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

by Sebastian Sinclair /

March 8, 2022 07:30 am

Source: ensdomains.substack.com

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.

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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.

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