Nick Johnson, co-founder of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), has initiated a new vote to establish a Security Council within the ENS DAO, following a recent veto against the council's renewal. This proposal was published on Tally, now known as Cactus, and voting commenced immediately, running until July 20, 2026.
The proposal aims to elect a new council from the members appointed in EP 6.50, which is set to take place before the current council's cancellation power expires on July 24. As of now, the vote has garnered 712,350 in favor, with no opposition and 66,730 abstentions. The total votes cast have exceeded one million, successfully meeting the quorum requirement.
Role of the ENS Security Council
Initially established under EP 5.13, the Security Council is designed to act as an emergency measure against malicious governance proposals. It operates as a four-of-eight multisig wallet, requiring four signers to take action. The council's primary function is to cancel any harmful proposals that have passed and entered the timelock phase, which is a mandatory waiting period before a governance decision is executed. The council is not tasked with creating or modifying proposals.
This new proposal extends the council's authority for an additional two years, until July 16, 2028. It involves a direct call to the DAO’s TimelockController, assigning the proposer role to a Security Council contract controlled by the elected multisig members.
Background on Johnson's Recent Actions
The filing of this proposal follows Johnson's recent decision to block the council's renewal just weeks prior. On June 30, he cast approximately 3.26 million ENS tokens against the renewal vote, which ultimately failed with around 82% opposing the measure. Earlier, he had abstained from an off-chain “soft” vote, favoring a renewal without the existing council members. His vote against the binding measure was key in the council's renewal process.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
