image

Some systems improve by failing — and crypto has no choice

article-image

Yield Basis introduces an IL-free AMM design that already dominates BTC DEX liquidity

article-image

Maybe tokenholders don’t need the rights that corporate shareholders have come to expect

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Blockworks Research

Unlock crypto's most powerful research platform.

Our research packs a punch and gives you actionable takeaways for each topic.

SubscribeGet in touch

Blockworks Inc.

133 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011

Blockworks Network

NewsPodcastsNewslettersEventsRoundtablesAnalytics